Blog • Laura Schmidt Photography • CA • 949-306-1997 : kids

A few weeks back, I installed a beautiful wall portrait display in my client's home. Every time I do this, I am reminded of how fabulous it is to live with our images everyday--not just on our phones or computers or Facebook, but to really LIVE with our images. We've become so accustomed to seeing those images on our phones, but have you thought about what it might be like to have those beautiful images to admire and treasure in sizes larger than that phone screen? How many wonderful images do you have that are lost or forgotten on hard drives?

My clients have a beautiful entry hall that screamed for something--barren walls don't make for warmness in a home! Our portrait session at the beach told a story about their beautiful blended family--from the energetic 7 year old to her older polished siblings. With so many images to tell the story, it didn't make sense to hang just one family portrait on the wall! They choose their favorites and we created their story on the wall in my favorite new product--metal prints! Metal Prints are a new medium for preserving photos by infusing dyes directly into specially coated aluminum sheets. The image is infused into the surface and not on it, so the images take on an almost magical luminescence--they are breaktaking! They are float mounted off the wall creating a breathtaking display! Metal prints aren't for everyone, but there are so many other ways to show off your treasured images--why not take advantage of all the new advances in displaying your imagery?

But here's where a lot of my clients get stuck:

How do you go about creating a wall grouping and then actually getting it onto the wall? Wanna know how I do it?

First I measured the wall--side to side and top to bottom. We decided how much of the wall we wanted to fill--this gave me preliminary dimensions to work with. We decided what images we wanted to work with--not necessarily the sizes yet; only choosing the images. Then we worked to decide the sizes for the display. Some images lend themselves to being a focal point. In this case, the portrait of the whole family was to be the focal point.

When the metal prints came in (it's like Christmas for me!), I made templates using craft paper. First, I drew the outline of the piece on the craft paper. I cut out the template and then laid it on the back of the metal print and marked where the hangers were on my craft paper. You can affix the templates to your wall, arrange as you'd like and hammer in your hangers. You can do this to easily hang any pieces. In this instance with seven prints, I put the templates on a larger piece of craft paper, measuring the distances I wanted between images, and affixed them with tape to the larger piece of craft paper. We showed up at my clients, affixed the large piece of craft paper to the wall. We used a level to make sure it was level and then nailed our hangers at the appropriate spots on the wall. We carefully removed the template (we wanted to save it, just in case) and hung the portraits. Easy Peasy!! No more extra holes in the walls! You can buy templates just like this, but why, when you can make your own? I use a large roll of craft paper because I do this so often, but you can use any clean paper to create the template. I recycle my templates by giving them to my daughter to paint and color on. (Then I have that art to hang!)

If you like the look of photographs with other mementos or images, how about incorporating your family portraits into a wall display as sort of a three dimensional scrapbook? Canvas or framed prints with glass may be classic ways of displaying your portraits, but why not create a display using some of the fabulous new products available? Have questions? Want some ideas? Call me for a consultation on how to get those images off your computer and into your life!

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of photographing the sweetest young lady for her First Communion. Not only was she beautiful on the outside, but on the inside as well. Sweetness and grace. Having First Communion portraits done ahead of time is such a great idea; so much more relaxed than having them done that day!

We arrived just after a wedding ended and Mass began, so we had a little time inside--The light inside St Edward the Confessor church is so beautiful!