So I was kind of hoping to tag along on a parent trip to Italy.  It might sound crazy coming from me, but I wanted to see the family over there.  They are so nice, not like a lot of what is here.  For instance, my father does not speak a word of Italian or French and they do not speak English, but they make sure he is included in all conversations and understands.  They are open minded and fun to be around.  Well, mother screwed up father's hopes for going this year....  Loooong story.  So I was happy to hear this morning that my mother talked to one of the cousins and she is doing well.  She had been dealing with cancer, but must be on the mend.  (So much for the so-called rotten European health care, wink wink.)  Then came the bad news.  Another cousin had his house broken into.  He lives in Sartrouville, France.  We spent Easter 2014 with him and his family last year.  (talking politics was a hoot)  He spends his summers in his hometown of Sicignano degli Alburni where he has a condo.  While in Italy, the house was ransacked. I feel so sad for him and his wife.  I want to go over there and help clean up and put things back together.   

I am also really aggravated that I cannot go now.  It might seem like a piddly little thing, but I bought his wife a photo album.  Because of postal issues, I am not mailing it to them.  Much of what is mailed back and forth arrives damaged or late, so my mother sends things with people.  So I planned to send this with mother.  The reason for the gift?  On Easter, we were looking at old photos.  Not only were the albums not archival and acid free, but the adhesive was shot.  The photos were falling out all over the place.  The love my cousin's wife showed for the photographs and their associated memories was marred by the terrible storage.  I know, it sounds really stupid.  But I want her to have something secure and long lasting so that she can admire the pictures and reminisce without bother.

I guess it has something to do with my attention to the whole experience.  I have noticed that the lack of printing photographs has altered that experience.  What do we feel when looking at an image on a camera or phone screen?  So many people I know claim to love photography but have never been to a gallery (hello, free!) or a museum to see photographs in the flesh, so to speak.  Their sole experiences involve viewing on a monitor or 3"x 2" screen.  I don't know about anyone else, but my blood does not get pumping by looking at a monitor or phone.  Add to that the fact that the color calibration might be off, therefore altering the image and the reception of the image by the viewer.  There is also the issue of the substrate.  Do you realize the role the type of paper can play in the reception of a photograph?  People know that there might be a visceral response to a painting on a strange object that might not exist with a painting on canvas, so why not acknowledge the role of the substrate in photography?  Looking at a book reprint of a Shirin Neshat photograph from her first US exhibit in the early 90s does not compare to seeing the real thing in person.  I can tell you about the images that stop me in my tracks, make me sweat, light-headed, excited, or short of breath.  I don't see how anyone can get that from a non-printed digital file.

OK, so you don't like the photograph as art.  You just like it as a recording of memories.  Well, I scroll through the images I take on my cameras.  I look at them on my computer.  I look at pics on peoples' phones.  I also look at pictures I have in envelopes from the lab or in my photo albums.  The two acts elicit completely different feelings.  One seems so mechanical.  I am merely hitting a button.  The other?  I am usually sitting on the floor (like a little kid) with the album splayed open in my lap.  I flip through the pages, taking the page of multiple images in.  Each little 4" x 6" is a part of a whole.  The rush of memories of that time or event comes back in an instant.  I just do not get that with the un-printed image.

When I wrote about printing vs. not printing in the past, it was more about the historical documentation.  I have been thinking more about the emotional aspect lately.  Don't really know if anyone else is.....  Yet another topic for a deep Photo II/AP discussion.