How well do you actually remember these moments if you never see them off your phone?
I bet if you open your camera roll on your phone right now, you’ll see photos in the four digits.
Thousands of photos from memories you wanted to keep. At current count, my camera roll says I have 5,312 images. That’s a lot of moments I thought were more important to capture than to sit back and enjoy. But if they were so important to capture, why let the memory be lost way deep in my camera roll?
But the sad thing is, that the vast majority of us decide to focus on capturing the moment instead of living in it (as I raise my hand up too) just to have that moment pushed down the list by the next cute moment we capture. Most of them sitting on our camera roll 100% forgotten and never cherished.
And there is no reason for that! Because there are a ton of great online printing options. Many that have apps to make even easier for us.
And we are all so attached to the “digital image” these days. We want to share on Instagram and Facebook, get our likes and feel good about the share, but at the end of the day, that little spike of dopamine will settle back down again that good feeling will go away. But if you take the time to create some prints of those moments you love so much, and buy a photo box to keep them in (because let’s be real, no one has time for stuffing prints into albums) then you can go through and enjoy the moments any point in time.
And what’s even more powerful? Your kids can too. My kid’s favorite thing is to grab our photo box and look through it, looking at the memories they’ve made. It’s pretty much the best thing ever.
So, since we are all so busy, let me help you out with showing you where to print and what to do!
For those who want to put in the minimal effort but want the tangible.
Chat Books
Chat Books are amazing especially if you use Instagram. It’s a service that will connect to your Instagram, and automatically send you new books once you’ve uploaded enough images to the next book, (which is 60 images). Seeing the books are $10 each and are 8×8 with an image a page, it’s really a great way of making sure those Instagram photos you love live on past the Instagram feed.
Not an Instagram fan, no worries! Via the chatbooks app, you can upload via Facebook or your camera roll. Since I don’t post all the photos on Ingstagram that I want in these books, I usually go into the app when they send me an email saying another book is coming, and add the other photos I want printed that I didn’t put on Instagram yet. (You can follow my personal IG feed here if you want @beccaellison or professional feed here @rebeccaellisonphoto)
This is awesome if you aren’t caring about crazy high quality, but really for $10 a book, you can’t do better in my opinion!
Social Print Studio
This is another great option that is an app on your phone or a computer upload option too. This company has tons of fun printing options, and none of the super geeky 1980’s photo on a mousepad options.
Their Mighty prints are super cool as they are on thicker card stock so they feel like post cards and have a matte finish( vs the classic luster or glossy of traditional prints.) Check out their mighty prints here.
Another favorite of mine is their square magnets. We are slowly but surely taking over our fridge with these magnets. My kids love seeing themselves on the fridge everytime they go into the kitchen. The quality and color is great for the price and it’s super fun!
Honestly, they have a lot of really great products, and their quality has always impressed me. Plus they are a small business in California, and I really like being able to support another small business when I can!
Mpix
Mpix.com is the consumer side of one of my professional labs, and have always pointed my clients who order their digital images from me to get their photos printed there. They have great quality and service and the prints come back looking like I would want them to (and trust me most consumer labs don’t do this at all!). It very much matters where you get your photos printed for the quality to stand up to the image you see on your screen. I especially say you should use Mpix for any professional photos you ordered from your photographer and never got around to making actual prints from. Yes, I’m calling you out on that!
Don’t let the unknown of just where or what you may want to do with your photos stop you, I suggest to order a 4×6 of all the photos you have on a disc from your photographer and then once you have those you can look and see which ones you want bigger around the house. This way you see them printed, and also then you at least have the 4×6 prints when you realize you lost the USB or don’t know where the folder went on your desktop!
Then buy a photo print box and store the loose prints there.
Artifact Uprising
If you are feeling adventurous and want to create an album with your images, I’ve always been impressed at the quality from Artifact Uprising. The books are not cheap (expect to be paying $100-$200 for a nice album) but the quality is worth it. Probably the closest you’ll get to professional quality album at a consumer level price.
Well thats it! My favorite consumer level labs and companies to print your iphone photos at.
Now just remember done is better than perfect, otherwise your memories will fade of these moments you care so much about if you don’t give yourself a reminder of them!
Now go get your print on!
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