The Importance of Printing Your Family Photos

Do your digital images live on your computer, hard-drive, the cloud, or your phone? I’m betting the answer to that is yes for many of you. And how often do you get the old hard drive out and look at those photos? Probably not too often, right? (To those of you that answered no, because you have yours printed and hanging on your wall…nice job! That’s where they should be.)

I’m writing this blog post to tell you to PRINT YOUR PHOTOS! The best time to do it? In my opinion, right when you receive your gallery.

I waited well over a year before I printed any of my wedding photos…I kept putting it off and putting it off. It actually took family members asking me for photos to get me in gear and I finally printed some for them and for us. Not only that, but after our wedding I decided I would design an album….guess what? I still haven’t gotten around to that and it’s almost been THREE years! If you don’t do it right away, chances are you might never get around to it.

I love when clients send me photos of my work on their walls. It make me so happy to see them printed and enjoyed. Photos are meant to be seen, not buried in a digital folder somewhere.

My galleries are delivered to you digitally, then you have the option to order prints and canvas right there in your gallery. I highly suggest doing it. To order, you will click on any image in your gallery, then ‘buy photo’ in the upper left corner. From there you will see ‘packages’ and ‘items.’ Under ‘packages’ there are three print packages with different sized prints to choose from. Under ‘items’ you can purchase a la carte prints, canvas, and metal prints.

I have prints available from wallet size (2.5x3) up to 20x30, and canvas from 8x10 to 20x30. Everything is printed by my favorite professional printing lab, they are archival prints (meaning they are made to last a long time) that look perfect in terms of color, exposure, and contrast. I guarantee you will not get the same quality from run-of- the-mill printing labs…they will not look as good, and they most likely won’t be archival, so they may fade or change color with time. BUT, if run-of-the-mill printing labs is what you prefer…then by all means. The point is to get your photos from your computer to your wall, so however you want to do that is up to you.

After you receive your prints (usually within a week if you order from me, through your gallery), get some cool frames, and hang those suckers on the wall. Not only do framed prints look great on your wall as decor, but I think the best way to enjoy those beautiful images of your family is to see them every day in your home. Personally, I love a nice gallery wall with frames of different sizes and colors. I also love a wall with a simple row of two or three large prints horizontally. Or, if you have some skinny walls…three or four prints hung vertically can look pretty cool. You can even prop your framed photos or canvases up on a shelf.

Do you know that having family photos up can boost a child’s self-esteem? Really! According to actual research, when kids see themselves in photos that are hung in their home it can help them feel like a valued and important part of the family. Seeing their photo on the wall every day, lets them know they are loved and helps them develop a positive self image…more so than kids who grow up in homes without any family photos up. Great reason to order some prints and hang them up.

Years from now, when your kids are grown (or even when THEIR kids are grown), the digital copies of your photos may not exist anymore. But the print copies likely will. I have boxes of old photos that were my grandmother’s…they contain photos of my mom as a kid, my grandma as a kid, her parents, and even her grandparents. Photos from the late 1800’s through the late 90’s. And those boxes of photos are some of my most prized possessions. I love thinking that the families I capture will be handing down their photos for generations, and those might be prized possessions of someone someday.