So… you’ve got your digital gallery back and you’re loving all your photos, but now what? After all that anticipation leading up to getting your photos back, sometimes it can feel underwhelming after that initial, gleeful feeling of looking through your gallery.

You may think to yourself, “Now what? Am I just supposed to let my photos wither away in the digital ether?” Well to be frank, HELL NAH! Let’s get those photos printed! There’s power in printing your photos.

Making Those Moments Last: Remembering Your Memories

With our philosophy when it comes to photography, we tell stories through our pictures. We strive for your pictures to be a physical representation of all the senses. When you look at your photos, you should be transported right back to that specific moment. Everything that you saw, all of the thoughts that were running through your head, the things that the people around you are saying, the sounds of someone laughing or giggling, losing feeling in your feet because we did your session in the fall/winter: all of those sensations should come running back to you when you look back on your photos!

It’s because of those sensations that we beckon you to feel when looking at your photos that we urge you to print your photos! Having those touchstones that transport you back to those special moments in your lives, whether that’s a wedding or an engagement or a family shoot, are so important.

Often, most people don’t just get professional photos done for the hell of it! (I mean, we love you if you do! We do it all the time! Props to you, babes!) But for the majority of the time, people are getting professional photos done for a certain major life event (eg. a wedding, an engagement, senior photos, anniversary, family photos at a specific milestone in life). These life events are important to you and deserve to be remembered years down the line. A great way to remember these moments is by printing your photos.

When you print your photos, we encourage you to display them! Obviously, it’s not ideal to display every photo you print but make sure you’ve got some pictures where you can see them. When you’re running out the door to avoid being late for work, make sure there is photo in your entryway to remind you of those sweet moments in life. When you’re dragging yourself into the kitchen to make dinner for the fam, make sure a photo of your kids is hanging on the fridge to remind why you’re pushing on. On the table next to your bed, keep a photo of you and your boo to remind you of the love in your life. Having these photos in proximity keeps you that much closer to those feelings you felt in the moment.

Beyond being perpetual reminders of good memories to brighten your day, your printed photos can serve as an amazing facet of interior decoration. Framed photos and canvases are great ways to put your photos on display in meaningful ways. Hanging your photos in your living space can personalize your space and really allow you to make your space your own.

“But all of my photos will be saved to my phone… Why would I print them?”

You don’t know how many times we’ve gotten messages like these when we encourage our clients to print their photos. Now we know what you might be thinking: “These people just want more money from me after I paid them for my photos. Get lost!” Well… we hope you’re not thinking that but we’re being realistic here that there are some people out there that may use this frame of thought. We are never “out to get your money.” We understand that professional photos are a luxury service that not everyone can afford to do every year.

But that’s exactly why we encourage you to print your photos! These are professional photos that you made a monetary, energetic investment in. I mean, you aren’t out here printing off every picture you take on your iPhone (I mean, if you did that’d be pretty fuckin’ cool but that’s besides the point). If you’re going to invest money into printing your photos, wouldn’t you like to know that your money is being invested into printing quality images?

Additionally, just because something is digital doesn’t mean it is forever. Phones and computers break. Sure, there are many technological advances to ensure that your photos are backed up (eg. the cloud, hard drives). But with that luxury comes the joy of being able to overindulge and before you know it, you have thousands of photos on a drive and little to no way of finding everything. Not all of us are super, duper organized and have our digital photos labeled, dated, or categorized in some way that is easily accessible. Perhaps in our professional lives but our personal lives can often become cluttered and disorganized. Having physical copies of the photos that mean something to you are a great way to prioritize the photos of your life. And okay, sure, there are a plethora of ways that physical photos can be damaged or destroyed. But it’s more so about the intention behind the printing of your photos rather than the idea. By making it a priority to print your photos, you are adding value to a physical, tactile item that could later be used as a family heirloom and beyond.

“That’s great! How should I go about printing my photos?”

Okay! So perhaps at this point, you’re sold on printing your photos! That’s awesome! We’re happy to see you making this investment in yourself and the memories you cherish. Now, there are plenty of ways to go about printing your photos.

If you’re a client of ours, the good news is that we have a printing service built directly into our digital galleries in PicTime! If you have a digital gallery with us, there is a customized shop that offers basic prints, metal prints, matted frames, folios, canvas prints, and so much more! This is a great service to take advantage since this online gallery is directly linked to where your photos are originally uploaded. If you take your photos to a different printing service, you run the risk of the photos being in the wrong format or other technical issues. This way, you keep everything in one place!

Additionally, a great way to memorialize photos from a life event is a picture album! Picture albums actually hold such an important place in our hearts that we include an album credit in our wedding packages that can be applied to customizing a personalized wedding album with our Storyteller’s Collection. But albums from the Collection don’t have to be just for weddings! Past clients have had us make albums for them for a variety of events: family sessions, newborn sessions, family trips, and the list goes on. The possibilities are endless here but don’t let that fact scare you away! You can read more about the albums we offer in the Storyteller’s Collection here! We hand-design these durable, long-lasting albums just for you! We’d be happy to make you an album for any occasion using the photos we have taken for you. For an alternative option, the shop that is built into your PicTime gallery offers albums that are predesigned using templates. This is a less personalized option that requires more work on your part but still a great option to make those memories last.

Of course, we do understand that purchasing your prints from a high-quality store isn’t always the most price-conscious choice for some people. You can always take your photos to a regular printing service like Walmart, Target, Walgreens, or Shutterfly. These are choices that are bit more price-conscious and still get the job done. However, we ALWAYS recommend against using these services to print your photos. When you use services like these, the color tones in your photo can turn a little wonky and damage the quality of your photos. We highly recommend that you use the service we provide but we are very understanding of the fact that sometimes, it is not an option for some.

Print Those Photos, Yo!!! It’s Worth It!

We genuinely could not recommend anything more than printing your photos! Your photos mean just as much to you as they do to us and we truly believe your photos deserve to be printed. You are making these beautiful memories in beautiful moments of your life and it’s amazing that we get to be a part of that with you. So get out there and print off those beautiful faces! They deserve it!

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Looking to get some awesome pictures taken that you can print off? Let’s do it! Contact us here to set up a session! Having some questions about printing your photos? Shoot us a quick email at hello@winsomephotos.co and let’s hash out the details! Craving more from the blog? Come read about our Top 5 Favorite Minnesota Wedding Venues!

As always, we hope you are well! Make sure you take some time to soak in the moment of your season of life! Stay cool, people! xoxo