PRINT WHAT YOU LOVE...

You may not be aware, indeed why should you be, that I have suffered the loss of both my parents. This is before reaching 40. Indeed, I wasn’t even 18 when my dad passed away.

I was born to ‘older parents’, a term which wasn’t that common back then, but is becoming more and more of a typical thing now. Women are focusing on their careers, perhaps not meeting partners to have children with until much later in life. This was what happened with my parents, and mum was 42 when she had me, dad 52.

These ages are really nothing to even blink at now, many people have babies in their late thirties and forties now. But it wasn’t that common when I was growing up.

I guess I knew that I’d loose my parents before my friends did. Just by the fact they were a lot older than most. It was always in the back of my mind if I thought about the future.

My dad was an avid traveller and ‘picture taker’… You couldn’t really call him a photographer! But he loved documenting our travels and I remember we had a massive cupboard at the end of our hallway in my childhood home, full of albums.

My dad passed away a long time ago, but my mum continued taking lots of photos. She would enjoy sending ‘unflattering’ photos of me to family, and her friends who I may have never met! I would get a bit annoyed at this as it’s not nice to have photos passed around that you don’t approve of! But my mum must have thought that every photo of me was lovely and just wanted to share what she had taken. She was still proud of those images of me, as she loved me, no matter how silly I think I looked!

Dad died of cancer, so was an ‘expected’ death and I did get to say goodbye, however due to the nature of his cancer robbing his voice, I didn’t hear his reply to me and I hate the fact I can’t remember. For whatever reason mum took me home and we waited for the call that he had passed. A man of dignity to the end, he didn’t want to see him go I think. If I had been older I would have wanted to stay, but you just go along with it when you’re a kid, overwhelmed and not quite believing that your parent is dying.

Mum dying was a shock. A knock at the door one summer evening and a policewoman telling me her friend had become concerned so they broke in and found her. Coroner’s verdict was heart issues. She had suffered heart problems but there was no indication that she was going to pass soon. It was an awful shock, I didn’t get to say goodbye, and it really affected me in so many ways.

My photography business was a fledgling at the time, I was still building a portfolio and going to people’s houses to take their photos. I had to stop and take a while away when mum died, but in the end it gave me a good focus and kept me busy.

When I had to clear mum’s house – a big and awful job, and as an only child, the responsibility of which fell entirely on me – I made sure to grab all the precious family photo albums.

Some of them are in the loft, others were in sturdy plastic boxes in the shed. Taking up loads of much needed room, yet I couldn’t bring myself to sort through them.

Yesterday, though, I did it. I moved the albums, loose prints and artwork inside.

A mammoth job as I had to find space in the house for all of these precious memories. But I managed it and the photograph above is a small snapshot of the multitude of albums, all a mix of sizes and designs. I think my dad had made an effort of starting to put them in some sort of order, going by the letters on some of them, but I can’t see any clear order.

It dawned on me that the only reason I have all these memories is because they were printed. That is the sole reason for their ‘survival’ through many years and several house moves. These precious images that I can hold and touch. 

My son’s baby images are all on an old Macbook, which no longer works and I can’t find anyone to recover the data for me. Those images could be lost forever, as they were digital. I have quite a few prints thankfully, but the videos of him scuttling across the floor and his first laughs are all lost in a digital realm, which I can’t access. This is because of the digital world moving on so quickly, updating constantly, and you’ll get left behind if you’re not careful.

The reason for this incredibly long post is that PRINTS MATTER. They will never need to be ‘updated’ or need new batteries… they exist so YOU and YOUR FAMILY exist and will stay alive in memories forever.

I have brought back prints into all Collections and I am so pleased as I wouldn’t want any of my lovely families to not have a physical memory of their session to treasure.

Signing off now in an abrupt way as my kids are fighting and want lunch…. Please heed what I say, which is…..PRINT WHAT YOU LOVE.