The Value of Photography



Let's face it. Photography is getting cheaper by the day. When I mean "cheaper", I mean that in two ways:

1. It is now much less expensive to purchase a quality camera and to make pictures and have pictures taken.

2. It is now much easier for people to accept really bad photography as acceptable to them.


Now, I don't want anyone to stop reading, because I am not planning to rant on with the oft-spoken phrases of "everybody's a photographer" and "nobody does it like the old days!". Nope. This post is about you.

Why is it about you? Because in a world with a lot of choices, YOU are the one who makes the choice of what photos and photography is worth.  Let me give you an example of how it goes/went down in my family:

When my first child was born, my wife and I quickly scrambled for the baby photos of ourselves so that we could see who our new baby most-resembled. My wife had a trunk-load of photos of her as a baby. Why? Because her family valued photos and photography. They valued having memories and the treasure that photos can be. Pictures to her family were an important part of creating keepsakes that would last generations. 

Me? I had two pictures. One of me at birth. And one of me at 1 years old. Both were blurry and over-exposed. The 1-year old photo looked like it was taken as an afterthought at a party. The birth photo looked like it was a standard issue flash photo given by the hospital. My family, although they sure do love each other, don't see the value of photos in the same way. Oh, they HAVE photos of us, but all of those pictures are generally around christmas time or random birthday parties. The only real records of my childhood were that I was alive during christmas and that I attended birthday parties pretty frequently.

It is because of this very situation that I wanted to be a photographer for our family. I didn't want my children to grow up with a mystery of what it was like. Memories are very important and in my opinion, perfectly kept with pictures. 

So this leads to another consideration. If you are going to have your memories recorded and handed down to the generations to come. What kind of quality photos would you like to hand down? Blurry, overexposed photos on cheap paper that fades in just a few years? Are you going to dump a bunch of digital files on a usb drive in hopes that your kids and grandkids will have the same technology 20-40 years from now to look at them? Not me. I'm printing mine. I want my family to be able to hold those memories in their hands and pass them around to others. What about you?

Popular posts from this blog

What camera should I buy? (2018 edition)

Image
This is probably one of the most asked questions by anyone looking to get into photography. To be fair, there are way too many choices out there, so let's do our best to tackle this question as objectively as possible. First off, I need to let you readers know that I have owned and used a tremendous amount of different cameras over the years. From smartphone cameras to point-and-shoot models to industry-leading DSLRs to mirrorless and everything in-between. That being said, I obviously have my preferences. This post will not spend time on that. I'll try to be as quick and concise as possible. Here goes: 1. Get what you can afford, but be reasonable. Seriously. If you can't afford much, I would advise save up to expand your options. If you are looking for the perfect camera, then you will be majorly disappointed, because it doesn't exist. I DO know that unless you are willing to spend more than 100 dollars, then you probably wont' find anything worth buying...
Read more

How to photograph your family holiday time.

Image
In my family history, one of the most consistent activities that occurred during the holidays is that the camera was ever-present. You knew that you were getting your photo taken during this time. As time when on and I began to get into photography, I joined in this trend as well. Soon, however, I started to find myself asking, "what should I focus on for these photos?" This was because every holiday was looking the same. I wanted to somehow make holiday photos a little more interesting. Not just for the viewer, but for me as the photographer. Here are a few tips that I have found useful for keeping holiday photos a bit more interesting for everyone: 1. Start a tradition: These kinds of photos, although kind of cheesy, can be fun. Get the kids in front of the tree, pose everybody with wrapping paper head-pieces, or come up with a new idea. The tradition photos have the less likely chance of promoting any grumbles, as they are "tradition after all". Try t...
Read more