I read somewhere recently that "In 50 years the most photographed generation in history will have no photos...."
Just stop and think about that for a moment.....Can it be true? Will it be true? How can it be true?
I think the answers to those questions are easy to acknowledge; Everything in our world seems to be locked away on our "computer" devices. In a world where neighbors say hello on Facebook instead of in the front yard (yep, I did that today), when the yearning feeling known as homesicknesses isn't so strong when we're gone because of Skype and FaceTime (thank Larry King for pointing that one out), and a world where visual images bombard us constantly (think Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, etc.) why should anyone PRINT their images?
Here is WHY!...
original image from scan
image after restoration
The above two images show a moment frozen in time! The print was found in a box that had long been abandoned in a barn/shed in Texas, where it weathered wind storms, heat, humidity, rain, cold, and icy conditions for what is estimated to be more than 20 years! The young woman pictured was about 17 years old at the time, wearing a borrowed dress while sitting for a formal portrait that her parents had to scrimp and save for in order that they might have this beautiful portrait!
Still Think Printing Your Images Isn't a Big Deal?
Well, here is another reason to PRINT all those pictures you take!
The young woman pictured above is Mary. Well, Mary fell in love with her handsome Prince, Abo (Albert) and they decided to "live happily ever after".....
Mary and Abo got married, started a family, traveled for work, ran a ranch, enjoyed their grandchildren, and lived their lives to the fullest until the day Mary passed away. Mary was a tough, strong, and loving woman, adored by many people (especially her daughter Tena). Over the years Tena has shared many stories with me about her parents, especially her mother, Mary. Around the time Tena's eldest daughter was preparing to marry her fiancé, I asked Tena if she still had her parents wedding album. Sadly, Tena relayed to me that no images of the day her parents wed were around to share. I found that profoundly sad!
SURPRISE!!!
Recently, Tena and her husband moved from Mississippi to Texas. While packing and sorting to move, Tena was going through a box she had recovered from her parents old homestead when her father sold the place. Guess what she found in a tattered envelop at the bottom of a box that had been sitting in a storage shed out in the county for who knows how many decades?!?!
Original images from Mary and Abo's wedding day December 8, 1948, alongside digitally restored copies.
Can you believe it? After thinking for years that all visual memories had been destroyed in a fire or just plain lost, HISTORY was found!!
These images tell the story of a family's beginning. My dear friend, Tena Young, is here today because a lovely young woman and a handsome young man fell in love! Mary's grandchildren and great grandchildren will be able to see the roots of their existence because someone took the time to PRINT these images! Also included in the pictures were Mary and Abo's parents, who were not only Tena's grandparents but are now great grand parents (to Tena's children) and great great grandparents (to Tena's children's children)!
you can see the wear time inflicted on the edges of the print
even though the originals were beat up, they were enough to enable this photographer to restore and re print them for future generations