The box of Family pictures

[MrDrizz]

In today's digital world and the explosion of digital photography are we missing out on analog of prints? Now I don't mean prints of your best work, the stuff you frame, no I mean family snaps. I bet your parents or grand parents have a box somewhere that just rammed with old pictures each with a tale that only certain members of the family will remember and where it's a bonus if someone remembered to write the names and a date on the back of the print.

But because we don't print much these days those boxes are a endangered thing which to me is a shame, there something much more sociable about looking at old family pictures with the family all sat together rather then the sterile sharing on Arsebook where, lets be honest, people spend 0.00001s looking at it before hitting the like button and moving on.

We need to print family snaps more, start building our own family box of pictures for future generations, those pictures on that hard drive are not going to get discovered by the great grand kids in a dusty loft. No they'll end up in landfill forever lost.

 

[keifster]

I still print my photos out and put them in albums. Like you, my parents used to have the biscuits tin full of black and white photos. There were a few photo albums too and growing up I always enjoyed flicking through them and asking my parents about who the people were and what the occasion was. I'm hoping that in the years to come, my kids and hopefully grandkids will also do the same. Hopefully I'll still be able to remember!

 

[Phil V]

The box no longer exists, but the photos do, and the customs and practices live on but are slightly revised.

The other week, we met my sons new girlfriend for the first time, after an hour or so we were all passing our phones around sharing all his embarrassing childhood pictures (various facebook accounts, Flickr etc)

Not a dusty shoebox in sight, but nothing has changed in the grand scheme of things.

 

[munch]

Sorry I don't agree. I think my photos are seen more now they are digital than when they were printed. Certainly a lot more than my dads slides ever were.

 

[cosmicma]

i make slideshows out of mine and are seen much more than the prints i have in photo albums
to be honest i prefer the slideshows more people can see them at the same time
albums still have their place but i find slideshows shown on the tv an easier way to view the family snapshots

 

[Nod]

I'm another printer. Not every shot but not just the wall worthy ones either. I'd much rather see a 6x4 print being handed around than look at a screen or even worse, a phone! For my holiday snaps, I usually weed it down to a reasonable quantity and print them to A4 - far better.

 

[Ed Sutton]

There is something more engaging about looking at a physical print than one on a screen. Print on demand books could become the new shoebox.

 

[Phil V]

Whilst I don't disagree about the difference a physical print can make (after all I do sell them). The original premise that the concept of the shoebox full of images is lost, is completely spurious.

I shot thousands of images in the 80's and the ones that have been seen more often and by more family are the ones that have been scanned and uploaded to social media.

In fact I have guilt that some of my prints that would be highly appreciated by the family are still sat in a dusty cupboard waiting to be scanned.

Add to that photo restoration work I've done on some old prints, giving a new lease of life to images almost killed by old storage methods, and the 21st century really is the time when the family photo is safest.

 

[viewfromthenorth]

There is something more engaging about looking at a physical print than one on a screen. Print on demand books could become the new shoebox.

This. Every January, I produce a yearbook on Blurb of all the stuff we did the previous year. It's in one big 200 page bound book, with lots of different size photos of different people, places and events. Sure, you can't take the photographs out like you can in an album, but it's a far cheaper and more practical way of presenting 12 months worth of photos than in several different albums like we used to.

 

[Bobsyeruncle]

My wife just chooses a load of images from my laptop now and then and gets prints from photobox.

 

[Smiffster]

I agree with Phil photos are share core on line amid digitally. However? As a regular printer of my ordinary family snaps whether with compact or my old dslr, how many times family have "nosied" through them and found ones they like and disappear with them