The emergence of smartphones has revolutionised and democratised photography; anyone can take a photo whenever they like at the tap of a button. As a result, the number of photos taken has risen exponentially, from 86 billion in the year 2000, to 380 billion in 2010, before hitting a mind-boggling 1.2 trillion photos last year. In fact, we now take more photos every 2 minutes than humanity took in the entire 19th century!
But just what is happening to these billions and billions of photos? Where we used to print photos and treasure them as mementos, many of our photos are now gathering digital dust. Sure, we share some on social media sites like Instagram and Facebook, but the vast majority end up forgotten on smartphones and computers. This puts them at risk of being lost altogether, especially if they’re not backed up. It’s all too easy for our phones to become lost or broken! We tend to take photos of things we care about, so that means treasured memories of friends and family could be lost forever.
With this in mind, we at Mark Lord Photography have created an infographic to explore how our relationship with photos has changed since smartphones became commonplace. It also shares some helpful tips on keeping your photos safe in the long term and making sure they aren’t lost to the sands of time.
