Mama Says Digitals are the Devil!
Hey Honey!
Any other Adam Sandler fans out there?! HA! But in all seriousness, Digitals are not your friend. Let me explain.
A while back I started a very slow and grueling process of cleaning and backing up all of my digital files, including personal images. The process really opened my eye to a lot of things I hadn’t previously considered, including the walk down memory lane I was strolling on, but also some compatibility concerns.
Let me help you also see the light of my discovery!
Your CD or USB might not be supported for much longer. One issue I faced in backing up my files is compatibility. You see, I now own an iMac which is my BABY. The problem is - like most Apple products - you have to purchase extra accessories to use certain features….like a CD drive. Yup! You read that correctly, my desktop computer does not have a slot to read discs as a standard! Now sure, I can still take my little disc of images to my local (or pro) lab and have my images printed or what have you….but then again, who has time or the desire for extra errands? I sure don’t!
Additionally, nowadays, how many people are actually still purchasing or utilizing an actual desktop or laptop to view images off a disc? Many of us have now migrated to more convenient and portable electronic devices like tablets or cellphones for our internet fix, which are often missing slots for a disc OR a USB drive.
Those images sure look pretty on that disc sitting in a drawer, huh? I mean, at least its shiny right?I totally forgot about that time we went to (insert cool destination here). As much information as our brain processes on a daily basis, it is no wonder some memories get shoved to the deep crevices of our mind, lost of recollection. We hate to admit that we forgot that unforgettable moment right? Only keeping digital copies of your images significantly hinders our ability to truly reminisce on the experience we had and our mind can only hold so much in our conscious memory. It is harder to truly appreciate the images we have to look back on when they are not in tangible form.
Keep those images displayed in an album or a frame. Look at them often. Relive the memory.My dog ate my….memory card. Story time. Several years ago I used to be one of those naughty photographers that didn’t immediately upload and back up her images as soon as I got home. Sometimes, I would fill up a couple of personal memory cards before finally transferring them to my editing software. Shame on me! One time I even left a memory card on a table. It got knocked off to the floor. Long story short my dog discovered it was in fact NOT food. The images that were still on that card? I will never know which they were because they were destroyed forever.
Now, sure, this could have happened to printed images just the same, but if we are being smart those are stored either in an album or photobox at the very least! Don’t have a dog to worry about? What about if you accidentally scratched that photo CD to hell? Yikes! And don’t get me started on how many USBs I have bent that are no longer readable…
The moral of the story here is that your images aren’t truly safe if they are only stored in digital format. All technology will fail at some point or another and you don’t want your memories and images you hope to treasure forever to be victim when that failure inevitably happens. Make sure you are printing your most precious images so you can enjoy them now and later.