Photos and our memories are all we have left of the past! And while I am a great believer in living in the moment and not dwelling on the past or worrying about the future, there are just some times when I want to curl up on the sofa and relive some fun memories!
My mom did a great job of documenting our lives, and now I hope to do the same. I think photos are meant to bring joy to our lives when we view them, we remember happy times, and appreciate the art of daily life. And for me personally, I do not like to collect a lot of stuff in my home, so I look for a balance in this digital age of printing my photos. I love real prints, but I like to carefully choose what I print.
So here is how I display my family photos:
I love to make large wall art (either canvases or framed prints) of more artistic images, so not necessarily the traditional portrait, either of my family or the beautiful world around us. Also, I have an old window hanging in my house that I display photos in and it is so easy to change photos out. I love magnetic photo wire hangers, another easy way to change out prints!
Every few months I print out photos, 4x6s of our everyday life, to add to our yearly old school albums. You know the ones with sleeves, where you can pull them out and put them in a frame!
I order photo books of special events or vacations, ones that tell a story from our lives. I prefer the lay flat pages. I have used several different album and photo book companies and have not seen one I did not like! I am also a big fan of Chatbooks, which is very affordable. If you use Instagram, they will send you a Chatbook every time you post 60 photos. Or you can upload your favorites right to their website. Other options are Shutterfly, Mpix and Artifact Uprising.
I’d love to hear how you preserve your family photos too!