So you’ve had a photo session and you’ve got some beautiful photo memories – what do you DO with all those photos? I’m a big believer in not only creating those images, but also in DISPLAYING them. Leaving them on your computer means that they’re likely to become lost and you’ll rarely look at them – what is the point in that?? You had a photo shoot for a reason – because you wanted to capture some memories of a special time or moment in your life. You went to the effort of preparing for your shoot, paying for your shoot, styling yourself and your family, and you spent TIME on the shoot. These are your memories!! There are some easy ways to display your memories so that you can look at them frequently and remember those feelings you had during that time in your life. These are just some suggestions to help you out.
Frame them!
I have a photo wall in my house (maybe I have a FEW photo walls in my house) filled with frames of different sizes. I use the 3M hooks to hang them up (no holes in the wall – bonus!!) and I have a variety of colours and styles to break up the wall. I also include some canvases which I think are beautiful ways to keep your favourite images. I try to update the images each year, although I always feel guilty getting ‘rid’ of a photo so I leave it behind the new photo. This means that I end up with a story of images which have been in that frame – a story I can see when I next change the photo over! Throughout the year, I try to keep photos I think I might consider enlarging in a separate ‘Enlargements’ folder on my computer. This makes it easier to be able to go back and choose in the new year rather than going through alllll of my photos (as you can imagine, I have A LOT!).
I also have a number of photo ledges from Ikea where I have regular 4×6 frames. I try to print some photos each month to keep in albums, and from there I choose some to display in the 6×4 frames. I’ve been super behind with this plan this year and still have photos in them from almost a year ago – but I plan to get back on track!!!
I’ve found some frames which I absolutely LOVE. They’re timeless and beautiful and each colour and style goes so well together. I have these available to purchase to help compliment your images. View a Video of the Frames here.
Canvas
As mentioned, I also love canvases. They break up a photo wall and add interest and texture, and also look great as stand alone images. I choose an image for a canvas that I know I’ll love for a long time – for example, I have a canvas of each of my babies on the first day they were born, and a canvas of images taken on our honeymoon (a loooong time ago!!). You don’t need a frame for them, and they also look stunning in kids rooms and nurseries! Click here to see a video of one Clients Canvas Video.
Photo Books
I think this is one of my favourite ways of keeping my photos. I absolutely LOVE displaying them all around my house, but there are only so many you can display (which in my case is still a lot!) and then as I mentioned, I always feel guilty when I swap an image over!! With photo books I have easy access to pick up an album and browse through my memories easily. Photo books look great, they don’t take up a lot of space, and you can fit a lot of photos in there!! I do a photo book each year and I organise it in month order (throughout the year I also store my photos in their month folders so it makes choosing the photos easier). I also do a photo book for the first year of each of my babies lives, and any special occasion (such as a gorgeous photo shoot!) deserves a photo book all of its own! I offer gorgeous linen photo books in my Deluxe Collection, and all my Birth Stories also receive a photo book. You can see a Video example of a photo book, and read more about Why I love photo books.
Good Old Photo Albums!
Yep, I still print some photos for regular photo albums! Photo books have taken over as my main way of storing them off of the computer, but sometimes you just need a hard copy of a photo! Think about school projects, or craft activities, or sending to Grandparents. There are many times when I’ve needed to pull out my trusty old photo album and retrieve a hard copy photo, so I just can’t stop using them. I have limited the ones I print a lot though, because albums are very bulky, and I take a LOT of photos, but we don’t have a lot of space to store the albums! So I only print off a handful each month, just so I have some there, just in case!
There are so many other ways you can get your photos off of the computer and into your lives – think magnets, keyrings, collages, cards, Christmas decorations – the list is really endless! The point is, try not to let them just sit there on your computer where they rarely get looked at (or at least if you do, share them on social media so that they come up in your memories!). All of my collections include at least one print because I’m so passionate about displaying your images, but make sure you frame that print and hang it on your wall or your shelf – maybe even get a canvas or a photo book. Get your memories out into your world where you can see them and they can make you smile! These are some examples of some clients images and the way they’ve displayed them. You can get more ideas from looking at my Pinterest board for displaying photos
If you’d like to book a session or discuss ideas on how to display the images from your photo session, Contact me here.