What Others Do?

[esophoria]

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Since joining the Leica fold, I've taken some great photos. I've even sent some of them (pics) out to a printing service to be professionally printed; then a trip to the picture frame store, to choose a frame and matting.

 

Bottom line very expensive to display my photos. In the US total cost can come close to $150 US per photo

 

I'm wondering how others choose to display their photos in their homes?

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[jippiejee]

I just have them printed at 50x70cm, then buy a glass frame of the same size, which costs me about €8 euros. Simple and effective, and no different from the way photos are presented here in town in the photo museum.

[Jeff S]

You might get more responses in the Digital Post Processing Forum section (or Film Forum if you mean prints from film). The mods might move this there in any case.

 

I do my own printing, matting and framing. The process was different, of course, in my darkroom days, but in the digital realm, I can produce a 14x18 framed print (that would retail for about $150) for just under $30, including paper and ink. I use the same materials and process whether for myself or for sale or gifts.

 

I buy high quality materials in bulk, including archival mats, conservation glass, Nielsen frames, etc. Of course, there are sunk costs for mat cutter, printer, etc.

 

Most prints don't get to this stage; I have home space for displaying and evaluating work prints...peg board, narrow shelving, etc. I also keep portfolio books, with clear sleeves, for 8.5x11 prints to organize my work and to show potential buyers.

 

I wouldn't use an outside print service unless I needed a print bigger than my printer capacity, and that hasn't yet happened. Others of course follow your approach. I just enjoy the process, like the long run cost savings, and most importantly, value the control and creativity that goes into the finished product.

 

Jeff

[sanyasi]

Four Approaches:

 

First, the bulk of my stuff I print myself on 17" by 22" paper. I then purchase from Archival Methods what they refer to as museum cases. I then buy in quantity Side Loading Print Sleeves from Archival Methods. Each box holds about 40 photos in the sleeves. I group photos in the boxes by subject matter. When I get a better photograph in a subject, I replace the weakest one in that subject. I frequently look at my stuff and if people are interested in seeing it when they come over, I have a long counter where I can spread the work out.

 

Second, we have a long hallway in the entrance to our apartment. I am able to hang 8 photographs. I make this a semi-permanent display when I get a nice theme. We had the good fortune to visit the Jain Temples in Ranakpur India last year and I have eight photographs from that in the series currently on display.

 

Third, when we remodeled last year, we bought a "40 inch LED monitor--commercial grade--hung it on the wall in vertical position and I have a continuous loop of photos displayed on that. It is a jaw dropper whenever someone visits. If you do this, I highly recommend a commercial grade monitor. Those are meant to be left on all the time and come with much better warranties. They run cool and don't consumer a lot of energy. The display quality is pretty awesome. When we replace our current flat screen in the living room, I will do so with a similar monitor (but larger for regular TV and movie viewing) and display photos horizontally.

 

Fourth, I recently convinced my two hall neighbors to let me have the wall that is visible in the hallway when you get off the elevator. I have hung existing photos there temporarily, but will probably replace those with aluminum or lucite prints. Pricing on that stuff is competitive with quality framing. I need to do a test.

 

You can ignore everything I have said, but your should take a look at the Archival Methods website if you are unfamiliar with it. They have tons of stuff, top quality, and volume discounts. I have been buying stuff from them for the last three or four years and have never had a problem. I think shipping is free once you spend over $250. If you buy in bulk to get the discounts, it isn't hard to spend $250.

 

Have fun.

 

Jack Siegel

[adan]

Like Jeff, I do my own printing and framing.

 

I have always felt printing was the "performance," in Ansel Adams' words, and figure a picture is not entirely mine unless the whole process from exposure to final image is under my direct control. (Plus, sometimes I want to print at 10 pm on a Friday night. )

 

I had darkrooms available in high school and college (even went to school year-round so that I was a registered student and could use the lab over the summers). Also for my first five years in the work world. That definitely spoiled me - I HATE having to pay a lab for prints.

 

Once I lost access to a lab through work, I bought my own enlarger and built a "quick-setup" darkroom I could install over any standard bathtub. By 1997, scanning and inkjet prints (at least for color) were good enough that I donated the print-darkroom equipment to a School for the Arts, and went fully digital except for film development (B&W myself - E-6 I was willing to pay a lab for).

 

I've gone through generations of inkjet printers, from a lowly 4-color Epson in 1994 to my current 3800. I buy generic metal 16" x 20" frames/glass, but throw out the generic mattes that come with them (because they are always shaped for 8x10 or 11x14, not 35mm or 6x6 images, and I compose in the camera for full-frame). Then buy archival 16x20 boards in bulk and cut my own matte openings to the "right" shapes.

 

A recent house renovation left me with an empty 15-foot entry wall (like Jack). Printed, framed and hung five 10" x15" color prints (matted/framed 16 x 20) in four hours on a Sunday afternoon.

 

(BTW - I like that monitor idea, too!)

 

Now - I have long experience and training in art and photo hand-work, so it comes easily. Like a plumber doing his own sink. I can understand that not everyone has the time or hand-skills to do it themselves - or does enough printing to justify buying the right tools (minimum of a 13 x 19" archival-pigment printer and a Logan compact matte-cutting frame: a 301-1 is approximately the model I use: Board Mounted Mat Cutters from Logan Graphic Products

 

You just have to balance the costs and time of do-it-yourself vs. farming it out.

[StephenPatterson]

... we bought a "40 inch LED monitor--commercial grade--hung it on the wall in vertical position and I have a continuous loop of photos displayed on that. It is a jaw dropper whenever someone visits.

 

Just curious at what interval you your photos cycle on the monitor? I like the idea, but in my mind I'm having trouble resolving which would be better, a longer interval, something like 5 minutes (or perhaps longer) or something shorter, like 30 seconds.

[erl]

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Similar to Adan, I hate relinquishing control of ANY part of the process. I have an acronym that I I live by, WIDDDH. Stands for, What I Don't Do Doesn't Happen!

 

Consequently, I had to do a framing course to learn that last step. I am lucky in that not too far away is a framing business that specializes in sub-letting Do Your Own Framing. They teach the craft, then hire out the facilities to allow you to do your framing. Consequently, I have access to all the machinery, frame sizes (custom), moulding sections, matts etc. Their fees result in framing costs being a bit less than half straight commercial prices, plus my time.

 

Anything smaller than 11"x14" is cheaper off the shelf, but crappy quality by comparison to custom built.

[wildlightphoto]

I build my frames from scratch & cut the mats from bulk 32" x 40" acid-free matboard. The frames are made of a variety of hardwoods, including walnut, black walnut, mahogany, padauk, ash, birch, oak, teak, and apricot (from the orchard where I grew up). Mostly salvaged from my father's garage when he moved to a retirement home.

 

By making the frames myself I could not only afford them (I made 70 for a recent show) but I could also make them the exact size I wanted to fit each print. The biggest expense by far was the glass, which I had a frame shop cut to my specs.

[sanyasi]

Just curious at what interval you your photos cycle on the monitor? I like the idea, but in my mind I'm having trouble resolving which would be better, a longer interval, something like 5 minutes (or perhaps longer) or something shorter, like 30 seconds.

 

I initially thought longer would be better, but I am down to 15 seconds. If I really want to examine the photo, I pull it out of the box. The quality on this monitor is outstanding, but there still is nothing like a print to show off your work.

 

The one issue that we have had is that the monitor comes with the manufacturer's name on the bevel. Haven't figured out how to remove it yet, but there are some companies that make a picture frame for monitors. At $750 or so, we decided we could live with Sanyo stamped on the bevel.

 

Another thing to keep in mind is calibration. There are some issues here, which I resolved by adding Lightroom and some other software to the Mac mini driving the system. I use Photoshop, but I don't spend 10 hours on a single photo, so I found it was easier to just reprocess the photos for the monitor in question.