Why you should print your photos

Printing my own photos - whether for personal or commercial use - has become one of my favourite parts of the process over the past year.

The idea of buying my own printer was quite bold because a year ago, I didn’t really feel that my photography had reached a gallery level that would “allow” me to print on high-quality paper.
I still don’t feel that way tho, but in the meantime, I’ve realized that photos don’t have to be masterpieces to deserve printing. And often, they only gain value once they’re printed.

I dare to say that printing my photos has allowed me to see them - literally - from a different perspective, one that a digital version simply doesn’t offer.
At the same time, analyzing my own prints has contributed to my development as a photographer, helping me notice nuances that aren’t visible on a flat screen.

Let’s be honest: photos love paper.

Photography started with paper, and in my opinion, it should end on paper.

And while we might like to think that photography stimulates only the sense of sight, I believe that physical contact with a print - feeling the texture of the paper, viewing it from different angles, in different lighting - completes the sensory experience.

Prints are and will be

Do you have a box or an album at home filled with old photos? Maybe from your childhood. Or perhaps from your parents’ or grandparents’ youth. Do you go back to them from time to time? There are faces in those pictures of people who are no longer here.
Some of those photos bring back memories, while others make you cringe (like many of my teenage photos, where I looked nothing like myself).

These photos are and will be, especially if digital storage and cloud services ever decide to fail. They exist physically, they don’t disappear with a swipe. You hold them in your hands and feel that they were made.

Photo prints stop being just content

Photos displayed online are often nothing more than a noise, distraction. They disappear in a flood of ads, selfies, pet videos, and perfect autumn dish recipes.
Existing in the digital space changes their status - they are so easily accessible that they immediately lose value, no matter their quality.
They are constrained by aspect ratios, optimal resolutions, grid layouts, and screen sizes. They become content, and the photographer becomes a content creator. A filler for grids and walls.

Printing photos restores their status - and the status of their creator. Regardless of artistic level or refinement, a printed image instantly gains artistic context.

Ultimately, printing adds value. Because if a photo has been selected for print, it means that, for some reason, it was worth printing.

Prints help build style

I once picked up an exercise from Chris da Canha (I recommend his YouTube channel). Out of a collection of small prints, you choose the ones that naturally form pairs or series.
At first, it seems impossible - especially if, like me, you photograph a wide range of subjects. But after a bit of analysis, patterns emerge: colors, objects, recurring visual elements.

This shows that as photographers, we are often drawn to specific motifs, even if we’re not fully aware of them. This exercise helps uncover those themes and use them consciously, shaping a personal style.

Printing my photographs from the coast helped me to build a coherent body of work, at some point giving me insights I wasn’t even fully even aware of when I looked at the pictures on the screen.

I am for sure not a exception.

Wesley Verhoeve mentioned in a recent episode of Lucy Lumen’s podcast that while working on his latest book Notice Journal, he paired images together, which gave him a fresh perspective on his photography and new directions for exploring surroundings.

Selling prints is a whole new level

For me, it all started naturally. One of my followers simply asked if a photo I had posted was for sale. At the time, I didn’t have a printer, and I hadn’t even considered selling my work. So I let it be printed, packed it myself, and shipped it.

That was one of the most exciting days in my photography journey.
Every time someone buys one of my prints, I feel just as excited as I did the first time.

It’s an incredible feeling to know that somewhere, someone has your photo on their wall. Which means they want to stare at it every single day!

I currently have a printer in my home studio and handle the entire process myself: from capturing the photo, through editing, selection, listing it in the store, printing, packaging, and shipping.
This gives me great comfort in controlling the quality at every stage.

I also regularly buy prints (and photo books) from other photographers (James Popys above). It’s one of the best ways to show appreciation for someone’s work and a great way to support their art.
I’m not much of a collector - I don’t even keep books after reading them (with a few exceptions) - but photo books, paintings, and prints are a different story. Decorating my home with them brings me a lot of joy.

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