Were you born between 1920-1980?
Generation X, born between roughly 1965 and 1980, is often considered the last generation to use printed photos to capture memories primarily. They grew up in a time when film cameras and printed photographs were the norm. Digital cameras and smartphones didn’t become widely accessible until the late 1990s and early 2000s, which meant Gen X’ers lived through the shift from analog to digital photography. Millennials, born between 1981 and 1996, were the first generation to experience this transition, having grown up with both printed photos and digital images.
Printed photos have been around for nearly 200 years, with the first permanent photograph created in 1826 or 1827 by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce using heliography. Photography started becoming more accessible in the 1840s when Louis Daguerre invented the daguerreotype, which allowed families to capture clear, detailed images on metal plates. By the late 1800s, George Eastman’s roll film and the Kodak camera, introduced in 1888, made photography even more widespread and affordable. Families began documenting their lives and creating printed photo albums, a trend that really took off from the 1920s onward.
In the post-World War II era, especially during the 1950s and 1960s, personal photography became even more popular. Families would print photos to share, display in albums, and preserve their milestones, just like we encourage people to do today. This rich history reminds us of the value in holding onto printed memories, whether they come from old family albums or today's digital photos that deserve to be printed and shared.
