My granddaughter is now 6 months old. We took both grandchildren to see Santa this past weekend and, of course, we took photos. As I downloaded them this evening, I noticed that I now had over 5,000 photos on my computer. Hmmm…. I wonder how much space they’re taking up since all my pix are hi res, but, more importantly, whenever am I going to find the time to print some of them!!!! I love my digital cameras, but the advantages of digital are also the disadvantages. I find myself recording literally hundreds of life’s moments, but can’t bear to hit the delete button, so, here they are, ALL OF THEM, on my computer, AND, in some instances, on my laptop.
I have always enjoyed photography and never tire of looking through photos I’ve taken over the years. I’m enamored with the possibilities digital photography has to offer. It’s creative, fun, instantly gratifying and, what my Yorkshire roots love best, economical. I still have my 35mm camera and vowed that I would continue to use it alongside the digital, but digital is just too easy and I have fallen off the film wagon. I am painfully aware, however, that all these moments may be lost forever, if I don’t PRINT THEM OUT! One flash of lightning and any tangible reminder of all those special moments will be gone forever. Copying them to CDs is not an adequate storage solution either, since one scratch can erase a lifetime. Not only that, who knows what kind of storage media we’ll be using 5 to 10 years from now. Only a few years ago I was using floppy discs, and ZIP discs. I still have the discs, but the computer with the appropriate disc drives is long gone. Remembering to copy jpegs onto new media each time I upgrade would be a chore and not only that, each time a file is copied, information is lost so photos would inevitably begin to deteriorate. Keeping up would definitely be a challenge. I have an external hard drive and once a month copy photos on to that as a backup, but it could also be wiped out in a New York minute.
The other day I found negatives of photos taken before 1950 – hey, they’re almost 60 years old! All the images were safe and sound. Wish I could feel as secure about the photos I took only yesterday………… maybe this is the push to print that I sorely needed. I just might have to make it my New Year’s resolution to print photos at least once a week. I wonder how long it will take to go through over 5,000 – and that doesn’t include the ones I’ll be taking at Christmas!
Have a very blessed holiday season!
Yours truly,
Julie 
