What to do with travel photos?

Our house is full of wrapped canvas photo prints from Costco. And they run specials all the time so we rotate our images in different areas of our home. You could even do wall prints in frames if you don't like wrapped canvas.

We also make chatbooks and shutterfly albums of our trips. They adorn my family room coffee table !

before the internet and facebook social media people submitted film to osco, walgreens photo departments to develop prints different sizes. you can still do that; frame whatever you like; I work with a lot of people over 50 in my office and they love my cubicle that I decorate with pictures of my travels;

We too use Shutterfly to make a scrapbook with the best of the highlight photos. You can put it together online adding notes and captions, etc., and then have them print out and mail you a bound hardcopy. Costco, CVS, Walmart, etc., all have similar software options. If you're creative, they can make for a good way to show others your trip, and can look very professional. If you do it consistently, you can eventually have a whole bookshelf of all your trips, neatly organized and accessible.

My experience is that people seldom look at the online stuff, especially if you can't boil it down to a manageable number (<25) of photos.

In addition to making a photo book from each trip and framing our favorite travel photos, I’ve starting making notecards of some of my favorite architectural photos. I get 4x6 prints and mount them on blank card stock. I use these for quick notes to friends and also for hostess gifts when I am invited out.

I post albums of our trips on Facebook for friends to enjoy. After our first international trip, I made family Christmas presents of a canvas print of the Eiffel Tower from Costco, a collage frame of photos from London and Paris, and an 8x10 print of my wife, son and me with our RS tour guide framed with our tour patch. I also did a Shutterfly album, which turned out beautifully. We enjoy being able to see these physical reminders of a wonderful trip. I plan to do something similar this Christmas to commemorate our trip to Italy earlier this year.

Thanks for the ideas! I've actually ordered a canvas print and a photo book already, but I like the idea of photo postcards. Plus, getting things in the mail is fun (when they're not bills or spam). Any other ideas?

I use my photos as screen savers on my computer at home and at work

I know you asked for ideas that are not digital, but, we also use them as screen savers and have them rotated frequently.

Another idea is a digital picture frame. They come in various sizes and you can load a bunch of photos and have it cycle through them. A conversation starter when you have guests.

I always back everything up on the cloud. I put memory cards with a selection of photos in digital picture frames. I upload photos to Prime photo then play a slideshow on my TV. I use a slide show of my pictures as screen savers on my computer.

Second vote for wrapped canvas prints.

I also mount prints (prints up to 20 x 30 inches) on foam board and put them in groups on a 'photo wall' in my media room using 3M 'removable' Velcro strips so I can change out equivalent sized pictures as the mood strikes me. You can print up to 20x30 inches at Sam's for $12.50 and the quality is good (if the raw image is good :-)

I had a 48x72 inch b/w print made of the view from the top of the Arc de Triomphe down the Champs Elyse toward The Louvre in the background at a local store that makes signs - I thought it was much better than the blank wall I covered with it in a modest sized guest room, but She Who Must Be Obeyed said it was overpowering...

We always make a coffee-table style book (using www.Blurb.com) to commemorate a trip - personally I like to devote as much space to the words as to the photos.

It's great to see them to remember.

Have fun!

In addition to posting some pics to my online travel/photography website and several on the websites of my photo clubs, I (as others do) make a book and the occasional canvas print (never more than 1 per trip--that makes for a difficult choice!!) In addition I: 1) create a 16x20 collage (using software, I make a blank 16x20 shot and add photos to it in layers, then reduce it to a jpeg.) [also, I add a blank square and attach things like tickets, coins etc.]; 2) create a calendar as a Holiday Gift, usually about 8 or 9 months are devoted to travel pics; 3) make a Holiday Card which I have printed by Shutterfly, it includes a "Holiday Type" travel picture on the front and a travel picture inside. Additionally, I create 4x6 pics which are divided into 2x3 sections (via software) with 4 different travel pics on them. Each Holiday Card will get them. For example, this year I have 1 4x6 reflecting my trip to Africa and 1 4x6 reflecting my trip to Europe; 4) I create a video slide show with my photos. You can use pre-recorded music and voice-over or use the occasional title on a slide. I have to write some new music for my next video as my last 3 trips are not on the one I have now.

We have a wall over our couch that is a collage of collages - we buy a collage frame for each trip and fill it with our favorite photos, and then we add it to the wall in a collage arrangement. It sounds like too much, but we keep all the frames the same color (black) and some with white mats and some without. It's our favorite way to reminisce and we get a lot of compliments on it.

In addition to making photo books for each trip, I make a calendar each year with 12 pictures from the prior year's trip or trips. I use Shutterfly and find it very easy to use. Plus they have constant sales. I just ordered a free calendar -- just paid for shipping.

I also make a photo book and a calendar. In addition I use movie maker to make a dvd of those pictures in the photo book plus others. I download music from that country and add it to the dvd. The photo book is nice because we can just pick it up and page through it without the hassle of setting up the dvd player, but the dvd is nice because we can see the pictures in a much larger size and hearing the music it really brings back the experience.

We also pick the best photo with us in it, preferably with a well-known landmark in the background, to use as our Christmas card. Printed at one of the stores mentioned above. Yes, we are old school enough to actually mail cards.

I second and third the responses for having the best pictures printed on canvas. They make great conversation pieces, and in my opinion, their the best artwork for a home. I know you said you don't want something digital, but digital frames that rotate out the pictures lets you relive the memories from several trips at once. Why can't you have both??

You should save all your photos to Google Photos. Once enabled it will automatically backup your photos. It's free cloud storage with some added benefits. Use Assitant to create collages, slide shows, GIF's and more. I have found that nobody wants to see pictures of my trip except my wife and me. I few pictures with one or both of us in it people will be happy to look at, after that their eye's glaze over. The only time I use Facebook is when we travel and I link photos (one per day) to my wife's page. Print out and/or make screensavers on your computer and phone.

Or you can have your favorites put on a coffee mug to use at work so you can look at it every day to remember WHY you're working.
(My BFF got a photo of me with a huge black eye and had it made it into a photo mug with the tag line "You should see the other guy!")

You should save all your photos to Google Photos. Once enabled it will automatically backup your photos. It's free cloud storage with some added benefits.

Great, I'll have to try that. I have 97,000 photos in RAW format which take up 2 TB on my computer. Glad Google will let me back them up for free (apologies, just being jealous that Google Photos isn't a viable backup strategy for me.)

I am with Richard no one cares about your vacation photos. Its like watching someone else's home movies.

In the main, I agree with you and many of my "I was there" shots are not interesting to anyone except me and some family members or others who have been there. However, if you try and take pics which tell a story on their own, it is a different can of worms. While it isn't easy to do that (just pointing a camera or phone and mindlessly snapping doesn't do it) the payoffs are wonderful and many people will be able to enjoy your photos. Aside from the difficulty of taking a "good" (in the story telling sense) pic there is also problem of recognizing ones (most of mine) that are not in that category (even though I may think they are because I was there and am also aware of the back story and context!)

I always share my travel photos on Facebook (only with "friends but not acquaintances") and get lots of likes. I like looking at other people's photos too on Facebook. Some people say Facebook just makes people miserable because people only post the good stuff about their lives, but personally I like it when good stuff happens to people I know, like they go to Europe. I have to admit I like it when people "like" an album or a photo. Nothing wrong with a little affirmation. It's been a long time since I had prints made of any photos, I'm strictly digital. I wouldn't make someone look over my photo album in my living room, but online it's easy to ignore it if you just aren't interested, so why not share?

The main use of our TV is to be running slideshows of our travel photos. We have a couple of old tablets and an ancient laptop driving slideshows in other parts of our house. I also have a photo frame at work that runs a slideshow.

Every Sunday at 4PM, my wife and I sit down with cappuccino and cookies to look at photos to print for our album using our TV as a monitor. We're still working on our 2015 trip, but I think we're catching up.

I really am not crafty but have enjoyed making coasters using favorite pictures. Hodge Podge the surface of 4x4 tumbled marble tiles (very inexpensive especially if purchase at a Restore outlet), apply a favorite picture leaving about 1/4 inch space at edges. Apply more Hodge Podge and let dry. Adhere sticky pads under the tile to protect your furniture. I rotate them in my house periodically and they bring back warm memories. Visitors always ask where I bought them!

Hi Michael, we take a lot of travel photos (our best souvenirs)!
- we make two DVDs, a long and short version of our trip. The long one for us and the short one for folks that just aren't that interested but feel obligated to look at them.
- a couple of enlargements of our best shots
- collages
- calendars
- mugs
- ornaments
We use Walgreens photo and we're very pleased with the results.

I really am not crafty but have enjoyed making coasters using favorite pictures.

Shutterfly offers a variety of ways to use your photos including coasters. (and no, I don't work for Shutterfly and have my own issues with them, but generally like their stuff.)