Redecorating Difficulties

Last year, during our fall Rocky Mountain road trip, I spotted this small aspen grove
off the highway in Kit Carson National Forest, New Mexico.  I stopped the car, grabbed my
E-M1 Mark II with the 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens and made this image.  This will be one
of the three I chose to hang in our family room. (click to enlarge)
100mm; 1/160th sec. @ f/8; ISO 200

As with most photographers who may hang some of their work in their homes and offices, I thought it time to take down many of my old photographs and hang newly matted and framed ones.  And that is the problem.

I like having matted and frame photographs that I've made on my walls.  Not only does it make our home look nicer, each time I look at one of my photographs, it stirs an emotion.  Instantly, I remember when, where and sometimes why I made a particular photograph.  But after a while, usually a few years, I find it is time to change.  It is not because the hanging art is no longer desirable, but because I have made so many other photographs that I really like and would like to view those on the wall rather than on a computer or tablet screen.

In this digital photography age and as mobile as we are nowadays, most of us become pretty prolific at making images.  Each year we make hundreds if not thousands.  Couple that with the quality of the cameras (and lenses), equipped with capabilities beyond our imagination only a decade ago, and the number of images each of us makes starts to multiply quite quickly.  More images usually means more keepers.  Better gear usually means more keepers.  It is nice to display one's more current work.  But which do you choose?

Over the weekend, I set out to create a new grouping of three images in our family room.  Easy right?  Pick out three images, have them printed, matted and framed, then hang them.  Well, not so fast.  There seems to be a lot to consider and many decisions to be made.

First, I had to think a bit about what images would "fit."  Which will blend in with the decor and other wall art in that particular room?  Which three prints would work with each other?  How would the colors and subject matter relate?  Just those few decisions were really difficult and took few hours of looking through my Lightroom catalog.  I picked out several images as candidates.  

Then I needed to figure out the total width of the hanging space.  Since I envisioned three images, two horizontal flanking a center vertical image, I then needed to determine how large the prints should be, how much additional space the mats would add, how wide a frame would do justice to the images and finally, how much space in-between each image—all to fit nicely in that predetermined horizontal dimension.  It is nice to think about hanging huge prints on your walls, but unless you have a cavernous space, that won't happen.  That means that all those pixels you thought you needed in your camera aren't really that necessary.  You will probably never need all of them for the sizes of photographs you can actually hang in your home.  (So why do we always seem to think we need more pixels?  Lol.)

Here is another rub.  Some of the images I had chosen would need to be slightly cropped to fit the desired dimension.  Since I photograph with micro4/3, APS-C and full frame, I'm now working with 2 different aspect ratios.  Some would take a slight aspect ratio crop and others just failed when cropped.  That eliminated several of my candidate prints.

Finally, after two days of playing around with all of this, I had everything figured out and sent the files off to Bay Photo for printing, matting and framing.  I've used Bay Photo (and MPIX) many times in the past and I must say that the work I received was always excellent, fast and at a fair price.

I haven't received the photographs yet.  I expect them by the end of the week.  I'm sure I'll love them and I'm sure my family and friends will enjoy looking at them as much as I will.

It's nice to have the convenience of digital photography.  It's nice to be able to instantly look at my images on a computer monitor.  But it is even nicer and more satisfying to hang my work prominently on a wall and admire it as a tactile and real object that others can share in my enjoyment.  Sharing is just as important to me as creating.  

Join me over at Instagram @dennisamook or my website, www.dennismook.com. 

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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