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[β¦] no one is going to gather around the harddrive or cloud storage in later life to reminisce.
You probably have a good amount of memories in the form of photographs.
It's highly likely that for the past 10+ years, most of them are digital.
I have them too.
In the cloud, in my laptop, on external drives⦠you name it.
And I've been thinking a lot about this recently.
Why now?
We moved continents with Lau (my wife) and our two cats in 2022.
In 2024 she had the idea of getting ourselves a photo album that "represents" the experiences we had in the year. I thought it was a great idea and that I would love to expand it back up to 2022.
Some weeks ago I sat down to select pictures from last year to print.
It already paid off
I have a video call with my parents every Sunday.
We rarely skip this. We go over what's happened in the past week, what do we have planned for the next one, how much we miss each other. The usual.
And as I mentioned, I have a lot of memories in the forms of photographs. Have had them for a while now.
But this time was different.
I also had an album of physical photos where I could point to things.
Reminisce.
Tell them what was going on at the time. It really felt like transporting the three of us to that time and place.
That has never happened to me with digital photos.
Even if I had them forever.
The chemistry behind this
"Reviewing a photo album must fire something in your brain." I thought to myself after this experience.
I did some research, and sure enough, there's a chemical explanation.
I will not go into a lot of detail not to bore you, but the main source is this blog. Memories can fire up at least these two neurochemicals:
- Oxytocin: one of the "feel good hormones". It promotes positive feelings.
- Cortisol: a stress hormone. This is fired up if you think of negative memories.
As per the book "You Are The Placebo" (UK, NL, US):
βYour brain and body donβt know the difference between having an actual experience in your life and just thinking about the experience β neurochemically, itβs the same.β β βYou Are The Placeboβ
This is also the main reason why you should not tell others your plans.
Not due to some secrecy, but because doing so makes you feel like you actually did the thing, making you less likely to actually make it happen.
First do, then tell.
Not the other way around.
If you're taking just one learning from this article, let it be that.
The feeling of physical
I've been illustrating and taking pictures digitally for many years now.
And every time I have a print of my work, either for me or to send to a customer, I am overjoyed. There's a feeling of accomplishment, of "this is real" that is really hard to describe.
This thing did not exist.
I happened.
Now this thingexists.
In a very selfish and egocentric way, one can say:
"If not for me, this would never have existed".
As bad as that makes me sound, it's true.
As it is with everything each one of us creates.
A more thoughtful selection
This is not specific about print vs digital.
What changes is your behaviour towards consuming it.
When you print photos, you are much more critical. The ratio of "good, memory evoking photos" vs "crappy, everyday photos" is so much better than when we do not.
Digital photography made photography essentially free.
This enabled us to both have so many more memories without thinking of the financial cost, but at the hidden cost of "saving memories just for the sake of it".
Slowing down
When was the last time you sat down to review a place you visited? A moment you experienced? A memory?
The ease of "going to the next photo" with digital takes a bit of the joy out of it. Being able to quickly scroll through hundreds of photos only a swipe away, just feels different.
Arguably, if you have an album with 4 photos per page, you can do so as quickly since you go over 4 photos on "each swipe", but the physical aspect of it, just the extra care you need not to damage the pages, etc. changes your behaviour towards it.
Having your photos printed helps you slow down.
Improved attention span
If you are looking at digital photos, you are looking at your phone or computer.
This means you are never "really" there.
You are one notification or swipe away from completely shifting your focus.
If anything comes up, you're still in your phone or computer. It's easier to drift away from the photo viewing experience.
On the other hand, if you're looking at a photo album, you are looking at a photo album.
You're not looking at your phone or computer to do it.
The focus is on something else.
It's much easier to stay purposeful and keep looking at the photos, if that's what you really want, with this separation.
"I'll see it when I'm done". Or "I'll look for this when I'm done". No quick switch and back "just to check a little thing" that we all know can spiral into utter distraction so quickly.
It's important to do things with intention.
Takeaways
- If you want to slow down and appreciate your art more, you need to start printing.
- Of course, space can become an issue, which is actually, not a bad thing.
- Being mindful of space will make you more picky. Only the very best will surface.
- Being more picky will help you refine your taste and objectives when printing.
With time, you will know what you really like from art.
You will only print the things that you really love.
One could even say, only things that improve your life with its existence.
And to me, that is what art is all about.
I hope you enjoyed this issue.
During my research I found out about other very interesting facts related to how our memory gets worse if we take pictures of a memory (offloading the need to remember), or how what we see differs from what a camera sees.
If these are some topics you'd like me to dig deeper into, reply to this email with "Yes" or something similar, so I know!
That's it for today. If you enjoyed it, let me know! See you on the next one.
All the best,
Juanma from Creating Lightly
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