This is another one of those moments where I've sat back and chosen to ignore, yet it's oddly the most satisfying prospect of photography.
Printing your photos.
It's not even as though it's a lot of money - Photo prints can be done at supermarkets these days and cost maybe 20p per photo? A high quality print on decent paper for 20 odd pence? Yes please!
I would never have come to this conclusion if it wasn't ordering that photobook a few weeks back (please see related posts!) - and as I was going through those photos, I realised that without a physical end product, photography is much less to me than what I originally thought.
That photobook, represented moments of my life up until now. Sports teams, camera gear, adventures, people and places - it's all harboured under one roof - and an impressive one at that. I stopped and studied that for a while - family and friends usually stuck to a single picture and uttered the words "ooooh yeah! That's a nice one!" and carried on - but to me all of them a great. Some are better than others, but definitely a strong book of the skills I've learned so far.
and then :
*This is not a paid plug for Saal digital, but they do make good stuff, so I end up going back to them*
I politely asked for a voucher for some wall art. I wanted to try the aluminium frames; to which they said "Yup, that's absolutely fine, here's £50"
^ I didn't expect that response, but I wrote such a great review for them before I thought they'd at least give me 10% - thanks Saal-Digital for the extra oomph.
But I'd never printed on Aluminium before, I didnn' exactly know what to expect - it was a bit of a gamble - I wish I'd chosen something that oozed colour rather than opting for black and white - but I figured something neutral would fit anywhere in my living area - or my parents - or anyone else for that matter.
The process was simpler this time, just upload a high-quality photo the them and they do the leg work. I received it maybe a week later and I just looked in awe again at something that I had created.
The print was fantastic, and the best part is I can see this hanging up anywhere, with the realisation of this and the photobook - it hit me - printing photos is probably my favourite part of Photography. It can get expensive, but just having some physical prints on whichever makes the whole thing magic.
Truth be told, I'd never considered printing before, but now i'm looking into pursuing a whole range of different books for different themes and subject. I wish I'd thought of that before, but you live and learn don't you?
But here's the whole point to this - It's taken a couple of solid products from Saal-Digital to make me realise that printing is 100% worth it. Even if it's not a jazzy aluminium frame, or a hard back photo book - it doesn't have to be. Take what you can down to the quickest printing shop or supermarket or wherever and get whatever you've made physical. It makes the magic of the moment that you captured physical again.