Picture Perfect

I love photos!

Now, I don't actually enjoy the photo shoot itself, and it usually sends me into a migraine headache. You understand the effort and stress, if you have preschool children, and you have wrestled them into their outfit and pleaded with them to cooperate, smile, and sit still for a photo. Usually, I am praying the entire time that I didn't just waste my expensive sitting fee, only to end up with all the photos showing my boys wrestling with each other or my daughter crying!

Luckily, I have found some good photographers over the years who work with young kids frequently, and they actually enjoy that age! They don't try too hard to get the pictures to be posed, and they take candid shots of the kids just playing around during the shoot. I especially like the up-close shots they take of my kids' facial expressions. I have never had a photo shoot yet where I didn't end up with plenty to choose from.

That creates another dilemma: where do you hang all these pictures? I am someone who has been getting professional photos of my children at birth, 6 months, 1 year, and then once a year after that. By the time my son Owen was seven, he had at least nine photo shoots which had yielded at least forty photos in various sizes from his photo sessions alone! When you add in the pictures of my two other children, I could fill a museum with all my prints. I don't want to hang too many photos of my children, as my house has a tendency to look like a shrine to the Cearley Clan, but I always hate to take down photos that I enjoy and that cost a lot of money.

After Arden turns two, I may switch to going to professional photo shoots every two years, since the kids aren't changing in their appearance as quickly anymore as they did in the first two years. That will help with how many photos are generated, as well as my budget!

In the meantime, the solution that I've enjoyed for decorating my home with photos has been to use black metal art frames with white mats. I order most of my prints in black and white, so that they can be easily grouped together from various sessions over the years without having to worry that the color choices in the outfits don't match. Too many color prints put in a grouping often looks too overwhelming. Typically, I'll get a few desk size 5x7 prints in color and use them on table tops in single frames, or I'll order the rare 11x14 or 16x20 wall portait in color and hang it alone or in a group of two prints. All the rest of my pictures are black and white. This also helps with dressing for the pictures because I usually stick with denim, white, khaki, or black and use clothes we already own. These neutrals look best in black and white prints, and they lend themselves to a timeless appearance in the photo.

Once I get my prints framed in my collection of black art frames, I hang them in groupings on the wall or on wooden photo ledges. Then, I routinely change out which photos I display, so that I can always see all my pictures throughout the course of the year. I simply store the extra prints in photo boxes in my bedroom, and then I don't have to feel like ALL my pictures have to be on display.

This has been the most cost-effective way to display my photography, and it also allows quite a few photos to be grouped together at one time. I rarely buy any frames, and I can reuse the art frames in my collection and easily turn them vertically or horizontally on a ledge. I purchased all the art frames at Hobby Lobby during their half price sale, so they were cost effective.

I enjoy walking through my home and seeing my collections. Maybe one day I'll own a home that provides a lot more wall space to display my photography, but I like my ledges so much, I might just keep them anyway.