Why Photos Hold Such Value Throughout Our Lives

Did you watch the news during the devastating fires in Los Angeles earlier this month?

It was utterly heartbreaking to see the destruction of vast landscapes, where wildfires wrought extensive damage to homes, businesses and natural spaces in a huge area of California.

There was a particular report on the fires which really stirred something in me:

“Just trying to save some photos” said a firefighter to a camera crew, as he set down armfuls of photo albums he’d carefully carried out of a burning home. If you didn’t see it, you can find the clip here.

As a photographer, his decision to rescue photos over anything else was incredibly moving. Photographs matter.

Ask most people what they’d choose to save from their home - once they knew all their loved ones and pets were safe - and they’ll unanimously agree with the sentiments of that brave firefighter. The answer is almost always “my photo albums”.

So why are photos so valued and precious in our lives? Why do we rank their importance above everything else? I thought this was a topic worth exploring…

Photos mark our beginnings

As modern parents we often meet our child for the first time (long before they have left the womb!) through their first hospital scan photo. That fuzzy black and white image depicting a muddle of shapes is a parent’s first visual connection to their child and the two or three we collect during a pregnancy are universally treasured.

When a baby arrives into the world, one of our first thoughts as new parents is to photograph them in all their red, wrinkly glory and share the photo with our family and friends to announce their safe arrival.

That precious inaugural image is their introduction into the world. It’s often accompanied by revealing what name the baby will carry through its life, alongside all the other details our nearest and dearest are desperate to hear!

This heavily shared Whatsapp photo is often followed up with professional photographs of the cherished newborn once he or she has settled into their new home.

Parents might pick their favourite of these newborn portraits to print and gift to new grandparents, Aunties and Uncles. They’ll might also choose one to adorn “Thank You” cards to post to well wishers in gratitude for their ‘New Baby’ gifts.

Photos help us discover our identity as we grow

I’ve written before about how family portraits are good for your children.

Having photographs around them of the people they love is hugely beneficial for a child’s sense of identity as they grow.

In fact, it’s common for Primary School Reception teachers to ask children to bring a family photograph with them on their first day of school so it can be added to a classroom display.

There is a lot of research into why this is so important for young children beginning school, such as:

·       Encouraging storytelling - children can describe the familiar people and recall the memory depicted in a photograph to their teacher and peers.

·       Giving them cultural awareness - showcasing traditions and values through the image.

·       Creating a sense of community - children see their place visually among their peers which gives them a sense of belonging.

·       Promoting diversity - kids see past the faces of their peers to what each of their homes looks like and begin to see that every family is unique and special.

·       Providing reassurance - classroom photos give children something familiar to look at on wobbly days, particularly when everything feels new and a bit scary.

Photographs used in spaces such as classrooms and adorning the walls of childhood bedrooms help our children to find their place and support them to feel seen in the world. In turn, this can boost a child’s confidence.

Photos ease our transition into adulthood

Those transitions in life where we seek out comfort and familiarity from photographs doesn’t stop at school!

Think back to when you first left home. Like me, did you take family photos to prop on your shelf in university halls? Did you pick a favourite photo to put on your desk at your very first proper job? When you bought your first home, did you proudly hang family pictures on those walls you’d just painted?

When life throws us a “first”, our instinct is to make the experience less daunting by surrounding ourselves with the faces we love so we can look to them for reassurance.

Photos support our mental wellbeing

It’s not just when faced with big changes that we look to photos for comfort.

In our everyday lives, photos are a constant source of familiarity.

We pick our favourites to adorn the home screen of our phone and computer desktop; we have miniatures printed on our key rings to look at every time we open the front door; and we set our best photo profiles for social media and Whatsapp accounts.

There are many new ways we’re all putting mental health at the forefront of our minds. From teaching mindfulness in Primary Schools to allowing workers to book a quarterly ‘duvet day’, British society is taking great strides to support mental wellbeing.

But since the invention of the camera, I’d argue one way we have always taken care of our heads and hearts, is by keeping photos of those we love close by.

In everyday life we’re overwhelmed by the amount of information at our fingertips. Are brains are not equipped to process it all. The news is filled with tragedy and heartbreak. Our diaries are fit to burst with schedules that leave no time to breathe. In those moments where you don’t know whether you’re coming or going, printed photos can be so grounding. They divert our gaze and give us a moment of wholly positive focus.

Perhaps it’s the smiling face of your child sitting in a swing? Or your Dad wandering hand-in-hand on the beach with his grandkids? Whatever your family photos look like, that moment you take to view a precious photograph can have a remarkable effect on the energy of your day and how you feel.

Photos support us through hard times

Hand-in-hand with mental wellbeing is how photos comfort us and take us back to happier times, particularly when we’re experiencing loss.

A friend and client of mine reached out to thank me again for the digital wedding photographs I took for him and his wife back in 2014. Very sadly she has now lost her father and he told me that this happy photograph now sits beside the family “…for all birthdays, Christmases and Easters.”

This candid shot of a father enjoying his daughter’s wedding day was the photograph they used at his funeral, because of course, we want to remember those we love at their very best.

As a photographer, I’m not sure there’s a greater honour than that.

When we go through challenging times, we seek out photos to soothe us.

And that’s why I would always encourage you to take photographs and have them taken of you. Taking photos is something you have control over. Plenty is left to chance and life can change in a heartbeat. When it does, you’ll be so glad you have a record of memories of the way things were.

If you’re a glass half full person like me, you’re not thinking of those harder times that might lie ahead. But I assure you, your family’s photographic archives will be all the more precious when those inevitable tough times do arrive.

Photos are treasured until the very end

From newborn images to school photos, graduation to wedding day and all the big moments and special occasions in life, we’re prompted to take family photos to record the memory.

A snapshot in time makes us happy. Granny has her sideboard covered in family portraits displayed in higgledy piggledy frames. Kids love to plough through albums filled with old photos taken before they were born. Parents look to portraits hanging on their walls to reminisce on when their children were small. Family photos hold memories and in doing so they trigger inter-generational connection and good old-fashioned happiness.

Through my work with D-Day Revisited, I was hugely fortunate to spend a lot of time with ladies and gentlemen who are in their eighties and nineties and would sometimes visit them in their homes.

Whether they were in their own home or in residential care, the main feature of their living space was always their family photos. At the end of their long lives, the items they treasured most were the framed pictures of all the people they had loved.

I remember in 2013 we organised a veterans’ reunion at the Bluecoat Gallery in Liverpool and, with their affection for photographs in mind, I printed a huge collection of photographs I’d taken during the previous year’s visit to Normandy to commemorate the 68th anniversary of D-Day. With several packs of blu-tack, I stuck them all onto a long wall at the back of the room to create a sort of gallery and the loved it!

It gave the whole lunch a real focal point and sparked a hundred conversations about their various memories from that tip and got them excited about the next one in a few months time. Before they went home I invited them to take any photographs they’d like to keep and by the time the last person left there wasn’t a single picture left.

In this day and age we no longer worry about rescuing our photo albums from loss or damage. The digital world has allowed us to save our photos invisibly, to be accessed whenever and wherever we choose. Even the film photographs I take are scanned and saved digitally.

But for all the reasons I’ve listed above, where a physical photograph holds so much value, I believe we should be printing our photos. It isn’t difficult to create personal artwork from our photographs and filling our homes with happy memories shared we those we love can’t fail to lift our spirits.

It is a photograph’s destiny to be printed. To be seen, to uplift, to comfort, to transport, to ground, to inspire and to create a lasting legacy. All of which is impossible for an image to do if it’s neglected on a cloud.

If 2025 is the year you’d like to capture the people you love in professional photographs, then I’d love to help you.