Above; Photo organizers of a friend of mine. Her past pictures are filed in chronological order. A filing mania, she says she loves being able to say “if it’s not here, it’s nowhere”. Digitalization has put an end to her box of photos, but her habit goes on in the computer.

I remember several years ago, sitting in the back room of one of those focus group interviews, watching groups of women chatting about how they use their digital cameras, mainly to take pictures of their kids. They were clearly divided into those who routinely print their pictures (the older group) and those who don’t (the younger).
Now it seems the custom of printing pictures is quickly diminishing, even with the older generation. So was the case with a friend I visited this weekend, a couple in their mid 40s. Their visual lifetime story included film photos, digital photos, 8mm films, 8mm videos, VHS videos, Betamax videos and DVD videos—a history of technical innovation.
She told me when they used to take film photos it was a rule to print them immediately, otherwise she wouldn’t know what was there. But now that they only use digital cameras they rarely print a picture, though she doesn’t know why—maybe it’s enough for her to see them on the computer, at least she can see what’s there.
With films, people didn’t have to think what to print, much less how to print them. Now it requires a “decision” to actually print a picture. Freedom of choice, or another chore for mother?

by Keiko Ihara (Photograph by herself)