Last week, I crawled out of my little anti-social pit and
ventured into Leeds city centre for the opening of the new Jessops store. It’s
not a completely new store, but it’s all been redesigned with a new concept
focusing on setting your photos free. And it inspired me to write a little
something! Totally not sponsored, FYI.
Since getting an Instax polaroid camera last year, I’ve been loving
having actual printed photos around my room – not to mention the addition of
photo booth snaps (of which I am lacking very much!) and scrapbooks of trips/occasions.
I’m very much a fan of print over digital, which I know sounds odd being a
blogger doesn’t it? I should probably be all “Print is dying!! Read blogs
instead!!’ of which I am very much a fan, I only buy magazines on the odd occasion,
but when it comes to photos? I like having actual hard copies of things that I
want to remember. I have framed photos up all over, I have scrapbooks full of
photos, I have albums under my bed. This sounds like I have lot of photos from
lots of exciting trips/events; I don’t, but the few that I do have are printed
out to see.
We live in such a digital world now, everything is online, people
aren’t printing anything and what happens when your computer/phone/hard drive dies?
All of your memories are gone. A friend of mine lost SO many photos of her
daughter from birth to her first birthday because they weren’t printed or
backed up and her phone got damaged. And I found that heartbreaking! We all
hear stories of kids trying to flick through book pages like it’s an iPad
screen but apparently the same happens with photos. They aren’t used to seeing
printed images and so double tap them to zoom like we do on our phones. And
yeah, growing up having access to such an extensive digital world is AMAZING,
but in balance.
Much like vinyl records have made a resurgence, so have
polaroid cameras. Everyone’s gone retro and I am SO here for it. I LOVE my
instax mini. It might not be the most compact to take out and about, but there
are different models and you can always just get a strap/carrier for it! The
photos are worth it (in my, humble, opinion) because they’re just a bit more
unique and with the array of frames available, why wouldn’t you want them? You
can also get those little instax printers that connect to your phone so you can
print phone snaps in polaroid style which is fab for on-the-go! But one thing I
did pick up in Jessops was a ‘shuffle board’. Which is basically a photo frame
that holds 13 different images, but instead of trying to line-up 13 different print outs, they’re all on one sheet for ease! Perfect gifts to ensure all of your
loved ones have your face plastered on their walls! (My Gran already has about
8 photos of me and my brother as opposed to one of every other grandchild, so I
don’t think I need to bother there!)
I just think it’s nice to have photos up on your walls of
the people you love or places you’ve enjoyed visiting. Because it’s nice to
look around and smile remembering things rather than looking at a ‘Live, Laugh,
Love’ poster and feeling nothing.
Loves. Emma.