4 reasons we should print more pictures

I’ve always been a visual person. Not so much a creative one, but someone who feels instinctively attracted to colourful things and interesting shapes. From the way I remember things (lots of colour codes in my vocab lists at uni) to the decoration of my own room, I think sight is the sense I use the most. It is certainly the one I am most grateful for, and the one I would miss the most if I were to lose it.

For visual and non-visual people alike, images are a great thing. I’m thinking all kinds of images, from photos of friends to pictures of sunsets, to drawings and patterns. I have recently ordered a canvas print with Photowall, which put me in a very print-y mood. Here are 4 reasons why I think we should all print more pictures.

 

1. To learn to be selective

We all have hundreds of pictures stored in our phone and popping up in our Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest feeds. We are exposed to so many visual stimuli every day that special images, the ones we really treasure, end up getting lost in the heap.

Printing means selecting, forcing us to be more aware when we take our pictures, and to choose carefully when we want to print them. It means to learn to focus on what’s more important, to give the right importance to things that are most meaningful – a good attitude to develop for life!

 

2. To remember

Photos, especially portraying people dear to us, have the power to bring them close to our heart. Defying distance, a photo can connect you with friends and relatives who live in other cities or countries.

Photos of people are also great to re-live particular moments, such as travels or special occasions. Printing them means to impress all the emotions associated with that specific moment onto a durable means, giving a physical embodiment to our memories.

 

3. To decorate

Let’s face it: it’s hard to have a professionally designed house. Most of us probably have Ikea or second-hand shops as our furniture providers. A great way to make your home look pretty on a budget is to decorate it with images.

This can be done easily by printing your photos, and keeping them in frames, or arranging them nicely on the wall. Another great alternative are personalised wall murals and canvas prints (both offered by Photowall) – to give the entire wall a fresh new look.

 

4. To make a place feel more like home

Putting points 1, 2 and 3 together. Once we have identified photos that mean something to us, and we display them at home or in the office, the space immediately becomes more familiar, because we are populating it with images with which we have a deep connection.

Our lives are all about impermanence these days, and we are likely to move house several times in the course of our lives. What stays on are memories, and the concrete versions we create of them by printing pictures.