Digital photography is taking the photography market by storm -- and with good reason! To be able to take pictures and view them in real time is a true technological wonder! Digital photography may just be one of the most convenient "photo organizing" tools available -- allowing you to immediately purge bad photos and keep only the highest quality photos.

But before you let yourself get swept away by the excitement; we want to give you a gentle nudge and encourage you to remember the old standby . . . printed photographs. Do you think we're being unrealistic . . . .acting purely from a state of unbridled nostalgia?

Ask yourself this...how many of those digital photos have you actually printed?

Are they sitting on your hard drive waiting until you "have time" to print them, "have time" to get them into albums?

When was the last time that you grabbed the family and cuddled around the computer together to view those precious images? (You must admit that nothing beats a traditional album for sitting down with your loved ones and reminiscing over those special memories.)

And what if your hard drive were to crash today? What would become of your family's most prized possessions? Would all be lost in just a matter of minutes?

Okay, so maybe you have taken the time to download them onto a CD. Well did you realize that if that CD gets scratched, you have lost the entire contents of the CD? And did you realize that writeable CDs have a significantly shorter life span than you may have imagined, and that they can be susceptible to breaking down after just a few short years?

So what's the solution?

Well, we're certainly not recommending that you abandon the concept of digital photography. But we do recommend that you set realistic expectations for the technology, and perhaps shift your perception of the concept. Think of it as a means of taking photographs and processing film. It is a means to an end . . . it is not the end!

Take the time to actually print your favorite photographs so that you don't have to rely solely on technology to preserve your past!

Excerpted from "Save Your Photos and Your Sanity: How to Organize and Safeguard Your Entire Photograph Collection.in as little as 10 days, without losing your mind!"

Copyright 2005, by The Sentimental Playground. Article may be reprinted with permission. Please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

About the Author Christine Sutton and her business partner, Tracey DuBois have helped countless people organize, protect, and enjoy their precious photographs. As authors of "Save Your Photos and Your Sanity" and producers of "Treasure Your Memories" , they take a unique and FUN approach to organizing photographs. They offer a FREE Photo Organizing Idea Kit at www.organizedphotos.com