Photos as gifts of appreciation

dave lackey

dave lackey

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Has anyone given photos to coworkers as a gift of appreciation? If so, can you describe the gift...was it a photo of them or a photo of yours you wanted to share or what?

We have a small office with only 6 employees and I would like to give them each something appropriate.:angel:

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance...
 
Giving someone one of your own photos as a gift is pretty vain.

I'm sorry but that's my opinion. :)
 
I only gift photos that people have expressed genuine interest in and ones where people have asked for a copy. I find the images that I create and like very often have no relation to what other people like. Of course, I'm just a duffer and don't create numbered prints and such like.

Otherwise, it's movie passes, flowers, dinners, etc.
 
I often give portraits of colleagues from my office as gifts to them - if you want to make it special, make an 11x14 framed portrait. it always makes a certain impression...
 
My wife is a very good photographer. She sometimes gives her photos as gifts, usually matted and framed, but only if the recipient has expressed interest in the picture. I only give my photographs to family members ... pictures of everybody at Grandma's, that sort of thing.
 
I would not give out a print unless great interest was expressed... I have gifted prints before and they were never really appreciated... maybe that says something about my skill (the ones that were not appreciated, were personal favorites, and the ones appreciated were of them or their kids...)

The only person that wants a print is someone that is willing to buy it.
 
Giving people photographs of themselves, and of those close to them, is an elementary courtesy. Often when people have spoken well of my work, I have asked them to choose which print/s they want.
 
I give photos as tokens of friendship and appreciation to the actors I shoot in my theater photography. They are usually small shots of them, or them with others in a scene. I usually give 4x6s, sometimes nicely framed, sometimes just the photo in an envelope. I always print them on high quality art paper, though. If I give bigger, like 13x17, it's just the photo. Framing and matting would be too expensive. If they like it enough, they can do that themselves. Otherwise, they can throw it out if they want. I believe they usually keep them, because they are good, if I do say so myself. :D Here's one that I'm giving to the male actor in this shot. It's 13x17 and will be unframed and unmatted.

/T
 

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I've done it to people who have admired or liked something I've shown to them. A friend of mine got a photo of a very weird, fat mannequin in Colombia, and another one (to my surprise) framed a card with a photo of a Chicago landmark that she visited with us.

In short, why not? What they do with the photo is their business.

BTW, I didn't mat or frame the photos. These people have nice homes, and they probably want to choose the frames for the photos, if they hang them (I know one friend has one hanged, and the other, also framed, in her living room).
 
I gave B&W prints to friends as a gift for their office. But this was after they wanted to buy them.

Of course some people may not know what goes into making a nice print and won't appreciate the gift.
 
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my experience is that most people do not appreciate the value of a unique hand made photograph, its akin to making your own christmas cards - you may be considered a bit of a tight wad! :p
 
My parents have lots of my photos on their walls. They just like them and I give them to them because I qppreciate everything they have done for me along the way.
Is that a bad thing? Is that vain? pssssssssssssst
 
I won't give a print as a gift except under two situations; if the person has expressed an interest in the shot, or if the subject is a friend and it is a shot they like.
 
I gave my girlfriend's father a print of her in a beautiful frame for his birthday.

Generally, I wouldn't do it, but for him it seemed appropriate...
 
I can't think of many times I have done this, usually with a snapshot of family photo other than a fine-art style print.

However many painters give pantings away as gifts, people make quilts specifically for people or knitting. My brother made me a hand-made oak chest for my new house. I don't see any reason not to share your artistic gift with the people you love.

The only thing I would say is it may be presumptuous to give a framed picture because even if they don't like it they may still feel obligated to put it on display. So waiting until someone expresses interest is probably the best idea.
 
I have given prints to people who have expressed interest, so far to people mostly who know me well, and have received prints, some of which are on my walls. If you want to see it on their walls, you had best include a frame.

I think it depends somewhat on the occasion, but it can be a unique very personal gift.

Exchanges of photos are as common, and a few years back a different kind of photo gifting, the "photo postcard" exchange between otherwise strangers was a terrific success, with many of them being published in several magazines as the word spread, would not be surprised if many of RFF members knew of this.

Great guy who started it on Photo Forum, I would have to look back at my correspondence to find the name, but that says more about me than him. ;-)

I am afraid I sent fewer as time passed, but I did visit a friend out of town who had 30 or so on his board in his office. I think I still got a few in recent years, but an injury kept me out of the darkroom and I quickly fell behind.

I tried to keep a few post card size prints in my camera case to pass along to people while traveling.

We began with people printing on trim scraps and just putting an address and stamp on the back, and then of course, we often used Ilford postcard paper. Idea was to knock out some extra smaller prints while we were in the darkroom printing something else.

I am guessing a search will still bring up a list, it was more difficult, but the results much more personable than an email attachment, as these were real prints and certainly you look at a real print differently than an image on a screen. I have a dusty 11x14 for a friend of Roger Hicks, requested from the exchange, sitting in a house in England--- uncompleted projects, he moved to France and the photo never caught up.

Gives you a window in to other peoples' work, what they think is interesting. Old school, but still an interesting idea, well, at least to me, but still much more personal. Many were very good.
 
I knew a very nice woman who taught an exercise class. When she was leaving I asked if her husband ever took a picture of her. Since the answer was no. I took one & blew it up to 8x10 and put it in a frame and gave it to her.
 
Hello friends, the idea of giving photos as gifts actually brought me here via the searches I made to know more about it. I did not have the idea of giving such gifts to anyone as this is not a popular custom in the place I live in. But getting to hear the comments here and in some other places I feel these can surely be acceptable as ideal gift ideas particularly when the recipient is elderly and one cant figure out the best option when it comes to choosing gifts. I hope to implement this idea henceforth.
 
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