A photo is for life. Not just a hard drive.
These days we’re surrounded by photographs. We can’t move for the number clogging up our phones and being sent to us by friends and family. Which means the really special ones can often get lost and buried. And that’s a tragedy, in more ways than one.
When I was a kid, if a photo wasn’t printed it didn’t exist. Now, our children are used to accessing their life in pictures at the swipe of a finger – from pretty much anywhere. It doesn’t just shape how they see the world, it shapes how they see themselves in it. In this age of the instant, the familiar ritual of hanging framed photos seems antiquated to them.
And why wouldn’t it?
I remember sitting at the dinner table on a Sunday afternoon at my grandparents’ house and poring over the photographs, paintings and art work that hung there in that room, and around their house. All the family photos of the children the different generations, the family tree spread across the damask wallpaper. It told the story of us. Photos, through their physical presence, held a power that is dissolved and dissipated these days. Time doesn’t stand still in an image any more. It’s constantly updating and uploading. The time our parents invested in saving special photos and celebrating them is used up just staying on top of the constant flow.
At Pop-Up Portraits we are passionate about rebalancing this process, and capturing your children in a way that we believe is ‘just them’. So you have images you want look at for years to come, that truly hold onto the now. It might be the way they smile today with that missing tooth. Their fringe that just refuses to do anything except flick out at the sides. The way you love them.
We put a lot of affection into making images that mean everything, and we make it easy for you to proudly display them too. To own that moment in time and put it where it belongs. Not in a hard drive or endless scroll of mini-moments on your phone – but on a wall, in your home. Where it can serve as a precious shared milestone for you all.
A framed photo so a lot more than just decoration. Psychologists have explored the link between photography and identity in children for years and have found that family portraits can help boost a child’s self-esteem. David Krauss, a psychologist from Cleveland, Ohio helped pioneer the use of personal photography and family albums to assist in counselling and therapy.
“I think it is really important to show a family as a family unit. It is so helpful for children to see themselves as a valued and important part of that family unit. A photographer’s job is to create and make the image look like a safe holding space for kids where they are safe and protected. Kids get it on a really simple level.”
David Krauss, Psychologist & Co-author of “Photo Therapy and Mental Health” (1983)
Photographs show children the story of how their family came to be. They explain the personalities of the people who are close and important to them. It gives them a tangible way to understand a lot of complex connections. Many of the experts who specialise in this field agree that a printed photograph is the only real way to do this. Seeing it on a tablet, computer screen or social media site simply doesn’t create the same impact for helping boost self-esteem. Which is something we’ve believed for years (and you won’t be surprised to know that our homes are chock full of family photos)!
We get it. Life is hectic, and when the moment has passed it can be hard to find the time to go back and print and frame a special photo. But trust us. In years to come, you and your kids will be very glad you did.