There has been a HUGE boom in digital photography in the last 8 years. We have seen people of all walks of life begin using digital cameras. They are quite literally everywhere, on your phone, in your pocket and accessible all the time. But how many of the pictures being taken are actually being printed?

Well the facts are these, according to the Photo Marketing Association ( PMA ) in the 12 month period ending in Nov 2007 the average American had approx 1000 photos stored on hard drives, media cards or CD’s all of which have gone unprinted. Are you one of these folks? The answer here is probably. So what are we doing with all these pictures? Why do we take them and just store them? Well the answer can be found in the hands of most Americans on any given day. These images are being used electronically rather than in the form of prints. We have them on our laptops, iPods, iPhones and Droids.

Today we have so many options for displaying our images but are really thinking long term when we use these electronic devices in this fashion? Frankly and unfortunately we aren't, but why aren't we? If you look at the industry of digital photography, digital cameras are being put into virtually every electronic device known to man, while at the same time the photo finishing industry (the people printing your images) is running behind. Don’t get us wrong, folks are still making prints and sharing them with friends and family. However, the finishing industry just hasn't found its footing yet in terms of how to entice customers to print those images. The “instant gratification” you get when you shoot digital has an undeniable power and let’s face it; digital cameras themselves and our own complacency have perpetuated the “print problem”. I have seen 3 year old kids mug for a photos and immediately say “let me see it" referring to the image that was just taken and now being displayed on the back of the camera. I also personally know people that have an 8 gig chip in their camera and carry it with them like some sort of a handy display mechanism. The take it with them everywhere just so they can show people their grandkids, dog and that vacation they took to Italy 2 years ago. In this space there is no need for having pictures in your wallet or even a photo album with your special memories.

This to me, is a sad turn of events. Maybe they do this because they don’t know how to get the pictures off their camera or they don’t want to “bother” with prints because they don’t want to store them. Ultimately these folks will be very sorry that they have chosen this path. See if their camera is lost or stolen, so are their ONLY copies of that trip to Italy. Maybe they have them backed up on their computer. What never heard of a hard drive failure? Even media cards fail, when this happens and no backup or prints have been made, you lose everything. So what is the solution? Start printing and backing up your files, period.

Between 2006 and 2007 PMA tracked a whopping increase of 31% in online ordering of images from digital sources through online labs. This number grew to 40% in 2008 and is expected to continue to grow. What this means is that photo finishers are finally recognizing the problem and doing a better job of getting their customers to not only save their files but to also print them.

There are some great solutions out there to assist you with all of this too. Storing and printing your images is as easy as joining a lab that allows for you to do both. Most companies today will allow you to upload your images and in some cases will actually provide you with offsite storage for a nominal annual fee. This will provide you with safety and peace of mind. The cool part is you can access your images from anywhere by simply accessing your account online. Let’s say you are visiting a friend, you access your account through your smart phone and download your “favorites” folder from your online storage for them to see. This friend wants a print of one or two of the images you have. No problem, you can fill the order right on your phone and in many cases pick up the print in an hour or less from the time the order is placed! Better yet, you can share your online gallery with friends and family across the country, they can then order the pictures they want right from your gallery and have them printed in their home town. This online storage of your images is a safer way to keep your images too. Because it is off site, should your home experience a calamity like fire or natural disaster, your photos will survive, in an online facility far away from the disaster. The world of photos is getting smaller and smaller, progressive photo finishing companies are making it easier and easier to not only access but store and print those images, no matter the source or the destination of the final print. Take advantage of this technology but remember to back yourself up.

Ok wait, didn't I just say that backing yourself up is what you were doing by using an online company? Well yes however if you don't PRINT your images you are missing the point of this article. While all of the electronic gadgets are wonderful, the connectivity for storage and retrieval of your images is awesome; the longevity of such systems is just not there.

Take for instance hard drives, media cards, CDs, DVDs, even online storage companies have the potential for loss of your images, the simple fact remains that they can all fail. The best answer here is to print your images, make multiple copies and give them to friends and family; this is the ultimate “backup” to your picture storage. Think about it, for a second, how many of you still have 3.5 inch floppy disks? Or even older 5.25 inch floppy disks? What about Beta Tapes or VHS-C. These technologies were the latest greatest storage devices just a few years ago. In 20 years from now will your hard drive even be readable by your new computer? How about your DVDs or CDs? Media cards are already getting so small you can practically sneeze on one and spend an hour looking for it on the floor.

Your photos will be a legacy for your family, but not because they were stored on an inaccessible media drives or because they were locked up in an online account that only the owner knew the password for. What happens to those files when someone passes and the bill for the storage stops being paid? You guessed it they get terminated and you may have lost thousands of memories in a nanosecond.

None of today's options beat the print that is stored in an attic in a shoe box. You can still use online labs to store your stuff but for goodness sake PRINT your images, send one to your family; they will love you for it and keep them safe for generations. Don’t let the glitz of the electronic era of photography dictate the legacy of your future, use the ultimate back up, prints and insure that those crazy Facebook profile pictures will be remembered long after you are gone.

– aloha.