Framed - The Print

I've found it easy lately to procrastinate making prints, matting, and framing them. After all, photos look pretty good on a computer monitor. Sharing them via email, Facebook, photo sharing sites like Phanfare is quick and easy. Sometimes people even "Like" them. And then there is the cost of printing them. A fine ink-jet printer makes really great prints. But they don't leave much change out of $1,000, and that's just the start what with replenishing the inks. Then, finally, my printer head had become clogged, likely from idleness.

But a well made print, matted and framed and displayed with good light, is really the ultimate expression of a photograph. It becomes a piece of art to enjoy living with. So when a lab (Aspen Creek Photo) offered a sale on 20X30 prints and I did the math comparing the cost of a new printer and inks versus lab prints, I sent one off. I also dug out a print of a Galen Rowell photograph that we had purchased years ago, but never managed to mat and frame because of its large size, and a beautiful print of a pair of elephants photographed in Botswana by Gabriel Suarez.

Aaron Brothers had a sale last week on very nicely made 27X40 frames. A bit of effort in mat-cutting and voila - a new look for our living room and a set of fine photographs we will enjoy living with for a while.

• 20X30 Print from Aspen Creek: $30
• 27X40 solid wood frame with glass (Aaron Bros. two-for-one sale: $30
• Acid-free mat board: $14