The value of printing my photos has been one of the most important lessons I have learned when it comes to photography. It doesn't matter if you are a professional  photographer or a mom with a camera phone, you should be printing your photos too.

Don’t get me wrong, I love sharing my pictures online.  I have family all over the world so posting my pictures on social media is both very practical and saves me time.  But where is that box of old pictures that your parents and grandparents had?  You know, the one that always came out when your cousins were in town.  The one that your mom use to pull out of the closet on a rainy day.

A  few weeks ago, my brother emailed me a picture. It was a photo of him as a baby with my mom and me. My first thought was “I need to print this picture because it is too important just to leave it on the hard drive of my computer.  I need to put it up on my heritage wall. I want to see it everyday, to see my beautiful mom and remember my childhood days in Venezuela.”

It is unfortunate that our generation often leaves pictures to perish on digital devices, leaving us with nothing to hold between our fingertips. But why does this matter? Why should we print our photos?  Here are a few things to consider:

• Prints feel more real and give us more of an emotional connection than digital photos. Being able to touch something you like makes you want to have it at hand and you appreciate it in a more personal way.

• Prints are “old school” and you can enjoy them more than digital images. How romantic is it to look through your wedding photos on your iPad or share the memory of a family occasion sitting around your laptop and staring at the screen? Not very romantic, right?

• Technology changes like the tides. Do you even remember floppy disks? One day you’ll wake up and your digital storage solutions will be outdated. Or worse, your drive will crash and all those memories will be gone forever.

• If you print your photo, then you insure its long life. Good quality prints will last over 100 years, which means that they can stay with you for a long time, pass through generations and remind you of good times many years later.

• Prints are the most affordable art for your walls. They make an excellent but inexpensive gifts for just about anyone in your life and are a great way to preserve your favorite memories while spending very little.

Say what you want about that old shoe box full of photos.  We still have those pictures, a visual history of our family's life.  If we did nothing more than make a bunch of prints and shoved them in a new shoe box today, we'd be ensuring future generations would have them. Printing matters. Now go and print your photos!

With Love,

Mariela