Getting Out of the Virtual Casket

It seems now-a-days, you can do virtually anything...well - virtually! Pay your bills, buy anything you need, even find your soul mate, all online. So naturally, photographs evolved for our virtual world - making film cameras nearly obsolete. We've moved onto digital cameras which equal digital images - and usually not much else.

Before, when you would capture a great shot you couldn't wait to finish exposing your roll of film and get it developed. Remember how exciting it would be to pick up your pictures? You'd be lucky to make it to the car before tearing into them and feverishly flipping thru each one. Then you'd go home and repeat the process...at a calmer pace. Now - with our digital cameras - we snap a good shot and the first word(s) out of the "photographer's" mouth is "MYSPACE!" or "FACEBOOK!" ...Really!?! Is that really all our great shots are worthy of?? *sigh* Believe me - I do love the instant gratification of a digital capture, but what irks me is what follows....usually nothing! You upload the image to your computer and it lives out its life on your hard drive...forgotten about amongst the hundreds, maybe thousands, of other images.

The true beauty of a photograph is not always what has been captured - rather it's ability to become eternal. (my philosophical thought for the month ;-) )

Think about that shot of your parents at the altar, perhaps your grandparents. The paper may be tattered or yellowed - but it's tangible. You can hold it in your hands and feel its impact. Now think about showing YOUR grand kids your wedding pictures while posted up in front of a computer screen. Kind of takes away from the nostalgia...doesn't it?

So getting to my point (yes I do have one), Rissa and Nathaniel got me an adorable photo album a few weeks back. Turns out that DAY I got engaged! My fiance had arranged for my mom, brother and best friend to be at his proposal site to capture the moment - with tons of pictures of course! So my mom burned me a CD, I uploaded the pics to my computer and looked at them over and over on my 12" macbook screen. I finally decided the momentous pictures deserved more than just their own album in my iphoto. I dropped them onto my zip drive and set off on a mission - I was going to get prints made! My first stop (Walmart) was quite unsuccessful -- seeing as every machine was mysteriously "down" and the photo lady pointed me to a nearby Rite Aid. What a hassle this was turning out to be! 10 whole minute of driving!? Were these prints really worth it?? Rite Aid reassured me and lifted my spirits by having an incredibly easy to use machine and good prices too! I got 50 prints for about $5. Feeling quite satisfied with myself I immediately went home, sorted my picture chronologically, and inserted them into my adorable album!

Photo by Liza Hettherington (my best friend!)

Talk about being worth a few minutes and a few bucks! I absolutely LOVE my new album with my REAL prints in it! I look at it constantly and show it off to everyone i possibly can. The ooo's and awww's are so rewarding :-)

Don't let your pictures die in a virtual casket. Bring them to life - have prints made - whether they're 4x6's from your local Kodak machine or 24x36 metallic display prints that adorn your wall as a work of art. It's worth it...try it...you'll see ;-)
~Brittany