Why do you love to photograph your children?

Is it because you want to capture them growing up and keep memories of them being little, their milestones and doing those adorable things we know they will stop one day? Photos let us hold on to their baby faces and big smiles that change over time.

But what do you do with all of these photos? Do you ever print them? Let me show you why printing your photos will benefit your children.

Our lives exist on our phones and social media. Depending on how freely you share images of your family online, places like Instagram and Facebook will be your photo albums. It’s convenient – friends and families can see what you’re up to, how fast your kids grow and all the wonderful adventures you have together.

But have you ever thought about how your children experience those images? Until they’re old enough to join social media, they probably won’t see most of them. And once they join, they’ll probably ask you to delete all of their photos anyway!

So instead of filling up your phone camera roll and computer, print your images. As often as possible. Create wall galleries, creative photo displays, photo albums. And then over time, replace photos on your walls, add new ones, create yearly albums for each child or for your family as a whole. And then watch your children flick through those albums, examine the pictures on your walls and getting lost in seeing their own faces decorating your home.

Printing your images has lots of benefits. They make your house look homely, lived in. And they give every family member a sense of place.

Studies show that when children see photographs of themselves, it greatly improves their self-esteem and confidence. There’s a lot of evidence for it too: For example this study by Ammermann & Fryrear from 1975.
Researchers found that family photos placed around our houses are vital because of the message these images project to the people living there. What they say to a child is that they are important, they are part of a family unit and they belong in this space. Isn’t that what we all want to feel? To belong?

Also, seeing yourself in photos constantly desensitises you to how different a photograph can look from the image your mirror projects. We all know that feeling of “not looking like ourselves” on images but the more images we see of ourselves, the more we get used to it. That works for children as much as for adults. I recently wrote an article about how portraits and mirrors show a different version of ourselves if you want to have a read.

I remember when I was a child, I loved flicking through my own photo album as well as my parents’ albums. We didn’t have a lot of family photos on our walls but albums were kept in the cupboard and frequently looked at.
Those albums told me stories about how my parents grew up, what they were like when they were my age, what my grandparents looked like when they were my parent’s age and so on. It’s family history and everyone has their place in it.

Photo albums are still my favourite thing. I love sitting down with an album, browsing through the pages, remembering back to when the images where taken – who was present, what we did that day or that week. There are lots of companies that create beautiful photo books, like Blurb, Cewe or Saal Digital. I use a variety of suppliers for my personal as well as my client work.

I feel very strongly about printed images – as decoration, as entertainment and as family heirlooms – which is why I am currently switching up my family photography pricing and offers to include some form of prints with all packages to guarantee that your photos don’t just end up on your computer and social media.

Here’s a little sneak peek: