Mark 
image © Murad
“Physical existence demands acceptance”
These simple yet powerful words were shared with me over a Zoom by my friend and fellow photographer, J. Siegel. They’ve stayed with me ever since – echoing louder each time I pick up a freshly printed image or run my fingers across the pages of a well-made zine or photo book.
In a world where most images exist as fleeting pixels, swiped past on glass screens or buried in endless digital folders, the act of creating something physical-something you can hold, smell, and feel-has become almost rebellious. It slows us down. It asks more of us as creators. And crucially, it asks more of the viewer.
When an image exists physically, it’s no longer a suggestion or an option you can scroll past. It occupies space. It demands attention. It insists on being seen, considered, and ultimately accepted.
This blog post is an invitation to reflect on that idea. To explore why printing your work, making books, and creating physical artefacts of your photography is not just an output method but an act of deeper authorship, connection, and permanence. In doing so, we reclaim photography from the ether and bring it firmly back into our hands-and into the hands of those who engage with our work.
Understanding “Physical existence demands acceptance” as the idea that a physical print, book, or tactile object carries weight, presence, and a kind of undeniable reality that digital images lack, here are 10 revised photography-related phrases in that spirit:
- A print in the hand silences doubt on the screen
- What’s held is honoured; what’s clicked is forgotten
- Ink and paper give permanence to fleeting pixels
- The tangible image invites a deeper truth
- Only when printed does the photograph speak for itself
- The physical form confirms the photographer’s intent
- A book of images is a gallery you can own
- True presence begins where the screen ends
- The photograph becomes real when it can be touched
- Ephemeral online-eternal in print
Can we develop the idea “Physical existence demands acceptance” into poetic expressions?
These focus on emotion, resonance, and language that evokes the tangible experience:
- A photograph printed is a memory granted weight
- In the silence of paper, the image speaks loudest
- The soul of a moment lives longer in ink than in code
- What we hold, we hear; what we scroll, we skim
- The truth of a photograph settles in your hands
Bibliography
Azide, E. (2020). The philosophy of acceptance — the philosophy of everything. https://www.thephilosophyofeverything.com/blog/the-philosophy-of-acceptance. Accessed on 1st May 2025
