Show 'Em Off

I take lots of photos. Thousands of them if we're being honest here. The thing is, up until recently, no one ever saw them unless they sat down with me at my computer and scrolled through them. Sure, I'd print some out here and there to hang on the fridge or give to the grandparents... And I use some in my digital scrapbooking layouts (although I haven't been scrapping much lately). But the average person that lives here (including myself and my husband and kids) didn't see them on a daily basis (if ever).

A few months ago, I decided it was time to change that. I had this incredible longing to walk around my house and see all of my favorite photos at a glance. To be making dinner or watching TV and be able to just look at a wall or table top and be reminded of what makes me love photography so much. So I was on a mission. Display my photos or just stop taking them, since no one was seeing them anyway.

I started by printing out 8x10" closeup black and white photos of all of us in the family and matting and framing them. It felt weird displaying a big photo of my own face on the wall, but I told myself that I live here too, and should be up there. I hung them in a line above a doorway in our family room and everyone that sees them absolutely loves them.

Next, I grabbed 2 regular floor tiles at Lowe's, printed out 2 of my favorite photos onto matte photo paper, and Mod Podged them onto the tiles. I just love how they turned out and everyone that comes here compliments me on them.

Then I happened to be in Michael's Craft Store one day and stumbled upon some cool shelves with a groove for photos/frames along the top and 3 binder clips on the bottom of each one. They were originally $15.00 each, but I got them on clearance for $6.99 each. I bought the three they had left. They were unfinished wood, so I unscrewed the binder clips and spray painted them a glossy white. Then I hung them on one wall and got started.

I went through all of my bazillion photos on my EHD and started printing out my favorites. Some are my favorites because of what's in the photo, and some are my favorites just from a photography standpoint. I printed them out in different sizes, just to add some interest, and displayed some on top of the shelves, and clipped some on the binder clips. I've envisioning these shelves and clips getting slowly filled with inspirational things... poems, drawings, more photos, print outs of my scrapbook layouts, quotes, etc. I'm pretty sure that in a few months, the contents won't look nearly as neat and orderly, but I'm cool with that and kind of looking forward to it.

Now when I sit in the family room, I can look around (and so can others) and see what makes us who we are and what we're all about. So my point is, don't just keep your photos all locked up on your computer. Print them out, hang them, stick them, shove them in baskets on your coffee table and let people LOOK at them. Because otherwise, what's the point of taking them, ya know?