Photography : time to hit print

by Sara If you're like most parents you probably have hundreds if not thousands of photos stored on your computer or your camera's memory card.  And if you're like most parents the most recent photos on your walls are probably from two years ago.

With digital photography it's a lot easier to take and store photographs but it also makes it a lot harder to print and frame them since you can see them anytime you want on your computer.

Here's my advice: Just do it!  Just print your photos.

They don't need to be professional shots; they can be any photo you love, like, or even just a moment you want to remember.  They don't have to be huge: 5x7 or 8x10 will do.  They don't have to be expensive; may I suggest Costco or www.kodakgallery.ca (they ship to your house for $2.99)? They don't need to be professionally framed; all my frames are the Ribba series from IKEA (a nice 8x10 frame, with mat, is $12.99).  If the thought of creating a symmetrical arrangement is stressful then just hang them willy-nilly in a cluster at different heights and different spacing's so that the chaos looks intentional ;)  Or hang just one on each wall (make sure its proportional to the wall - the massive two-storey space in your living room needs more than a 5x7): I hang most of my 5x7's on the those awkward 1.5-3 foot spaces in between doors and rooms.

I have several poster-size enlargements in my living room / dining room / studio and those photos haven't been rotated or changed in over a year.  I'm hoping to get some new shots from our upcoming family photo session to replace the ones that are framed.  The rest of the photos in the house (mainly 8x10's) are changed every 4-12 months.  The photos I take down are either passed on to family members, put in an album, discarded, or, for larger prints, stored in an Artist Portfolio & Presentation Book (like this one, available in different sizes at Michael's).

I think choosing which photos to print is often paralyzing: it's not perfect; not everyone loves it; I'm not sure if I should choose this one or this one; I don't know where to hang it etc.  As a photographer, I still face the same dilemma - too many photos, not enough walls, not enough time.  My first step is always deciding where I wanted to hang photos, choosing what size frames I wanted on those walls, and then choosing the photos to fill those spaces.

Sara is a photographer and mom to a 5-year-old ” firefighter” and 3-year-old “monkey”.  You can also find her at her blog, My Points of View.