Statistics say that most of us have around 3,500 photos stored on our phones.
How many of your many, many digital snaps do you print?
On average fewer than one in 100,000 cell phone photos are ever freed from their digital jail. As technology changes (anyone still have CDs burned with photos?) we can lose access to our most precious memories.
Why You Should Print Your Family Photos
Studies say that kids’ self-esteem benefits from seeing tangible evidence of their family and all the special times you’ve spent together.
If that doesn’t sway you, this might.
Google VP Vint Cerf recently warned that we could be living in a “forgotten generation or even a forgotten century.” He only needs to point to floppy discs and VHS tapes to make his point. Even all those cloud based storage services are no guarantee, last February Flickr announced they will be deleting old photos.
Here are just a few low stress ideas for getting all those many, many photos out of your phone and into your hands.
Photobooks that Make Themselves – Chatbooks
For those of us with busy lives and little patience for creating masterpiece photobooks, Chatbooks is a no-brainer solution. Download the free app, connect it to either your Instagram, Facebook or Favorites in your camera roll and every time you hit 60 photos, a printed book will arrive in the mail. The least expensive option is $10 per book. I took my research seriously and signed up for an account, they gave me the option of printing books from my very first Instagram post, being impulsive, I clicked yes. There is also the option of creating just one book and allowing you Type-As out there all the freedom to edit and create a real showpiece.
Use this LINK to get $10 off your first order (and I get a $10 credit for being so damn nice and writing this post for you)
This book arrived just the other day, I had completely forgotten about this epic photo. My sweet little nephew adores his cousin Keaton so much he was happily allowing him to attempt shooting toys off his head. And yes, I snapped a pic before I made them stop.
A Printer in Your Pocket – HP Sprocket
Printing at home can seem overwhelming, so many printers, so many choices, such expensive ink. Make it easy on yourself, buy a portable printer with Zink technology. Zink stands for zero ink (hurrah), you buy the special paper which is easily available, pop it in your tiny printer and viola magical memories in hand. The HP Sprocket comes in two sizes, original (2X3 inch prints) and the Sprocket Plus creates prints just slightly larger (2.3 X 3.4 inch). Choose from regular Zink paper, or sticky back, how fun is that? Amazon sells the Zink paper for $14.99 for 100 sheets. Printers are $99 for the original and $149 for the Plus.
Your Favorite Childhood Toy but with Your Photos – RetroViewer
We all think of the classic Viewmaster as a toy from our childhood that allowed us to click through a circular reel of images from Mary Poppins to The Muppets. This iconic toy was originally created to allow adults to take home souvenirs from vacations to places like the national parks. It was even used for military training in the 1950s. But a relatively new company allows you to create your very own reels, they can be parties, vacations, whatever your heart desires. The reels will work in the old Viewmasters if you still have on laying around, they are still sold as toys, or you can buy one from the company. Reels start at $14.95 for a single reel, add a viewer and the cost is $29.95. The more identical reels you buy, the less each one costs. We’re pretty sure we just solved your “what to buy my in-laws for Christmas” problem.
Order online at Image3d
You can make a reel straight from your phone, no limit on file size, larger images just take a bit longer to load. Takes 5 days to make before shipping
