written by Heather Palmer, owner, Heather Palmer Photography

The other day, I found my 11-year-old son on the floor with scrapbooks all around him. He was having a blast looking at the photos and telling me what he remembers about each one. It made all of the hours I spent hand gluing each of the photos onto the pages worth it. Contrast this experience to the digital photos still on my phone and computer. My children never really get the opportunity to view them. These photos seem to be lost in cyberspace and are mainly hidden from my children’s lives.

There is something special about holding a photo, especially for kids. Face it, this is the most photographed generation in history of the world, and there is very little physical proof of it. Everything is on a hard drive, tablet, or cell phone. Children want (and I would argue, need) to see their faces around your home on physically printed photographs.

Nothing upsets me more than to hear someone say they had their hard drive fail and sadly lost all of their family’s photos. This happens more than we expect; photos are lost due to improper maintenance and failed backups. It makes me ill just thinking about potentially losing these memories or pictures of my family. This is why I make it a habit to print all of my photos, along with having them saved on my computer and external hard drives.

So, here is the big question: Where and how do you print them? There are many options for printing your photos. Here are few of the most popular:

ALBUMS

The easiest way to scrapbook, for me, is Chatbooks. If you are already posting photos to Instagram, Chatbooks will connect to your account and automatically make your books for you. Here is the best part: You don’t have to use Instagram to subscribe or print Chatbooks. You can make your books directly on their website or in their app, too. Visit chatbooks.com to learn more.

I also use Shutterfly for photo books. They often have special offers that make their books inexpensive. They also offer great prices for 4X6 prints.

The thing I love the most about making my scrapbooks online is if they ever get damaged or lost, I can replace them with a click of a button because they are automatically archived on the website’s database.

PRINTS

I don’t recommend going to a box store for large prints. If the photo is going to be displayed on my wall, I want the colors to look right and box stores can be hit-and-miss with color correction and print quality. There are a few local companies that offer beautiful, large prints. Square One Printing, Watkins Printing, and The Print Factory all do an amazing job and offer fair prices. I always recommend my photo clients use these stores if they need a photo printed quickly and nicely.

If you would like to order online, Pro Digital Photos and Persnickety Prints both make beautiful photo cards and announcements and are Utah-based. Nationally, MPIX offers high-end printing.

Photos make it easy to relive memories, and holding memories in your hands is priceless! Technology and improperly backed up electronics can have hiccups and cause loss. Having physical copies is one way to ensure your images are seen and can leave lasting impressions upon your children and future generations.