Books are wonderful.

Even though I’m a huge Kindle fan (I’m on my third version already) there’s just something nice about holding an actual, printed book in your hand that you just can’t get from the digital version.

And as a photographer (who’s spent some time in the darkroom), I can really appreciate holding a photograph in my hands as well.  It seems to solidify the effort of what goes into the making of an image.  

I have a cedar chest full of old family photographs. There is such variety in those images – the papers they were printed on, their shapes and sizes, the unique edges, and the chemistry used to print them.  And each comes with its own bit of history printed right on the back.

I suppose boxes of old photographs will soon be a thing of the past.

Digital photographs are great though.  They’re fantastic, actually.  Believe me – I LOVE the technology.  But I worry that all the digitized images made today won’t be compatible with the technology to read them in the future.

Will there be card readers capable of reading antiquated memory cards full of our family memories if we failed to back them up, upload them or download them to the cloud or the sky or whatever it will be called by then? Or will they be like the VHS tapes we have boxed up in the attic?

Its kinda scary when you think about it. Technology changes so fast – all could be lost if we’re not careful!

But I digress.

The reason for this post…books.  Printed books. Books of words or picture books.  Its such a great way to preserve what ever it is you do.

I’ve made a couple of books of some of my photographs (the first attempt is attached) and I found it really easy and fun to do and relatively inexpensive.  I used ‘Blurb’ and the tutorial on the site is ‘step by step’.  You can make books of your poetry, books of your photography, your art, non-fiction books, fiction books, cookbooks, children’s books, etc., etc. etc.  You’re only limited by your own imagination.

And if all else fails…there will always be books!