Photography is not just my job. It’s my passion. I truly love the capturing moments in time and having them to look back on, not just for my own family but clients too. As all my clients will know, I work on a package basis, which means that each and every family that I photograph goes away with a selection of printed goodies. It’s so important to print your images.

A few years ago, it became popular for photographers to offer digital only packages. This gave people the freedom to go off and print their own images, create calendars, mugs, mouse mats and other quirky gifts. I enjoy the flexibility of offering digital images for sale BUT and this is a big BUT, I’ve learnt over the years that sometimes my clients are NOT printing their images!! That is why, now, I always make sure that clients go away with printed images or products from every session.

Now, I know it’s not easy for busy parents to start thinking about frames, photo books and where to hang things around the house, so I decided to go around my own house and photograph some of my own printed images to share with you.

I thought it would be a lovely idea to ask all my clients to share what they’ve done with their images so that we can inspire each other to get printing. Not all the photos around my house are professionally taken, some of them are mobile phone pictures taken on holiday, but it doesn’t matter – the emotion is the important thing. It’s what I feel when I look at them.

I’d love to see what you’ve done with the prints, collages and canvas wraps that you’ve ordered from me. Where did you hang them? How do they make you FEEL when you walk past them every day?

Have a nosey below and I’ll explain a bit about the images that I have around my own house. Maybe it will inspire you to print your images and get them up on the walls.

All the images of my family, that include me, are taken by the wonderful and super talented Aga Tomaszek.

These images were taken last Summer by Aga Tomaszek who I’ve had a photographer crush on for years. I really wanted her to capture our family at one of our favourite places and I absolutely LOVE the images. Not just one or two of them, but the whole lot. This frame is in our hallway, so I see it all the time. When I look at them, I feel so happy. Happy that I’ve got a gorgeous family and happy that we were captured in such a beautiful way. My son doing a cartwheel is one of my absolute favourites!

 

This is a canvas of my daughter. Professionally I know it’s not the best image in the world, but I remember the moment that I took it. She was about 18 months old and hadn’t been walking long. She had a friend over and they dressed up as a princess and a mermaid and we went for a walk near our house. I had my camera with me and so I was chasing them around trying to get them to look at me. Then, my friend pointed over to where Georgie was and I saw her sitting still (she never sat still), looking at the fountain. I took the shot and then she was up and running about again.

I love that I captured this brief moment of calm and love remembering her little pink shoes and green plastic bracelet that she used to wear and of course, those little curls.

Another one of my faves from our family photo shoot at the beach. I love the White Company frame too that was a present for my 40th birthday.

I love a photo calendar! I’ve been making them for years and have a stack of them squirrelled away. Usually the images are all my own, with a mixture of pictures taken on my phone and my camera, but this year, I was very excited to use images from my family photo session too. I love having the images in the kitchen to look at every day and really enjoy turning the page to see what next months image is going to be.

These little square prints from my lab are so cute! I printed a few different images on them and dotted them around the house. They can be framed or just pegged up. I have some on my desk, so I see them every day.

My daughter is a chip off the old block when it comes to list making and so for the last couple of years has requested her own calendar for her bedroom. She likes to write everything down and then cross off each day, just like Mum! Each year, we sit together and she chooses the images that she wants for each month.

This image is very special to my daughter. When she turned 10, I took her and her oldest friends out for a photo session. They’ve know each other since they were born and so I wanted to capture her with them when she hit double figures. She’s nearly 12 now and has changed so much. I really love looking back and seeing her as still my little girl and wearing a dress too!! She loves her friends and asked for a large framed image for her bedroom from the session.

These frames from Ikea are fabulous! I just love them. They are only £4.95. I bought one for my son and one for my daughter. Together we chose the images that they wanted to display. They both chose a picture of them together to go in the centre, which I love!

Photo books are brilliant. I know they can be pain to create and that it can take ages to organise and upload your images – but they are worth it. Below, you can see a stack of black photo albums. I used to buy them all the time and fill them with prints. It was an expensive business and I just had too many pictures. Then I discovered photo books!

Now, each year in December, I sit down with a cup of tea and start sorting through all our photos from the year. Not just mine, but my husbands too. I won’t lie, it takes ages, but I really enjoy the process (in spite of the whinging) and I love the books. When it arrives, we all sit together and look at all the pictures. The kids love to get the books out and remember all the fun times, holidays, lost teeth, family reunions etc etc.

Want to make your own photobook? Read my blog post – 7 easy steps to make your own photobook, on the blog.

Finally, here’s my photo wall. I have dreams of the perfect photo wall and this is not it. In fact, these images were put there 8 years ago when we moved in and haven’t changed since. I can see that they are wonky and the spacing is dodgy but you know what? I still love it. Every single day I look at my daughters cheeky little face and my sons big blue eyes and I’m glad I took those pictures. I’m glad I printed them and put them there. I guess what I’m trying to say is, don’t wait for everything to be perfect. Get those images printed and get them up on the wall any way you can. Nip down to Ikea or Marks & Spencer and buy a few frames. You won’t regret it. I promise.