Photo albums, who needs them- you say? Indeed in this time and age of digital media where clicking and storing pictures is something that does not even call for carefully deliberated action on part of the human, the idea of physical photo albums does strike in some idea of obsoleteness. But it is somewhere within this possibility of perishing that there has come to be ironic a prevalence of photo books and albums as persistent pictures of popularity. For it is nostalgia indeed that runs through physical play of portraits and photographs making them something that we hold on to in all fondness.
The run of nostalgia one encounters in this show revealing as moments captured and emotions expressed and memories made is more than real indeed. For it isn’t just the prospect in reliving those experiences of immense yearning that has made photographs and photo albums therefore necessary treasures of life. It also is the fact that ‘browsing’ through these physical albums held at one point of time a sacred importance for the human- even greater than the endless, mindless browsing that we live through in today’s wide world of the web, so much so that the obscurity of their present day character has helped them come across as more treasured in fact!
Flip indeed through some of the pages of a photo album and you will have a good idea of what the ultramodern times of today are so lacking in. In every photo fondly preserved upon this book of the portraited, it isn’t just smiling faces or happy tears and wry smiles or real emotions that one gets to feel once again in rumination of the memories. It also is a certain bittersweetness in yearning, an ache almost of nostalgia for the moments lived indeed but lost still that plays prominently upon the ‘white space’ of photos. And it perhaps is this tangible presentation of the intangible that makes these perfectly preserved picks of the perceivable so alluring even in their current day status occurring as one obliterated almost.
Why an album for photos?
There though would be more ‘concrete’ points validating and furthering the essence in which photo albums exist still as fairly unneglected entities even in their seemingly outmoded ‘reputation’. No matter the rampancy in which the excitement of the digital pervades and even dictates existences of the contemporary time, such avenues of the technological are rather susceptible in failing to the numerous nuances of technicalities. Digital files are rather at risk of getting lost in different ‘capacities’ and while this is not to overlook the fact that physical prints too are not at any less danger of fading away or facing corruption, the different ways in prevailing of such foreboding is what has helped much in preserving physical prints and photo books as definite somethings to not let go yet.
If such necessity prevails then for photo albums to not conjure up yet images of its existence in a black hole, it only makes sense that they evolve therefore to be relevant to and through their standing in time. Attending to an entire spectrum of demands and needs in which they are expected to perform, as suits personal preference and ‘principled’ prerequisites in properness are photo albums that are available not just in different sizes and shapes but also in many types and kinds and styles.
Making your pick from out of this sizeable possibility in positing pictures though can be quite a fruitless pursuit in ambiguousness- both if one doesn’t exactly know what they need and in not knowing what options they have as well. Which is why it would be helpful to know about the options available in presenting your pictures, even if it is just in your own exclusive interests really.
Traditional Photo Albums
Traditional in that they are most common specimens of what we visualise upon the very mention of photo albums, these are generally book bound pages bearing the provision in holding pictures. Refer to them though in alternate identities of drymount photo albums or Pergamyn albums and they strike as not so general after all.
Photos need to be manually mounted upon these pages essentially separated with glassine interleaves to ensure that pictures do not stick to each other. Needless to say this is an intention also in preserving the quality of the print and font of the photos. Very versatile a choice in allowing for pictures to be positioned and displayed as one wishes, traditional photo books can well encompass then the custom attribute in maintaining your momentous gallery of memories.
Ring-binder Albums
These are one of the other commonly available types of photo albums. Their use is common as well, since they allow for a certain convenience to find expression in the very way of arrangement. The snap rings that are employed to hold the pages in place for a composite album of photos means that the necessity in adding pages or arranging the contents is efficiently addressed.
Scrapbook Albums
Scrapbook albums are only scrapbooks really. But the very manner of their doing in preserving pictures and photos as components of their greater purpose in holding memories is what renders them a type of photo album indeed. They generally tend to be larger though, allowing for the possibility in stories to unfold also through accompanying elements of tags and descriptions and the like. These are perfect options for those who court the idea of experiencing even exclusively personal an emotion on each turn of the photographic pages. Special then in the exquisite expressiveness of their essence, scrapbook photo albums are much coveted expanses for photography to play out across.
Memo Albums
Much like spinning tales out of pictures that scrapbooks allow for, memo photo albums too attend to pretty much the same elaborate purpose of photographing. Memo albums essentially maintain some specific space for any sort of writing to relay additional details of the snap. The size might vary though there does not tend to be much of a diversion from the general sizes in which photo albums are made available.
Brag Book Albums
Close on the heels of the scrapbook or memo album would be the brag book album that is also as narrative of a story in pictorial language. It however would be the album in entirety that tells one singular tale, meaning that it would be a particular theme around which brag books would be built. Very obviously then, these can be ordinarily referred to as storytelling albums also. Reliving individual memories of a definite event is what would be curated by a brag book album that also occurs then in a character that allows for more personal touches to be lent also to the surrounds and scapes of what ‘frames’ the captured moment.
Slip-in Albums
Very evident in their name are slip-in photo albums that feature pockets for photos to be slided into. Each page is provided with polypropylene pockets where photos are supposed to be placed, with generally a predefined size of the pocket marked out. Pockets can also be asserting only as ‘outline’ in such albums that feature just the hinges for photos to fit into. This can be a limitation in that the pictures to be help need to fit within those dimensions unless you are opting for a customised size and make. However if one considers the factor of convenience, these photo pocket albums are one of the easiest ways in arranging your pictures securely.
Flip Albums
An interpretation of the slip-in album, flip photo albums though are an identity of their own. Specific pockets make up the entirety of this album, with the transparent sheets of holding provision occurring as pages themselves. What the plastic make of these sheets avail for the user is a prospect in economicalness, as a single ‘page’ can make way for two separate pictures to be displayed. A hard cover generally is what holds the pages and photos within so that the composite album is one as handy and practical as any other.
Matted Albums
Matted albums are one of the more elaborate ways in preserving photos that themselves are preservatories of precious memories. Choosing a matted album to hold your photos is like framing the picture itself, with the matts or what would be understood as frames even defining indeed the essence of what is set therein.
You know what they say about adding detail through elements as one of the more nuanced ways in emphasising the aesthetic? Matted albums is what this interpretation would occur as in the photographic world. It is the ultimate expression you can afford in upholding indeed the pricelessness of what those snapshots are worth to you.
