Ways to Display Your Photos

Why tangible products?

I have a confession to make and I have a feeling I am not alone. Even though as a professional pet photographer I have all sorts of photography technology available to me, when I want to take a photo, I end up grabbing my iPhone.

Okay so it is a good thing for the convenience and easy to share with others but what happens to these photos? Ultimately nothing. I am on my third iPhone. And I have long forgotten the photos I took before. And now thinking about it, it makes me sad! I bet there are all sorts of lost treasures on my old phones. My dog as a puppy, that concert my friend Courtney and I had too much fun at, a vacation or two, the first time I put a saddle on my colt….many photos and memories.

This sad story does not just apply to the images on my cell phone. What about those long lost CD’s? I don’t even want to think about the images I lost from my travels in high school… There are beautiful images of Montana I sure wish I still had!

The point of this is that the things we hold on to, the things we share, and the things that become treasured heirlooms need a better way to be preserved. Technology is ever changing, who knows what the future will bring. But I would hate to think that my future children and grandchildren won’t have a way to look at the images because the technology has changed and no one uses it anymore. (Think 8 track, cassettes, VHS tapes!)

As a photographer, I encourage my clients to create tangible items from their photos, such as a print, canvas, album or any way of displaying their photos that appeals to them. (There are lots of options and I always have samples to show during the viewing and ordering session!)

Periodically on my blog I will share some of the products my client’s have ordered and enjoyed.

This album’s story

One of my clients recently purchased an album, which I personally think is one of the best options to display photos. It solves the problem of loving more photos than you have room to display! (This happens a lot with my clients. I am a little bit of an over shooter and tend to have more proofs to show than expected!) Plus it is handy to carry and share with family and friends and easy to store.

The image above is sample of one my client ordered from her photo shoot with her horses and dogs in the College Station, Texas area.

I waited a little while to blog about it as it was a surprise gift for her husband’s birthday. And it turned out amazing!! It was a last minute gift idea so both us of rushed to coordinate on this project. I designed it and ordered it within a couple weeks, instead of the usual four weeks. Then it was delivered to my house about 24 hours before his birthday. As soon as the package came, I looked over it, snapped some quick photos, repackaged it and rushed to the post office, just making it about 20 minutes before they closed. I sent the package overnight to her and by mid-afternoon the following day, my client had it!

The pages were all so beautiful; I had a hard time choosing which ones to photograph! I used a lace theme for all the pages. The colors I used for the backgrounds were tan, corral, and turquoise as I knew those were her favorite colors and they all went well with her images and outfits.

The pages are the thickest my lab offers and I am not going to lie I am obsessed with the paper choices. Her album is printed on felt paper, which gives it a really smooth, luxurious feel. (I have samples of all of the paper choices too!)

I loved her cover choice—it is a canvas cover with an image from her session, on both the front and the back. It is gorgeous and my next personal album will definitely have a canvas cover.

Her husband was just thrilled! (Which makes me very happy!!) He plans to keep it in his office on display and carry it with him when he is away on business. (How sweet!) What a great way to treasure those photos and pass them on to future generations!

Looking for more inspiration?

I’m going to share some of these options throughout my blog, to give you ideas and inspiration on what to do with your memories. For more examples, check out the wall art blog category. I’m always happy to talk to past, present, or future clients about ideas and plans for your images too, so feel free to reach out and we can chat over the phone and/or schedule a free consult where I can show you options and mock-ups in person.