It's 2018. Everything is digital and there are about a million different ways to store, catalog, collage, and share your photos. But here is why and how I print and you should too.

I don't think any of us don't print our photos on purpose. We take special photos or have a session done and we love them, share them and make Christmas cards...but then life gets away from us and printing photos gets pushed further down the priority and budget lists. But I want my kids to see and be surrounded by their history! I want everything I hang in my home to be special and personal to our family. They enjoy walking past our photos and seeing their faces and memories as much as I do. So here are some of the ways I preserve our lives in print:

1. Canvases - My favorite place to print is Canvas On Demand. We are a Dave Ramsey family and that means we live on a budget. If I wait for the right sale, I can get a handful of canvases for a really good price. So far, they've worked out for us in size, color, and durability.

2. Prints - I personally print my 4x6s and 8x10s from the lab connected to my client galleries - ProDPI and it is the only place I can professionally ensure my product. For these sizes, I like their pricing and product. For my 5x7s I love Artifact Uprising if you're ordering 25 or 50 prints they're $1 each! ONE DOLLAR! They're printed on a gorgeous matte cardstock too. I've used these personally and for clients and they turn out beautifully. They have other fabulous products I've yet to try out.

3. Year Books - Yearly I print one album of our family (mostly the kids of course) and call it "Scott Brudders" and I order 3 copies of this same album from Shutterfly. In January, I devote a couple late nights to making the album. I've tried a couple different consumer companies and find Shutterfly to have the most variety of designs and the easiest interface as well as beautiful products. My boys love looking through their books and I love that making one book makes three so no one is left out. PHEW. I also wait for a good 50% off sale and can usually find a free shipping code. Never ever pay full price for their stuff....just be patient.

4. Monthly Books - Throughout the month, I dump all of the photos I've taken of the kids/family onto an iCloud drive I share with my hubby. At the end of the month I dump it into the Groovebook app and it sends a 4x6 perforated book of prints (up to 100) of the photos to me, my step mom, and both of the great grandmas. Each book is only around $3.50 so this is their Christmas present received monthly. They love it and if I ever stopped, I'd surely hear about it. The prints, to be really honest, are NOT great. But it gets them printed and into the hands of those who love us. I know there are books like chatbooks which I think are much better in quality, but for $3.50 all the grandmas are happy with Groovebook and my wallet is too.

This is of course not a complete list of options. Here are a few more consumer companies I'm personally interested in trying or have heard enough good things about to recommend to you:

And also this really interesting article from Clickin Moms compares some of your box labs like Walgreens and Target. Check it out to see why it's worth skipping your local 1 HR Photo Lab.

Printing Photos in an All Digital World