Leaving crumbles behind - aka printing your photos

My family history exists in just a handful of physical photographs: 7 from my great-grandparents, about 50 from my grandmother's youth, and one treasured image of my grandfather arriving at the New York docks as a young sailor.

My dad was a photographer, leaving us an attic full of memories. But my own photos? They're trapped in the digital realm – on hard drives, cloud services, and my iPhone.

Here's the scary part: if my hard drive fails, my credit card expires, or nobody knows my passwords after I'm gone, all those memories disappear forever.

Ironic, isn't it? We take more photos than any generation before us, yet risk leaving nothing behind.

What to do?

Start printing photos today. Even a few physical copies will make a difference. If you enjoy making albums and photobooks, by all means, lucky you – and keep up the good work!!!

I seldom find the time for the bigger projects, such as making an album or a book. So I decided to buy a printer and print a few copies every week. It has turned into a healthy amount of copies. And many nice conversations around the dinner table about our memories, travels, and anniversaries as a family.

If you don’t have a printer, or look for a budget option, bring your smartphone to the local drugstore or mall. You’ll most likely find a place to print photos there. Take note of when they run campaigns – at the right times of year you can get to pennies per copy.

I enjoy having a Wi-Fi connected printer that lets me instantly print good shots when my smartphone showcases a photo or a throwback to a memory. If you print regularly, printers have a tendency to work better too.

Digital is convenient, but printed photos are resilient. Even budget printers print with quality comparable to the photos I have from my great-grandparents.

Leave a few photos around in different places. A trail of crumbles so to speak, something for future generations to discover and be delighted by.

As an engineer better with code than behind the camera, I am passionate about photo software. My dream is to create a place on the internet that can help people keep their memories and make sure the most valuable are passed on to the next generations.

I don't know how yet.

And if I look at the long list of startups that have tried to create something in this space (and are not big tech companies using photos to drive device sales), this is apparently very hard.

Not giving up, it just needs more work.

I've created LiveWall to help people collect memories from their most important days. It is not the solution to what I talk about here, but it is one step on the journey. At least it helps you secure as many memories as possible from your big days – weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, parties or any other kind of important event.

I don't know where this will take me, but there must be something smart to do about this.

Where are you storing your most precious memories? I'd love to hear your thoughts; you can find me on c@livewall.no.