On photo albums

One of my favorite past times is looking through photo albums.  When I was younger I used to love pulling albums off the shelves and going through all the pictures, even if they were ones I had seen hundreds of times before.  The organization freak in me is drawn to photo albums because they are such neat, concise packages of memories just waiting to be leafed through.

I have to wonder if photo albums are becoming a thing of the past.  With digital cameras, camera phones, the popularity of photo websites for storing pictures, it's hard to say whether much time is still dedicated to the process of printing out pictures, labeling them, and chronologically putting them into an album.  For a lot of people I'm sure it's enough to post a picture on Facebook and call it good.

For myself, however, I still gravitate toward the photo album.  It's kind of like reading an actual book as opposed to using my Kindle.  I love my Kindle and use it daily, but I also like having a real book in my hands.  I like the act of physically turning the pages, the smell of the paper and the feel of the binding.  The same applies to a picture album.  It's nice to be able to hold a picture in your hands, to see it "live" rather than over a computer screen.  But you can print digital prints, which really gives you the best of both worlds.  The best thing, in my opinion, about printing digital pictures?  You can pick and choose which prints you want, and don't HAVE to print every single picture you take.  This allows plenty of room for error and you aren't left kicking yourself when you get your pictures back and realize you inadvertently took 20 close up shots of the inside of your purse.  

Right before Christmas we finally broke down and got a new laptop.  And while we're loving the new machine and the speed at which we can now get things done, my mind keeps wandering to all the pictures that I uploaded onto our old computer.  It scares me simply because technology is not reliable, and one of these days I just know I'll go to turn on that old computer and it won't cooperate.....meaning my pictures will be lost forever.  I'm not sure which is a more tedious task, trying to keep digital pictures safe and in one place, or trying to keep photo negatives in order and undamaged through a number of years. 

I realize the next step in my photo evolution is going to be the arduous task of sorting and saving all my digital prints in one location, but oh what a project that will be.  Digital is fantastic mainly for the convenience factor, but when it comes to taking stock of what pictures you have, where they are, and what order they belong in.....it can quickly become a complicated process.

I imagine I will be a photo album keeper my entire life.  Pictures in an album just seem much more real, and I like to think that 20 years from now I can easily pull a book of memories off the shelf rather than have to strain to remember a password for a website where all my snapshots have been uploaded.  

I like to think I'm finding my own way to exist between the digital and the print world.  I just have to get all my pictures onto the same computer.