For years I stored my personal photos in cardboard banker boxes. Piles of paper envelopes containing 4×6 prints and sleeves of negatives. There were also a few three-ring binders full of plastic sleeves holding all of my mounted Kodachrome and Ektachrome slides. Back then, the only easily accessible option for organizing and viewing photos were do-it-yourself photo albums. The kind where the clear cover pages soon yellowed and lost their stickiness and your carefully laid out album soon became, once again, a pile of loose photos.
My desire for a physical print of my favorite images is as strong as ever. Fortunately, there are now many great options. I have made nearly one dozen photo books of our travels. I’ve made zines of neighborhood snapshots and small weekend trips. I have boxes of loose 8.5 x 11″ color and black and white prints, all on quality paper. I can truly bore you to tears with hundreds and hundreds of physical prints of my photos.
To help organize my loose prints, I have started to create small collections of photos. I pick 10 to 12 images and make the best prints that I can on my favorite Hahnemühle fine art baryta paper. Along with the prints are typed excerpts from my journal about when and where the photos were taken. All of this goes into an archival folio cover purchased from Dane Creek.
I love these small collections of prints. In my opinion, the experience of holding a decently sized print, made with care on quality paper will never be equaled by any electronic device or monitor.
