What Legacy Will We Leave Our Grandchildren?

It is rare that you will find me stepping atop my soapbox....well my wife might disagree, but at least I don't do it in public!

As often as I reminisce about the good ol' days, I must admit that we are living in some pretty amazing times. The technology that we have at our fingertips is mind boggling, and most of us are doing a pretty good job at keeping up with it.

But being a photographer, I can't help but stop every now and then when I pass by the mantle over my fireplace and look at the seemingly ancient photographs on display of my parents and grandparents as young adults and newlyweds. Of all the photographs I have collected, both past and present, these are by far the most treasured that I own.

Which leads me to this leap atop my soapbox. What legacy will you or I leave our grandchildren? What photographs will adorn their mantle? I'm talking about that timeless image of a young man or woman in their prime, dressed to the nines sitting for a real portrait.

I fear that in this day and age, the heirloom portrait is a thing of the past. We are trapped in a photographic vacuum. All the hundreds or even thousands of digital images we are taking risk the ultimate fate of never being printed, and lost forever. And in this click-happy culture, aren't we really trading quality for quantity?

My friends, I am as guilty as they get. But with every new day, there's fresh hope. Let's look beyond today and take a moment to prepare for the future. Please don't let your roots and family history go unrecorded. We've got plenty of wacky and spontaneous snapshots to last a lifetime. Let's leave our kids something they can really treasure; a classic, timeless, real portrait of you.