How many members gave photographs as Xmas presents?

[Keith]

Although I'm not really into the whole gift thing at Xmas I was going to get a couple of last minute simple presents for two special friends but finished up having to work three consecutive ten to twelve hour days right up until the last gasp. In fact I finished work at 8.30 pm on Xmas eve and barely had enough energy left to drive home, have a shower and crawl into bed after a bite to eat! Knowing I had to visit these said friends the next day with nothing to give them at all wracked me with guilt so I had to do something!

I've had some Ilford Gallery Gold Fibre Silk paper in the cupboard for a while now but have never actually used any and had also only just replaced the black ink cartridge in my Epson 2400 with photo black instead of the matt black that had been in it ... I'd been using this combination to print on Epson heavy weight matt paper and thought the results were pretty good ... though not spectacular.

I printed out black and white images that I knew they liked for each of these friends with the Ilford paper and the photo black cartridge installed. The results blew me away and I'll never go near matt paper or matt black cartridges again for that matter ... the resolution and the tones in these two prints was stunning and the recipients were totally delighted when I handed them over. I wish I'd had time to get them framed but they didn't seem to mind at all and were just happy to receive these prints as gifts.

I've never given anyone a print as a specific gift before because I wasn't sure how it would be received but after this I'll be doing it more often I think!

 

[Ezzie]

Portraits of my children, given to their grandparents always please.

 

[dmr]

My brother's GF, a portrait of her and her cat.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I didn't this year but I sold two of my photos to people who intended them as gifts for others.

 

[biomed]

I gave several prints as gifts this year.

 

[KenR]

My wife asked me to make a couple of prints for her to give out to people who had admired my photos hanging in her office. How they were actually received, we'll never know.

 

[underbyte]

I shot a nice black and white 4x5 informal portrait of my friend and her daughter that ended up as a framed 8x10 Christmas present for my friend's parents. Film is wonderful, even scanned and printed on Hahnemuhl Photo Rag Baryta, it has a special look that still stands out.

 

[pakeha]

Gifted four informal portraits to family, three i was really happy with, one i will redo and replace- too rushed, also gave an `i owe you' for another. Not making a habit of it though.

 

[rxmd]

I made a calendar with some of my best pictures from 2009 plus annotations, had it printed a couple of times in 11x16" and gave it to close friends and family. One weekend of scanning negatives and designing the individual pages in Photoshop, time very well spent.

 

[SebC]

I did. On another forum we had a Christmas photo swap. Those who signed up got randomly given another person who had signed up to send a print to as a gift.

 

[monochromejrnl]

Printed portraits of my daughter for her grandparents and great-grannies, family portraits of each of my sisters' families, group portrait of 12 kids (my daughter with the children of my sisters' and counsins'), lastly a portrait of a buddy and his father taken when they went to pick up their bespoke suits (a week before my buddy got married).

Lastly, a couple of prints for my niece from when we visited the grand canyon a few years ago. My hard drive crashed two years ago and the shots she and her mom took on a digital camera were lost with the drive. A month or so ago, I was going through a box of negs to pull some stuff for an exhibit and found a couple of rolls of film from that trip. I printed two 12x18 on 16x20 paper, framed it and gave it to her (she'd been lamenting the loss of the digital pictures for the past two years as she and her mom (my sister) haven't been on a proper vacation since then).

 

[pggunn]

I bought five Kolo albums and filled them with 24 4x6 prints from an Epson R1800 for each of sisters, my mother and mother-in-law, with candid family portraits I've taken over the last two years. They were very well received. Now they all have photos of their spouses, children and grandchildren from past holidays and family gatherings. Most of these were photographs they had never seen before and if I do say so myself, they were pretty good because I only printed the very best out of hundreds of shots. Here is just one sample from my OM1 on Tri-X:

 

[Ronald_H]

I usually send cards to my friends with photos of last year. You know, the 'picture frame' kind where you can put your own photo in. I usualy choose something that means something to them, a picture from a party, a festival, a shoot, their kids. Usually they are really appreciated. Example below. I believe this was shot with an FM2 on HP5+ wide open with a 50mm f1.4.

 

[Papa Smurf]

A framed picture of my neighbor's youngest daughter, her soldier husband and their two children plus a collage of all five of her grand-children. They were a surprise and very well received. An ordinary, unpretentious., but well executed snapshot of children seems to be well received by parents and grand-parents alike.

 

[btgc]

I did. Not particularly as present, but during Christmas visit I handed Mum self printed pictures (second printing session) of her with sister (my Aunt). Good feeling when I can print on my own.

 

[Mudman]

I did, one of a friends dog that had passed away. Apparently it was the last photo ever taken of the old boy. I also sold 6 or 7 prints that were given as presents.