In today’s digital world, it’s easy to take and share photos with people far and wide - even with people you’ve never met and likely will never meet. Digital photography, digital storage, and easy sharing platforms like Instagram, Flickr, Facebook, and so on, have certainly had an enormous impact on the way we interact with our photos. In many ways, these changes have been good, not the least of which is making photography far more accessible to far more people.
Of course, despite the ease of use of digital means to take and share photos, there is still something to be said about a good ol’ fashioned printed photo album. In fact, they might be more important today than ever before. Here’s why…
It’s Something Tangible
You know those sad scenes in movies in which someone is mourning the loss of a loved one and they’re crying while holding a photo of that person? There’s a reason they’re holding a printed photo instead of looking at the lock screen on their phone - printed photos are more personal. The tactile experience of holding a photo gives us something tangible with which to connect. Even physically flipping the pages of a photo album is a more personal experience than clicking your mouse to advance a slideshow or swiping left or right on your phone’s screen. This isn’t to say that digital photos can’t be cherished; it’s just that a physical print and a physical album heightens the experience of viewing the photo in a way that digital photos just can’t replicate.
It’s Something to Be Passed Down
Family keepsakes seldom come on a USB drive. Sure, digital storage of photos is a great backup plan in case there is a fire, a flood, or some other sort of disaster, but ultimately, what we pass on from one generation to the next isn’t a flash drive or an external hard drive - it’s the actual printed photos of our loved ones.
Think about it this way - a printed photo album is like a historical record, showing the people, places, and things that are near and dear to our hearts at that moment in time. It’s something to be pulled off the shelf and explored in a moment of retrospection. Just like the photos we display on our mantels and on our desks, printed photo albums are keepsakes that are worthy of display in a form that highlights the importance of the events held within. Can you imagine your wedding album being totally digital? Or your child’s baby book only being viewed on a computer screen? As noted above, having something tangible to touch and feel and view makes all the difference, and it makes photo albums worthy keepsakes to be passed down from one generation to the next.
Printed Albums Have Never Been So Affordable
Naysayers will claim that photo albums are simply too expensive. And though that might have been a valid argument a few years ago, Album Registry has completely changed the game.
Album Registry is essentially a crowdfunding platform by which people ask friends, family, and guests to contribute to a printed photo album or another photography product to commemorate their wedding, birthday, or another important event. If it sounds simple, it is - users can give a registry card to their guests which has a unique URL printed on it, or share the registry on social media. Then, guests go to the link, which brings up a special page specifically for the event. Once there, guests can contribute whatever amount they wish, with the proceeds from all guests combined together to fund the desired products.
This is a great setup for a variety of reasons, not the least of which that it takes the onus of payment off the honoree and places it onto the guests of the event. There’s no more worry about running out of money to pay for the wedding album or high-quality prints of your kid’s first birthday. With Album Registry, the cost is split amongst the guests, and even if the desired products aren’t fully funded, Album Registry ensures that you can still get a high-quality product that fits the funded amount. Plus, you don’t have to worry about creating the album yourself and you’ll get a cherished keepsake in a timely manner.
High-quality photography products aren’t cheap - nor should they be. After all, having something tangible to look at and durable enough to pass down from one generation to the next is part of the joy of having printed photos and albums. And now, with Album Registry, it’s possible to have those keepsakes without worrying about how much it’s going to cost. That’s not a bad combination of benefits!