Whether you attend one wedding a year, or several dozen like I do, you’ve probably seen pictures like these on display at the cocktail hour, or as you enter the reception area.  Ask yourself one question, do you really ever pay any attention to them?

Let’s face it, we live in a digital age that is becoming more and more “digitized” every day at the expense of other types of media.  I’m no exception.  When I’m able to make new portraits of Jack & Conner, the photographs are usually either on my blog or Facebook before I even give a thought to actually producing a photographic print.  And as far as prints go….I don’t think I’ve ever produced a wallet size portrait of either of our sons….who needs a wallet size print when you can simply display the portraits on your phone or iPod Touch?

However despite the incredible advancements in digital media, there’s one thing to consider:  How long will the current crop of digital media formats last or be accessible to you? It sounds crazy, but if you were born after 1992, you can’t remember a time when a JPEG didn’t exist, or couldn’t be opened up on a computer.  Other formats such as TIFF, PNG, GIF and BMP have been around a bit longer, but in terms of archival ability, digital image files are still relatively young.  It is easy to think that your digital photographs will last forever. As long as you securely back them up and take proper precautions, there’s no reason to think they shouldn’t last forever.  However what about the devices required to read and display those images?  Know anyone who still has a reel-to-reel tape player in their basement?  Or better yet, if you were married in the early 1990′s….was you wedding video delivered on a VHS tape, and then you had to then pay someone to convert it to a DVD or digital format so you could relive your wedding day with the current modern display technology?

The photographs above were on display at a recent wedding, and while chatting with the Groom’s Dad, I found out that the photograph on the right was taken at the Groom’s Grandmother’s wedding in 1928.  More and more couples seem to elect a wedding photography option that only includes a digital copy of their photographs.  What I can’t help but wonder is will those digital photos still be viewable 80+ years from now at today’s bride’s grandchildren’s wedding?  Even if a couple takes those digital files and makes a print or two, will a print from Walgreens/CVS/Costco/Shutterfly/Snapfish have the archival ability to last that long?

If I had to bet money on what will last the longest….my money’s on photographic prints, or professionally printed and bound albums.