Do you remember your old family movies?  You know the ones you had to watch with the old projector and screen or if you are younger, the VCR?  If you didn't have those old home movies put on a DVD, you probably can't watch them anymore.  The way you watched them is obsolete today.  Those images will never be seen or remembered in future generations.  Is that what is going to happen to your digital images?  Sure it's great to look at them on a digital frame, but what happens when CD's and DVD's are nonexistent?  What if your digital frame breaks?  You'll throw your SD card in a drawer and in a year forget about it.    

 I am often asked if I provide digital files with my portraits.  The answer is complicated.  I do offer "web" quality images when a certain spending level is made, and I always offer to put up a couple of images on social media for my clients to share.  As an artist and historian, I appreciate the beauty of the printed image.  Every image is unique.  Some should be printed on canvas, others on metal, and still others as paper prints or books.  The way the image was handled in processing and what the customer is looking for, determines what media it needs to be on.  Just handing a client a CD takes away from the excitement and emotion of opening that box and seeing the beauty inside.  If your images are just "shot and burned", there is no artistry to them.  They usually have not been carefully retouched and have not had any special techniques added to them.  If your TV or monitor has not been calibrated, the colors will not look their best.  So many people ask me how my pictures are so vibrant.  They are that way because I take the time to retouch them and print them to the best media.

Can you imagine your child is a senior in high school or about to get married and they want to use their baby portraits in an ad or display?  If you didn't have the printed images, you couldn't show them those memories.  Can you have a baby book without prints?  How could you record your child's life without prints of how much they have grown?  What would your wedding photography be without an album?  Your prints may fade or get torn over the years, but at least you will have an image that might be bought back to life with an artist's touch.  If your CD or SD card can't be read, you have no images.

I know that digital images are here to stay and they definitely have their place, but I still think the printed art form of photography will always be around.  Like great works of art that are in museums, great photography should also be recorded in printed form for future generations to enjoy.