Creating Family Heirlooms: Why Albums are Important

I’m sure we all know someone who has shoeboxes of photographs tucked away in a closet from the days of film. Pictures that were printed, but never quite made their way into an album. (I’m guilty of this myself!) These physical shoeboxes have turned into digital ones – file folders stashed on our computers where images go and are often forgotten.

When I had my first baby, I knew I needed a new system – one that would better preserve our photographs in a format we would actually use. After all, we captured these moments so that we could relive the joy and excitement of them over and over again. So that we would remember the small details of day to day life that seems to go all too fast with children. And to be honest, once these photographs were stashed in their shoeboxes, that’s exactly where they stayed.

Since that time, I’ve printed a family photo album every year. My kids love to pull them out and look through them. They ask questions. I tell stories. And we recall memories that might have otherwise faded over time. These albums are our family heirlooms. My kids will continue to look at them as they grow up, and one day they will show them to their children. And for me, that’s worth the time and cost that it takes to create them.

Aside from the sentimental reasons to create a wedding or family album, there are a few practical reasons to create these as well.

1. Albums will stand the test of time. Technology is always changing. Since I became a photographer more than 11 years ago, I have given clients prints made from film, and shared image files with clients on CDs, DVDs, and now flash drives. I’m not sure what the future holds, but if 20, or even 10, years from now these formats are no longer available, accessing your pictures may be difficult and require you to hire someone to convert them onto the latest media format. The albums I create are made from archival materials that will last regardless of the latest technology development.
2. For weddings and other life events you have photographed, you may receive up to 1000 images from your day. That’s a lot of photos to click through. And while each photo may have captured a moment of your day, the album narrates these moments of the day as a story with a beginning, middle and end. In my opinion, this is the best way to relive the emotions and events of the day.

Creating Family Heirlooms: Why Albums Are Important