While it is tempting to blame all things that are now passé on smart phones and the constantly evolving technological landscape, there is nothing – absolutely nothing – preventing us from printing photographs as physical keepsakes.
Viewing images captured on smartphones, with fingers holding the screen to zoom in is one thing; but holding a printed photograph, tenderly, is an entirely different experience.
Once printed, they stay in the albums forever – unless a former partner in the album becomes the perpetrator of grief and needs to be violently chopped off with sharp scissors or unceremoniously burnt in a New Year bonfire; the forever factor might even come into question if lack of attention allows the image to succumb to moisture or whatever-it-is-that-eats-pictures-left-on-their-own.
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There is no delete option here, which is what makes printed photographs such treasures. Whether saved in old trunks from days of yore, or in albums neatly arranged in wooden cabinets in the living room, they offer a tangible connection to memories, especially when recollection of an event, person or place tug at your heartstrings.
And the pleasure they evoke, on a rainy day or any day, when you leaf through them and find friends and family in their most candid or posed moments – sigh!
That one image bringing back memories like an avalanche, flooding you with emotions, accompanied by silent sighs to suggest contentment. As if you have been transported to that time and space to occupy a part of that world that is no more – or is not as it used to be.
There is a sense of posterity in printed pictures that digital ones, with all the filters in place, cannot emulate. But, of course, no one can deny the rush of emotions when Google sends a prompt on your phone with a ‘Rediscover this day’ or some such message with the timeline incorporated.
From the 36-exposure limit of a regular camera reel to the endless captures on smartphones and digital cameras, a chasm of difference lies between pausing time to factor yourself into the image and in endlessly scrolling through hundreds of images to find yourself.
