Brenda Landrum

Making prints more consistently of my photography is a goal of mine this year. I use to do this all the time but when my Canon Pro printer died on me a couple of years ago, and I didn’t have the funds to replace it for awhile, I got out of the habit. The convenience factor of being able to print whenever I want and have full control over quality far exceeds sending files to a photo lab for me. Nothing against photo labs, I worked in a professional lab for several years. Which is probably why I like printing myself. 

I was finally able to purchase a new printer at Christmas, an upgrade from my previous version and I love it, but getting back to the creative process of taking the photo, editing, final file and then printing has been slow. Printing a 4×6 print of an image I really love to see how it looks printed is an important step in the process for me. Seeing it on screen is one thing but holding your image in your hands turns it into a tangible piece of art. It connects you with your work through touch, weight, and detail, making the creative process feel complete.

Since being on Substack I have seen a lot of photographer’s talking and showing how they are making zine’s. I really love the DIY nature of printing a collection of work to put into the hands of others. Many many years ago I printed a book of a project that came out of becoming a new mom and many of my friends and family were becoming moms. It’s a 1 of 1 book that I still have, in my studio sitting with other photography books. Seeing photographers making zine’s has brought the idea of a book back. It’s created an idea of doing a year book of images created. 

The first step in this goal is to get back to printing a 4×6 of the images I really love. To not stop at just sharing it online but to finish with a print. From there I can print it bigger and actually display it on the wall. I also want to explore the year book idea. I think I’ll start with the images I took last year and start laying a book out to see what that might look like and the most important factor, cost. 

So my question is, do you create something tangible of your work? What ideas do you have for how to get images off the screen and into your hands and the hands of others? I would love to hear what others are doing or why you haven’t.