The Best Way To Preserve Your Wedding Photos Is To Print Them In A Photo Album

Reports say 22% of hard drives fail within four years. And those beautifully engraved USBs your photographer presented your wedding photos on have an average lifespan of 5 years. And if you were married in the days of the CD or DVD, they have an average lifespan of 6 years. Better go NOW and check your devices are still readable!

Sadly many have suffered the heartbreaking loss of digital photos — whether their phone was lost/stolen/died, their computer or hard drive crashed, the USB corrupted or through a natural disaster like bush fires and floods sweeping Australia and other parts of the world — it is devastating losing precious memories that can’t be replaced.

Now is a good time to be asking yourself “are my digital photos safe?”.

Technology is evolving rapidly and what is relevant now may be obsolete in 5-10 years from now. There is no better time than now to examine how you store your images safely and preserve your most treasured memories.

Did you know the first commercially available digital camera was released in 1990. It was the Kodak DCS 100 — but there has been many changes since the beginning of the digital image revolution.

Today, it’s not uncommon to be using a camera with a sensor 40-50 times the size of that first DSLR. We think nothing of taking a burst of 10+ images in a single click of the button. We are storing a massive amount of digital files every year.  That amount of photos (and data) can easily become unmanageable so when we need to find particular photos from past years, sorting through the massive amounts of images can be quite daunting.

Storing images in digital format, we assume that our phones and computers will always be able to display JPG images. We assume that they will not become outdated and replaced with newer technology. And we assume that the ‘cloud’ will always be there to safeguard our images. It may seem far fetched, but with the evolution of technology at its current rate, it is a possibility JPG files could soon end up in the digital waste blackhole. 

It’s almost ironic that we store our files digitally to ensure that they’re always available, always accessible, and never get lost. Yet it seems that digital photo storage causes us more headaches and more lost files than print ever did.

Yet, so many of us have been through the painful process of losing photos. We get busy with everyday life that we forget to backup and archive our photos.

We do live in the digital era and long gone is hoard printed photos in shoeboxes in the bottom of a cupboard. It’s a shame as it’s a fun family activity sitting around the living room passing around prints and telling stories of the people in the pictures, where it was taken, the story behind the photo, the hairstyles and fashion — oh the weird and wonderful fashions of the day always get a big belly-ache laughs!

A study was done on how printing photos impacts a family — we highly suggest you read this study as it might just surprise you the positive benefits printing photos will have on your family vs looking at digital photos!

Instead, our photographs — our memories — clutter up our phones, our computers and our online cloud storage. Most photos will never see the light of day. They will sit on a USB at the bottom of the draw gathering dust or lost on the cloud amongst all those megabytes of data. 

Imagine if you were to get out your device to view your wedding photos on your 5th wedding anniversary but couldn’t because the device failed or was obsolete.

For those of you old enough to remember, this isn’t too dissimilar dating back to the days when film photography was being taken over by digital photography. Film processing labs where closing down and being replaced with photo kiosks. 

In comparison to technology, wedding albums have remained virtually unchanged for years. Wedding albums are no longer that awkward big album something you hide in a cupboard. Albums have changed in a positive light, they are more like a contemporary wedding book best suited for the coffee table to enjoy regularly.

Then you have photo books — a product that came along with the digital technology revolution — yes, the options are continuing to evolve, but at a much slower rate every year.

Print is on the rise again!

The act of turning a physical page in a printed book is both tactile and personal. It’s one of the simplest but most enjoyable experiences, yet it is one that digital devices will never be able to replicate.

For most people, the main reason to print will always be the tactile wonder of flipping through a book of beautiful images. Printing is a way to preserve our most precious memories and sounds like a fantastic reason to print your wedding photos sooner than later.

Where is the safest place to keep your digital photos?

There are a variety of different ways you can store digital files, but the simplest method is cloud technology. Cloud storage providers like Dropbox keep your files safe while also making it easier for you to share. But we urge you to consider printing your digital photos too.

What to do with your wedding photos after the day?

We dive into what to do with your wedding photos after receiving them from your photographer and digital photo storage ideas in this article.

So, how are you going to ensure the longevity of your precious photos?

Maybe you will fall in love with our fine art wedding albums …