For at least 18 years I've printed the same thing every year: a wall calendar as a Christmas gift for my parents. Pick some photos, find a cheap deal somewhere, done. I never gave it much more thought. At least not back then. Because there's so much more you can get out of it – and that goes for prints in general.
From MediaMarkt to Aluminium Dibond
For years I'd occasionally get photos printed. Usually 30x40 posters from MediaMarkt. I was never really impressed – partly because I never put much thought into it. Just stuck to the wall, the result wasn't anything special.
That changed about three years ago when I received a Canon Selphy as a gift. At first I wasn't sure what to do with it. Today I love the thing – I play around with it regularly and see what it can do. The possibilities are limited, sure. But just holding a photo in your hands every now and then is a nice feeling – whether you hang it on the wall or just set it aside for now. Unlike digital, the print stays.
The Small Printer with a Big Impact
But something more important happened: the Selphy made me genuinely curious about print. Larger formats and alternatives to classic photo paper started to interest me. For the first time I really got into it – and for the first time I didn't just order from a standard photo service, but spent a bit more and had a print made at Saal on aluminium dibond. A portrait of my brother.
I was a little unsure. The product was significantly more expensive than the usual posters, and you never quite know how the final result will actually look. But when I opened the package, I knew immediately: that was the right call. The surface, the black and white on that material, the way light falls across it. I was so impressed that many more portraits have been printed and given as gifts since then – and that won't change. And every single one has impressed me just as much as the first when I opened it. With the right mounting, it just looks different. Not like a poster – like a real image.
Similar experience with my latest project. I redesigned my photo wall at home. Holding the first prints on Hahnemühle Photo Rag was something else entirely. That matte look, the texture – somehow exciting, somehow different. A whole world I could get lost in.
Giving Photos as Gifts – Old-Fashioned or Underrated?
Since then I regularly give photos as gifts for special occasions. Not always on aluminium dibond, but always printed properly. Maybe it seems old-fashioned – oh no, not another photo. But since hardly anyone prints their own photos anymore, at least they're getting one from me. For my cousin I keep printing portraits of her son. She'll have those forever. A photo in the cloud probably won't last that long.
Whether it's a snapshot or a carefully composed shot – it's worth printing something every now and then. I'd recommend spending a little more when you can. But in the end that doesn't really matter, because: the moment becomes tangible. And that's worth more than a thousand digital copies.
