I have been thinking a lot recently about all things digital, and kind of how I have a love/hate relationship with it.  I love how easy and quick it is to keep in touch with family and friends, from calls and texts, to even just seeing quick updates on Facebook/Instagram.  But I also hate how so much of my interests quickly getting pushed down and forgotten in the unending clutter that gathers through hard drives and digital storage.

I am a person that if it’s out of sight, it quickly becomes out of mind.  I do not like trying to depend on my phone’s calendar app, I need the personal touch of physically writing out my agendas and to do’s, even my grocery list is more effective for me when written on a piece of paper.

I find the same thing with my books.  I have a e-reader account…. but don’t really use it.  I love holding a bound book and turning the pages.  I love being able to track my progress by watching the bookmark slowly get further and further through the book every time I mark where I am leaving off.  I read everyday, that’s how I unwind and relax. (I also have started quilting, but that’s a story for another day!)

When e-readers first came out, I was excited!  Something new, a way to help keep a little less stuff in the house, free up some extra space (because who wouldn’t love to find more space in their home?!) But as I bought some titles and read through them, I found I couldn’t remember most of what I had been reading on it, or I often forgot which books I had already purchased and downloaded.

For me, it means so much more to me to actually have a tangible book in my hands to read.

Which directly translates to my view on photography.  I have thousands upon thousands of digital files on my computer.  Do you think I can remember them all at the top of my head?  How often do you think that I sift through the folders on my computer and hard drives to find a certain collection of images to look at…. or even less likely, load them up on my computer when family and friends come over for them to see?

But you can bet that I stop and smile and enjoy those beautiful family portraits, and even the daily snapshots that I have printed and framed.  I stop and take in them every time i walk past them.  Family and friends come over and they stop and look at them, comment on them.  My one and a half year old daughter climbs up the back of the couch and points at them, pointing at each person and saying ‘mama’ and ‘daddy’, and gets so excited to see photos of herself.

These printed pieces of art are enjoyed constantly.  And if you want to jump a little deeper into our family life when you’re visiting, I keep our albums displayed on the dining room buffet.  I want to have these memories within reach.  I flip through the albums often…. marveling at how tiny our daughter was just last year, or how huge my stomach was at our maternity session…. or relive the fun of our wedding day (and wish I could still fit into that beautiful dress!)

I just wanted to share a little bit on how important I feel it is to have my home proudly displaying the most important artwork in my life…. my family.  I love my phone for daily snapshots, but even those get printed and bound into albums as well.  But for our family portraits, our family memories and moments are too important and special to me to allow them to be lost in a vast sea of digital files.  I need them up on my walls, in an album, ready and waiting to be tangibly touched and looked at a moment’s notice.