Every year Drew + I make it a point to escape the snow and head on to some sunshine. This is a tradition we started and promised to keep up as best as life would allow. It is a time of year for us to reconnect, disconnect, enjoy the warmth, and escape. Obviously as a photographer I bring my camera along to document each vacation and trip so we can remember the blissful journey that each location held. I made a promise to myself that one day we would have a shelf of pretty little books each devoted to a different destination so that we could easily access our memories should we ever need a warm reminder!
Now, I want to preface this and say that we have a total of 10 pretty books on our shelf and the number continues to grow. I get it, it is far too easy in this digital age to want to print your photos, heck, why print them when you can save them in pretty little folders on your computer… right? WRONG. I am guilty, seeing as I document life on a daily basis but when I look at these vacations, these memories, I know that they deserve a better home than a little folder on our computer labeled “Vacation.” As I browsed through the images in those books I relived our plane rides, pretended I could smell the ocean, imagined sipping a margarita and having the sand in my toes, I felt the warmth of the sun and giggled as we tried to dance salsa. Our vacation came to life in the images and memories that they each held.
You guys, this digital age is making us far too lazy and because of that our little folders that house our memories are getting filled with files that tell our stories. We forget to print them, let alone arrange them into pretty books. So last night as I frantically put my photos onto digital pages so that I could print a book with a discount code that was ending in a matter of hours, I got to thinking. If I, as a photographer, struggle to get my life’s story into books, I can only imagine what my clients feel when they get their wedding images in pretty files on a pretty disc following their wedding.
I promise, a few minutes can make all of the difference. Life is far to short to keep your life on your computer, there is something so beautifully inspiring about holding a photo or a book in your hands. Your walls are begging to be filled, your bookshelves have spaces. Your images that you paid for deserve a better home than on your computer. As I add our Punta Cana album to the shelf I quickly page through our relationship, in chronological order… from one book to the next. With tears in my eyes I reminisced my way through our college years, into our honeymoon, onto vacations. I realized that these books were priceless, each page filled with a different memory. It was such a reminder to me on how although the digital age is lovely, it is so so important to print your photos, tell your story. Isn’t that why you take them in the first place?
Print your memories, hold them in your hands, share them with others, and celebrate life!
Beautiful reminder Jenna!!
There is something so joyous and so exhilarating about flipping through a photo album filled with pictures from your first day of school, to your first date, and now to your first vaction together! Thank you for sharing!!
Where do you get all these beautiful photo books done?
I <3 this. I have thousands of images piling up on computer HD's that have not been printed of our travels and every year I tell myself I'm going to turn them into a coffee table book and I always put it off. THis totally makes me realize I need to do this because they are our memories and I need to reflect on them 🙂
How lovely! Such a great idea. I need to do this. I also need to get to finally getting a beautiful album of our wedding photos, since I was trying to avoid more wedding cost by just getting the photos and DVD with rights. I look forward to making books of our trips, as we too are hoping to make a getaway a priority each year.
P.S. I was lead to your website/blog via Meghan and Cullen Teska. I worked with Cullen at Elmbrook in the college ministry and he told me about you and your photography back when my now husband and I were making wedding plans. Your work is lovely!