You can’t beat a print.

My first computer, bought in 1981, came with a 3 inch monochrome cathode ray tube screen which was nearly impossible to read. Not that it mattered as you couldn’t display pictures on it in any case. After many unhappy years with PCs, with screens growing to 15 inch (and still huge CRT boxes) 2000 saw the first of many Macs join the household. The screen was 17 inch, crystal clear and made for a photographer. Currently, my MacBook uses a Samsung 21.6 inch screen when at home and it’s the best photo processing hardware I have used so far.

One day I would love to make that screen into a 30 inch Apple Cinema Display (there are only so many trendy movies to watch and each just raises desire with all those huge screens on show) but the ridiculous cost lets “I should” wait upon “Don’t be silly”. It also amuses me no end how the happening set always use Apples on the big screen while the losers in government stick with PCs. That’s a good thing. A cheap government computer beats a costly one and any government that locks up daily is doing its job in this voter’s eyes, regardless of party. Ironman anyone?

Yet now that my screen is larger than any of the many photography books in my library, I still prefer to luxuriate in the pages of a book to looking at the screen, no matter its size. Maybe having grown up without computers, and with lots of books, has prevented me from fully accepting a screen as the display medium of choice; what’s more, I like the look and feel of a book when it comes to looking at pictures. Plus you can read when you shave – try that with a computer!

All of which reminds me why I so much like Shutterfly and what it does for my snaps. Every now and then I put out a calendar showing our son’s growth and interests. It goes to relatives and invariably ends up on a wall somewhere.

The bald one’s the surgeon, if you must know

Having used the service since it started a few years ago, I can only sing its praises. An intuitive user interface, easy upload and arrangement of your snaps and a beautifully printed calendar in your hands in a few days, all at reasonable cost. What’s not to like?

And a printed picture beats a screen anyday.