Displaying Your Family Photojournalism

First and foremost, I'd like to sincerely thank Daniel for stepping up and maintaining this blog over the past few months. Life threw a curveball my way and I had to refocus some energy in other places.

Ok, so you've been reading our blog and I have no doubt that your photos are improving. So what should you do with those great shots?!

1. I urge you to print your digital files semi-reguarly! I had a conversation with the great wedding photojournalist, Evan Baines about the boxes of photographs that we all have from our childhood. Think about it, our parents shot FILM, maybe 24-36 photos at a time. The film was brought to a lab and the end result were PRINTS. When I look through these photographs, I do not judge composition, light, or other technical aspects of the photo. I simply enjoy them. All too often (and I am guilty of this myself) we let our digital files STAY DIGITAL. Or we'll only print our 'best'. Print the middle of the road shots as well! Your children will appreciate them in 20/30/50 years. For great online labs, I can recommend www.mpix.com or www.adoramapix.com (I love their matte finish).

2. Albums. You can go in many directions here: a) Take your prints and buy a 4x6 album and make your own. b) Take advantage of the digital age and create a digital album. Most printmakers offer various digital books. c) Old school. You can take a 12x12 album without the pre slotted plastic sleeves and buy photo corners and archival tape and create a nice, clean, photo album that will be fully custom.

3. Family Photojournalism as ART! Frame your favorite/best photos and make a display! There are so many amazing products on the market now (canvas, acrylic pressed prints, fine art, etc) that you really cannot lose! Chose which ever type of print/look you desire and hang it in your family room!

Personally, I have always loved the look of a gallery style wall. But I was always aware of how costly custom framing is! As a solution, I purchased 12 'decent' 12x16 black metal frames (on sale). But in order to give my 'gallery wall' a custom look, I paid for custom cut mats (each one was around $9) cut to the various sizes of my prints. All prints were made on an Epson 2400 with Velvet Fine Art paper. I tried to print at 'odd' sizes so there was some variety in the uniform look. I would estimate that the total cost of framing/matting the series below was about $300.

This is the current set up. The photos have not been switched out in 4 years. I am in the process of printing new prints.

Thanks all for stopping by!

Chuck