Printing Your Photos - Why It Still Matters in 2026
These days, family memories and special moments are almost universally being stored in the digital space. Gone are the days of family albums, collections of slides & film, and even photographs on walls are becoming scarcer. But is this a good thing? Certainly, in some respects – for instance, we always highly recommend digitising your old photographs to preserve them, because physical media can be easily damaged! But there is value in having the best of both worlds.
The black hole of digital storage
A common thing that we see day-to-day in our shop is that people enjoy the convenience and easy of phones for taking photos, but perhaps a bit too much! People come in wanting photos taken off their phone for us to restore, edit, or print – and then have to spend several minutes sifting through the thousands of photos (sometimes tens of thousands!) filling up their photo gallery!
That's the double-edged sword of convenience. Sure, phones make it easier than ever to take photos - especially in impromptu situations (no more wishing you had brought your camera) - but it also results in less thinking about photos. With no need to worry about the restrictions of film or memory cards, it's easy to take dozens of photos that make you wonder later on: "why did I take that?" And those 'filler' photos drown out the quality photos of family, friends, and activities that you'd like to share and keep.
This actually means that the fact that printed photos physically take up space isn't necessarily a bad thing. This constraint, especially when you're trying to fit them into photo albums, necessitates curation of your image collection. There's no space for those filler images, you have to make decisions about what photos make the cut. And in doing so, you create an easily accessible and structured collection of your important photos. Additionally, when you frame your more important images in your home (or turn them into photo products, e.g. canvas prints), you're keeping those memories front-and-centre and part of your family's daily life. Not forgotten in the depths of your phone.
Let's be real - of the hundreds and thousands of photos in your gallery, how many do you actually care about?
The two spectres of digital photos - compression & corruption
Digital is fantastic, but it isn't without downsides when it comes to storing images. There are two key issues to consider: compression, and corruption.
Increasingly, our team is seeing more and more people relying on social media platforms for storing and sharing photos. Now, we can't deny that places like Messenger make it incredibly easy for you to collect and share photos with family. But people often forget that in order to make these platforms convenient, quick to load and efficient, images that you and others share to these platforms get heavily compressed. Most times, it isn't something you notice, because the photos are still optimised for viewing on smaller devices like phones. But as soon as you zoom in, you'll notice the pixellation. And unfortunately, unless you still have the original on your camera, there's no great way to reverse the effects of compression. Even AI upscalers that promise to 'fix' these images aren't perfect, since it ultimately has to 'guess' the details. This often results in strange additions to photos and faces not really looking like the actual person!
The other issue is file corruption. This is less of an issue with cloud storage backups, but matters a great deal when using physical storage (i.e. computer hard drives, CDs, memory cards, and the storage on your phone). All types of physical storage have a lifespan, and unfortunately, it's not always easy to determine when storage will fail. And some types of storage, when they do fail, will fail catastrophically - making it difficult to recover data. That isn't to say that physical prints are perfect, either – water, fire, sun exposure can all damage prints. But ultimately, the best preservation strategy for your important photos is to keep multiple copies of them in different places & formats. That way, if one fails, you have a backup.
A better way to enjoy your memories
Many generations will be sure to remember the fun of looking through the photo albums of their parents & grandparents. These days, the practice of creating photo albums isn't just limited to grandparents. We're actually seeing younger generations of parents returning to this tradition as a special way to preserve special events in their family's lives.
The photo album is a special way to connect and bond over memories. What sounds better: someone going, "oh, do you remember [event]? Let me just find it on my phone" and then proceeding to scroll through their phone for several awkward minutes; or someone going, "hey, do you remember [event]? I've got a photo album from it" and pulling it off the shelf? Photo albums invite people to sit around and share their experiences with each other.
Viewing photo albums creates a space for people to connect and share memories.
Printing is easier than ever
Digital technology may have improved greatly, but so has printing. The days of waiting several days for your prints to turn out is long-gone. In fact, you don't even have to leave your home.
Lazer Photos & Cameras have just introduced a new print ordering platform that makes it even easier to create & order photo prints and giftware. The online-based platform can be accessed from any computer or smartphone with an internet connection. Simply upload your photos, choose the sizes, finish, and quantities, and place your order. You can then either collect your order from our store or have it couriered to your address. Most of our print orders are ready the same day they're ordered!
Want to learn more? Check our our print order platform here.