While the family album used to be a staple of any household, we live in a time when most people’s photos remain in their digital form, forever and for always. Even the word printing conjures a fading era of physicality. Then you watch a video like this and are instantly reminded of the very human act of looking at ink on a page.
In an elegantly simple gesture, photographer Tim Kyle filmed himself and his two daughters leafing through a book of his own recent family pictures. Just seeing the little tykes extending their tiny fingers to touch the people in the photos, flipping the pages over, and repeating the names of the familiar faces they see is enough to make me want to run home and start uploading pics to a book printing service.
Maybe it’s because I have a young’un of my own, and have already seen the value in presenting her with objects, mementos, and reminders of family and friends. But you can’t deny the universal charm inherent in Kyle’s video. Getting photos printing might be a giant pain in the arse, but it can be oh so worth it.