Remember the photo album? You know, that decorative book that holds all of your pre-millennia memories? In today’s digital world, traditional photo albums are becoming more and more obsolete.

And while the advances provided by digital images – and their storage and display – are wonderful, there are plenty of photo album features we’re going to miss.

1. The Flip Through

Somehow, flipping through a photo album is a much more enjoyable experience than clicking “Next” on a digital photo display.

2. The Customization

While digital photo albums offer templates and customization options, it’s not quite the same as the customization available with traditional photo albums. Sharing wedding pictures on Facebook & Flickr is all good and well for your friends and family, but on your 50th anniversary, that beautiful photo album that was a gift from your aunt will have a much longer lasting impact.

3. The Couch Showcase

When we share our photos online, we aren’t there to see our audience’s reactions, or to explain what is happening in the photo. We’ll definitely miss the chance to sit closely on the couch, laughing and crying as we flip through the album with friends and family.

4. The Tactile Experience

Let’s face it – we’re going to miss the feeling of the actual pages and photos under our fingers. The keyboard just doesn’t give us the same satisfying tactile experience!

5. The Surprise Find

You know what we’re talking about – you’re in the back of the closet trying to find that old pair of shoes when you stumble upon a photo album you forgot about. You drag it out, sit on the floor, and thumb through it … and forget why you even needed those shoes.

6. The Nostalgia

Seeing the different ages of the photos – the black & white images, the yellowed color photos, the polaroids, and the glossy 3×5s – helps date the photos and provides that sense of nostalgia.

7. The Hand Down

While receiving a photo through email is excited, it pales in comparison to that moment when a parent or grandparent hands us the collection of old family photos.

8. The Blemishes

The coffee stains on your little sister’s baby photos. The tear straight down the middle of that prom picture from back in ’89. These blemishes all carry a story that can’t be told the same way with digital photos.

9. The Memories

While putting together a digital photo gallery seems a bit like tedious labor for one, assembling a traditional photo album with the help of friends and family is the perfect time to relive the memories in the photos will making new memories in the process.

10. The Process

And speaking of the process, we’re certainly going to miss the act of selecting and customizing our albums, picking the photos to go into them, and pulling them out every so often to thumb through.

Tags: digital scrabooking, photo albums, picture books

This entry was posted on Friday, July 3rd, 2009 at 8:02 am and is filed under Bloggled. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.