Matt Day talks about the print and it’s archival quality. Photos can mean so much, you want to make sure they’re going to be able to live beyond us…

You might remember our blog post earlier this year called “Will You Print or Risk Losing Your Photos to the Digital “Dark Age”?. Basically Vice President of Google, Dr Vinton “Vint” Cerf,  recently warned that vast amounts of digital information might soon be lost despite our best measures to preserve digital content.  Simply put, the software needed to run it will eventually fall out of use as new technologies are developed.  Essentially we risk our information falling into a digital “dark age”.

So this morning when I found Matt Day’s latest video called “Print Your Photos!” I thought this was certainly worth another look. Matt makes a few great points with regards to prints being a physical thing. If it’s right there, in your hand, you only need your eyes to access and enjoy the image (and memory). In other words, you don’t need login details, a USB reader or some form of software.

Matt explains… “Printing is something that so many people overlook these days with all of the digital technology becoming more integrated into our daily lives. Photographers often talk about the print being the true form of a photograph, and while I agree with that statement, I want to talk about the print and it’s archival quality. Photos can mean so much, you want to make sure they’re going to be able to live beyond us.”

We need to remember that our digital footprint may only last a lifetime.  Physical objects are the only artefacts we know that can withstand the test of time.  With that in mind, one of the best options you have right now for ensuring the long term survival of important photos and documents, is to print them out (on good quality materials).

If you’d like to get going with a few prints today, visit the Orms Print Room & Framing website where you will get all the printing info you need. Alternatively you can send your photos to us via email. You can then collect the prints once they’re ready, or we can courier them to you if you’d prefer that. Mail your photos to Orms Cape Town or Orms Bellville.

If you’d like to see more from Matt, he has a fantastic collection of videos on YouTube. A great source of information if you are interested in film photography, although Matt does use digital as well. You can also stay in touch with Matt via his Instagram page, Twitter account or on Google+.