With spring break around the corner, people are scrambling to find the perfect outfits and accessories that will look best for the countless pictures they plan on taking to put together just a few for the “perfect” Instagram post.
Back when people had film rolls, they had to be selective with their photos. Now, with a smartphone that can hold around 50,000 photos, that’s not a problem. As technology advances, people are taking more photos than ever but engaging with them on a less deep level than older generations. Chances are, after putting together your Insta post, you haven’t returned to the pile of images you took last spring break.
That group of photos – half of which are most likely slight variations of the same shot – sits idly, taking up space in your phone’s memory but not your memory. Buried between snapshots of where you parked your car in the city and that chemistry formula you needed to remember, your most important memories – captured in photos – become lost in a sea of unimportant images.
Today, photos have become so accessible that they are inaccessible; it’s so easy to take and store photos all in one place that the accumulation of them makes it difficult to find any specific one when you need it. Think about the number of times you have mentioned a photo to a friend but ended up telling them that you couldn’t find it because it would take too long – I definitely have.
Since people rarely print photos anymore, they don’t feel a need to scale down their photo collection or weed out the redundant images. As a result, they are often left with 10 variations of the same shot. But when it comes to printing, people are generally more selective, turning their large selection of photos into a smaller, more meaningful one – and isn’t that the point?
Having all your photos on your phone leaves you with a messy library rather than a carefully curated album. Your library has a mix of photos of countless moments in your life, but they are shoved together with no form of organization other than chronological order. On the other hand, photo albums tend to be more thoughtfully arranged, whether they focus on a specific theme or an isolated period of time: a wedding or moments like blowing out birthday candles each year.
Sure, iPhones can automatically create digital albums, but they are generated by an algorithm and are typically put together based on location, events, periods of time, or people. The algorithm will not always be as creative as the person who lived through those experiences. By creating an album yourself, you develop a deeper attachment to your photos and reinforce your memory of those experiences.
Sharing photos in a photo album and sharing photos digitally are completely different types of sharing. Having a tangible photo album allows individuals to have a more meaningful experience when looking through it with others. If you’re next to someone and telling them about the events captured in an image, you are able to add context and detail.
A photo sent to a phone cannot provide the same kind of connection. When you are texting, you cannot accurately convey your emotions. An emoji or “lol” doesn’t have the same impact.
If you think about it, when your friend sends you a funny, nostalgic photo, you will just respond with a “haha,” but if you were in person, you would both be laughing so hard that you couldn’t breathe.
Printed pictures and photo albums become cherished family heirlooms that can be passed down through generations. They are so much more valuable than the gigabytes of unsorted images or an Instagram page.
Photos are easy to take and easy to forget. So why not do something more meaningful with them than letting them disappear into the library we always carry but rarely visit?
Printed photographs break that cycle. Rather than disappearing into a camera roll, they exist somewhere specific, somewhere physical, somewhere where forgetting them is just a little less easy.
