Standouts

Most people know what a printed canvas looks like, but Standouts are the cool new thing on the block.... Literally! It's essentially a high-quality photo print, mounted to a lightweight block! Canvases have a classic texture to them that is truly unique, but can sometimes soften the image in doing so. Standouts are perfect for the person who loves to see every little bit of detail in their image! 

Another great thing about Standouts are the variety of edges they can have! There is black, white, light wood, stainless steel, and my new personal favorite (pictured above), bamboo. 

Standouts are also extremely easy to hang with their super simple hanging system! Just hammer an nail into your wall, and the Standout practically levels itself! Easy peasy! I love it! 

Words of Wisdom Wednesday

At some point in our lives, we have all had big dreams. We envision ourselves doing what we love and being with the people that we love. But unfortunately, many settle for the first thing that feels comfortable, and that dream never becomes a reality. We stay in our comfort zone and give up on ever reaching our dreams.

And so, for today's Words of Wisdom Wednesday post, I thought I'd encourage you to take a leap of faith and just go for it! Do what you love, talk to the people you love, but most of all, try! It may not be easy, but it will definitely be worth it.

As always, this photo was provided by me, Shelley Marie Photo, and designed by Bahar Creative. Enjoy!

Wall Arrangements

Ever since our wedding I have been dying to display our wedding pictures around our home! Sure, we have some small 5x7 frames scattered through out, but I wanted something bigger! A statement piece to show off all of our beautiful wedding pictures that we paid so much to have created. Every few days I would think, "Gosh, we really need to do something about all these empty walls in our house...especially that giant, gaping wall behind our couch!" Eventually we put up a 16x20" painting of a pineapple, but in comparison with our large L-shaped couch it really just looked silly. Well that was an entire year ago....and we still hadn't filled up that giant wall with anything other than a pineapple! So this past week, Joe and I set out to change that. I went thrift shopping to acquire a random assortment of rustic looking frames that I loved and using one of my handy photography tools (more on this later!), I designed a digital model of what my wall display would look like! After that, we printed the images through my print lab, took a few days to clean the frames, nail sawtooth hangers to the back of frames that didn't have any, and insert the printed images. And FINALLY, this past Sunday we finished our project and ended up with this!!:

Here are some behind the scenes photos of us getting it nailed up! 

Before:

After: 

After a photo session, the growing trend is to just order digital images and say that you'll print them and hang them up later. But the truth is, most of us never get around to it!! We spend so much money to create beautiful portraits of our family but, after the photo session, the images just get lost somewhere on a hard drive and we never see them again! Your portraits were made to ENJOY! Because of this, after each photo session, I always sit down with my clients to educate them on all the unique ways you can display your images through out your home! One way I do this is by using an app on my iPad to digitally show you what your images would look like on the very walls of your home! I import a photo of your wall, and using specialized software I can show you a large array of digital wall layouts filled with the very photos from your session that we just took! I can even replicate what a Canvas or Standout would look like on your wall versus a framed or matted image!

So the moral of the story is:  Do something with your images!! Don't just settle for digital images that will get lost and never seen again! Enter into a photo session planning on doing something special with the images that are captured.

And don't worry if you don't have any wall space in your home, wall arrangements aren't the only way you can enjoy and display your images. Albums, Image Folios, Image Boxes, and Mini Accordion books are also great little ways to show off photos from your session! 

So, don't be like me and wait an entire year to display your photos! Get them out where you can see and enjoy them!  

Happy Monday everyone!! :)

Image Folios

Meet my new Image Folios!!! These beautiful little photo products are a great way to display photos from your session! When closed, it's slim and compact like a book. But when opened, it can be propped up on any side table to display the printed photo panels inside! Stack them on your coffee table as conversation starters, or organize them neatly on your bookshelf! Open or closed, these image folios are a beautiful way to display your photos and show off some of your favorite images from your session.

Outside Cover

Front Cover

Back Cover

Inside Panels

Inside: Right Panel

Inside: Left Panel

Top of Folio

Folio Spine