WHY PRINTED PHOTOS ARE SO MUCH MORE SPECIAL THAN DIGITAL ONES

I had my 50th birthday recently and I'm so grateful that I had the opportunity to spend the day with my whole family, which is always fun. Every time we get together, we always have the best time!

Anyway, my sister handed me a stack of photographs she had printed out from her digital photobank, which only my sister would have. She has photos of everybody and thank God for that!

Looking through this stack of probably more than a hundred photos, I realised that they were all photos of my son from birth through almost half his life! Photos of him at different moments in his life with all the people that had helped bring him up.

From the day I brought him back from the hospital, to his 1st birthday, to his sports day in pre-school, to the first holiday he had with his grandparents and so much more. He was so little, so young. I was young. Everybody was younger.

These were candid moments in time, that I had previously only held in my mind, now I hold in my hands. As my son and I flipped through and studied the photos one by one, memories that were all this while lying low somewhere in our memory banks just all came up in floods of emotion. It was as if we were living all these moments all over again. It was a feeling I could not describe in words. Quite honestly it made me want to go back in time and do it all over again! In a heartbeat, I would if I could!

It's amazing how photographs can capture a moment in time and allow us to relive those memories.

Printed photos have this special ability to evoke emotions in a way that digital photos cannot. When you hold a printed photo in your hands, it feels like a tangible connection to the past. It's a physical representation of a moment in time, and it's a reminder of the people and places that are important to us.

There's something about holding a physical photo in your hand that brings back all the memories of that moment. It's a tangible connection to the past that digital photos just can't replicate. As my son and I went through each photo, we relived those moments and felt this sense of joy and happiness that only printed photos can offer.

Looking through those photos, I was determined to dig up all my digital photos and make printouts of them so I can create albums. For myself when I want to go back memory lane and most importantly for my son so he has something to hold on to. For his kids and the kids after that. It's the story of our lives in photo form! How beautiful is that?

There is just so much you can do with photographs - you can hold them in your hands, display them in frames, and pass them down through generations. There's a certain joy in flipping through a physical album and reliving those memories.

In today's digital age, we often forget the value of printed photos. They offer a different kind of viewing experience, with a texture and quality that digital photos can't match. And unlike digital photos, printed photos can last for decades, even centuries if they're taken care of properly.

It's important to take time to reflect on those moments and cherish the memories they bring back. As my son enters early adulthood, it's really special to be able to look back at these photos and see how much he has grown and changed. It's a wonderful way to remember the journey we have both been on together.

As we get older, these memories captured become even more important, and printed photos allow us to relive those moments with the people we love.

I'm comforted by the fact that my son will always have these photos to look back on, even when I'm no longer around, to see how much he is loved.

So next time you have the opportunity to print out your photos, don't hesitate. Create physical albums and cherish those memories for years to come. You won't regret it.