My mother recently showed me a scrapbook. It contained postcards and photographs of England assembled by my Dutch grandfather from 1966 to 1977.
There is a photograph of him and my Dutch grandmother at the entrance of Westminster Abbey. There is also one of my grandmother, my mother and my father posing in the grounds of Hampton Court Palace.
These two photographs are over 40 years old.
They will, with careful attention, still be around in 40 years’ time.
That is the beauty of prints. They come with a guarantee that we will be able to view them in the future.
Digital files don’t.
Optical discs corrode.
Hard drives fail.
File formats become obsolete.
If you want to ensure that you will be able to view today’s digital photographs at some point in the future, have prints made at a reputable lab.
A page from my Dutch grand parents' England scrapbook. Still "readable" after 40 years. (c) Roger Overall 2009
