​Why Printing Your Pictures Is So Important
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I’ll bet you have used your phone to take a picture of your family this week?  You might have used your phone camera today, you maybe even use your camera every day.  It has never been easier to take photographs – we all carry a camera in our mobile phone.  And yet our children have fewer and fewer physical prints to hold and look at.
When I was a child I used to love looking through an old tin of photographs my Grandma kept.  Mostly there was writing on the back with names I didn’t recognise and dates from long before I was born.  There were very formal black and white photographs mounted on fancy card that were obviously taken in Victorian photography studios – solemn family faces and soldiers in uniform.  It felt like I was looking at a mysterious forgotten time and I loved looking at the clothing, the old vehicles in the background and seeing how my gran looked as a young woman.  It was like I was time travelling. I could spend hours in that tin of photographs and chatting with gran about the people, places and times they pictured.
Imagine if those precious memories were instead sitting on something that needed a machine to let me see them. 
A machine that was around in the 40’s or even the 70’s.  Even if my gran had kept the machines I’d needed, would just seeing them hold the same magic for me.  Definitely not.
So have a think about where you store your own family photographs.  Are they on your mobile phone?  A hard drive?  CD’s?  Mini discs? (remember those!?) Floppy discs?  You get my point – technology is changing so rapidly that it can be difficult to keep up.  The must-have storage of today is archived in favour of something new every few years.
The only way you can be sure to preserve your picture memories for your children and grandchildren is to print them. One of my fondest child hood memory and even to this day, I enjoy flicking through dusty photo albums looking back on those memories that have been long forgotten.


Your Mobile Phone Pictures
For most of us, our mobile phones are where the majority of our ‘snaps’ are kept.  The everyday images of holidays, days out, toothy grins, first foods, and silly selfies.  These are the images your children will cherish when they grow up – you must print them!  And you have loads of options for printing from your mobile phone – here are some of my favourites:
I use an app called Free Prints...... find out more HERE
Free prints is so easy to use and links up with your social media such as your instagram and Facebook pages for easy printing – what would you do if all social media platforms closed? And you lost all of your memories you have shared over the years.


Your Professional Pictures
As well as the everyday snaps, most families choose a professional photographer like me to capture more important milestones.  New additions to your family, birthdays, a new pet, or the annual family portrait all involve a professional portrait photographer who can capture you all in a perfect setting, looking your best.  The portraits I produce at my photography studio in Preston,  Lancashire, are your own personal works of art and are designed to be displayed. 
​There’s lots of evidence to show that it boosts self-esteem, confidence and contentment when your portraits are displayed in your home.
I offer clients beautiful print packages as well as wall art, and although I do sell USB’s which hold the digital copies of your images, I would always recommend purchasing prints and wall art products from me as I use a professional lab so I can guarantee the quality. 
You don’t want to invest in beautiful portraits only to have them printed poorly. You want your photo’s to look their very best.

Time for new family portraits?  Click here to browse my portrait photography services

I was lucky enough to bag myself a spot with Aspire Photography at the beginning of this month.
Not only did we learn about internet blogging at Aspire, they also set up a location shoot with real models.

For those of you who may not be familiar with Aspire and what they have to offer, I can only describe it as a huge photographer's playground - located in Carnforth, Aspire is hidden away amongst the trees and country foiliage. As i twisted and turned around the drive I pulled up to the courtyard - a photographer's shooting paradise! 

Aspire offer lots of different courses from wedding training, marketing and even food photography.

So after the welcomes and teas & amazing yummy cookies we grabbed our gear and headed to the 'Photographer's Paradise'.

Now being a studio photographer, I mainly use studio lighting in a dimly lit room and control the lights to acheive my vision in camera, so it was fantastic to venture outdoors and re-kindle my love for location portraits.

It was great to learn even more about photography, and even more valuable - finding the gorgeous light.

When I shoot portraits outdoors, wether it is a family or a wedding, I always have my flash gun firing away, and today I was taken out of my comfort zone and using NO flash at all! 

I was in my element! I loved the results of finding the perfect light, and how stunning these portraits turned out. 

One thing I love is learning more, and more, and I NEVER stop learning.

Always be the better photographer than the one you were yesterday :-)

​

I loved photographing this trio of siblings, they were fantastic to shoot, and took direction really well. even the little one who was dying to escape to run around. 

I hope to get out from the studio once in a while to have some 'play time' with my new skills. 

Sarah McLean Photography
Studio: 14a Berry Lane, Longridge PR3 3JA
Tel: 01772 784499

​www.sarahmcleanphotography.co.uk