1. Family Portraits Boost Your Child's Self-Esteem
And trust me - it's good for you, too!
David Krauss, a licensed psychologist from Cleveland, Ohio, says, “I think it is really important to show a family as a family unit. It is so helpful for children to see themselves as a valued and important part of that family unit. A photographer’s job is to create and make the image look like a safe holding space for kids where they are safe and protected. Kids get it, on a really simple level.”
Krauss is one of the earliest pioneers in using people’s personal photography and family albums to assist in mental health counseling and therapy. He co-authored “Photo Therapy and Mental Health” in 1983 that is considered a founding text for the use of photography in therapy.
“It lets children learn who they are and where they fit,” says Judy Weiser. a psychologist, art therapist, and author based in Vancouver. “They learn their genealogy and the uniqueness of their own family and its story. When a child sees a family portrait with them included in the photograph, they say to themselves: ‘These people have me as part of what they are; that’s why I belong here. This is where I come from.”
Rather than print and display family photographs, families are increasingly enjoying their images in a digital form, be it a mobile device, a laptop, or simply on social media. But does an image on a tablet, computer screen or social media site have the same impact on helping families boost a child’s self-esteem?
“Displaying photos prominently in the home sends the message that our family and those in it are important to one another, and we honor the memories we have experienced,“ says Cathy Lander-Goldberg, a licensed clinical social worker and a professional photographer in St. Louis, Missouri and the director of Photo Explorations, which offers workshops to girls and women using portrait and journaling for self-reflection.
In short, it says we love you and care about you. You’re important.
2. Coming to Life
When something lives in the digital world, it is easily scrolled past or swiped away and forgotten forever. Digital photos live a ghostly existence.
We experience digital photos like a dream. Just as a dream vanishes when we wake up, a digital photo vanishes as we scroll past it or close the file. But as a print, your photograph becomes part of the real world and a part of your life.
Yes, “an image is an image,” whether it is digital or printed. But a printed image has a different existence – a bodily existence – and becomes part of your world as something physical rather than ghostly or dreamlike.
During a professional photo session, we create memories of a current situation, the state our family is in at this very moment, our face, hair, skin, etc. Unless we print these images, they will be nothing more but a memory.
Print them, and they become part of the physical existence of NOW.
3. The Digital World is a Great Tool
Digital photos are essential to us – just as imagination, thoughts, and dreams are. But dreams disappear, thoughts are forgotten, and imagination begs to come to life in the real world.
There are many gifts that the digital world has given us. Perhaps most of all, the digital world provides us with a place to play and experiment before deciding which photos to make real. We have transcended many of the limits of film. Although few things can surpass the magic of film photography and darkroom work, call me crazy, but I miss the smell of film emulsion. Therefore I still photograph on film, even if only for myself.
The creative activity is not complete until we have made a print. That's all.
4. A Stronger Experience
While I can hardly recall any of the images I just scrolled through online, I can still remember some of the photographs and articles in the photography magazines I read many years ago.
I know exactly when a new issue of Apperture, Click Magazine, or PPA magazine is due out, I’ll check the mailbox with anticipation. I know the feel of it when I reach into the mailbox. The cover photo strikes me first, then the smell of the brand new magazine. I get physical prints of all the magazines I subscribe to; call me old-school if you will.
Imagine the life of those photos. The photographers would have an idea and work away until they had their collection of images. The photographs are culled, retouched, and selected by an editor. Once printed, the magazine is shipped around the world. Finally, it would get carried by post for photography lovers to grab from the mailbox or snatch from a newsstand. We’d bring them with us, reread them, and add them to our collection of back issues.
5. It's Not Just For Now
As the great Andy Warhol once said, "The idea is not to live forever, but to create something that will."
To me, that is probably the most important reason of all. The hard truth is, one day, we all have to leave this world, and our loved ones will turn to the next best thing - photographs.
The faces of those who passed, the memory of time spent together, and inspiration to talk about those memories.
One cannot discuss printing photographs without touching on the subject of print longevity. It is such an extensive subject that it deserves a separate blog post.
So, for now, let's just say this:
A phone, computer, or thumb drive are all hard drives that will eventually fail. Connection ports change, operating systems change, and even file formats aren't impervious to the evolution of technology.
The only way to preserve your portraits is to print them and print them right.
Paper choice, inks, mat boards, frame backing, finishing paper, wood, acrylic or glass, all are necessary to get your images from the data carrier on the wall or in your hands. They all play a critical role in assuring that your images won't fade away like a distant memory one day.
Printing is a science that needs to be studied and requires constant education on changing techniques and new developments.
Trust your photographer as they do this work every day because really, we're print nerds; and proud of it!
If you want to learn more about print longevity, go here.
I hope you gained some useful information and let me send you off with yet another thoughtful quote and let's keep talking about the ones who mean so much to us for it will keep them near.
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