I am so grateful for the friends I have made in the industry and for all I have learned from them!  Laura Jennings is sharing a guest post today about a topic very near to her heart: printing your memories.  This is something that I know I need to get better at, and I am so excited to share it with you, whether you are a photographer, a mother, or anyone who loves pictures (which is everyone, right?!).  Thank you so much for guest blogging for me today, Laura!  You can find Laura at these links: Website, Instagram, Facebook

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It isn’t often that we as a society go anywhere without our cell phones anymore. Snapping pictures, sharing all over social media, texting our friends.  But what happens if Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat just disappear one day? What happens to all those pictures you took that you loved? Your memories, your children growing up, their milestones, your life.

You may still have them on your phone, or uploaded to the cloud, but again, what if it all was gone one day?

If you haven’t taken the time to print them, add them to an album, create a scrapbook, hang them in your home, you’ve likely lost everything.  How could the most photographed generation in history have nothing to show for it?

Chances are you have a few pictures of your grandparents from when they were younger, when they got married. Look at how handsome your grandfather was! And your grandmother- she was stunning! You never knew her in her younger days, obviously, so all you know is the what’s right in front of you. How great that they took the time to take pictures, to freeze a moment in time and then actually PRINT them for people to see, all these years later.

I, personally, have less than a handful of images from own childhood to share with my children.  They’ll never see my pigtails, my blond hair, my awkward growing phases, me before I was a mother.  I believe this truly contributes a large portion of why I am the way I am with my own kids, trying to never miss a single moment.

If you’re like me, most of my grandparents have passed away.  All I have are a few pictures of them and my memories.  My children barely remember them, as they were all so young.  I am so thankful someone took the time to print these pictures so that my children have faces to put with the stories I tell them.  So that I have something to look back on and remember the days  we barbecued by the pool, gardening with my grandfather, cooking with my grandmother. That I can look at these pictures and relive all these moments, and even see that I actually look like my grandmother when she was younger.

So where do you start? You have thousands upon thousands of images on your phone, and even more if you have a professional camera.

I save all of my images on an external hard drive. I also have them all backed up online.

Chances are you won’t be allowing your kids on your computer, to browse through your hard drive and photos whenever they want, right?!  Each year, I compile my favorite images, both cell phone and big-girl camera, and design one large album stuffed as large as the lab will let me make!  I cannot tell you how many times I have seen my children look through these albums.  They have access to them whenever they want. They laugh about the funny times, remember the vacations we took, marvel at how much they’ve grown.

And if my computer decides to crash and take down all my social media, my external, everything I have backed up, I still have these pictures, in my hands.  Tangible images to hold and pass on to my children.  To relive their childhood.  To share with their children.

My favorite places to print my images?

Well of course I love Millers Lab, which is also the lab I use for my clients.

A quick way to dump all your cell phone images (or at least the ones you choose) into an album is Artifact Uprising.  An app you load onto your phone, choose your images and it ships right to your door.  Seriously so easy!

So please, if anything, you took the time to take the image.  Please, please take the time to print it so that others may enjoy it for years to come as well.

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Thanks again, Laura!!

Laura Jennings Photography Inc, now in its 8th year, is a full time, full service natural light photography business. Laura is a well-known destination wedding and portrait photographer and serves the Northwest Florida Panhandle. She specializes in beach weddings and family sunset photography, serving over 300 families per year and is a volunteer photographer for the Magic Hour Organization offering free photography services to terminal cancer patients and their families.  

She was 1st place winner in The 2016 Shoot & Share photography contest with over 225,000 entries from 120 countries and over 30 million votes. She has also been published in several local and national blogs for photographers and business owners. 

Early in 2017 Laura published her first book, Taking the Leap, which walks you through starting a profitable photography business from the very beginning. “I truly love sharing information and helping others not only realize their dream, but make it a reality.”

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