For many clients receiving their photo gallery for the first time, those photos often sit there in the digital gallery or get downloaded to a computer. It’s not that the photos aren’t loved, it’s often that you don’t quite know what to do with them.
But after all of the hard work of booking the session, figuring out what everyone was going to wear, getting the entire family out the door, making some memories together, and then finally receiving the images…those photos deserve so much more than sitting in a folder.
At first, maybe you looked through it every day, and sent your favorites off to grandparents. From there, you may have posted some on Instagram, and changed your phone background.
That’s why I want to talk about some of my favorite ways to display family photos at home. You don’t need to cover every wall available with pictures of your kids, but I do feel strongly that you need to find a way to enjoy the photos that you love so much!
If we haven’t met yet, hi! I’m Christine, a San Diego family photographer, and I’ve been photographing families since 2009. I love creating photos that feel like your family, from the big smiles to the slightly chaotic moments in between.
Why Your Family Photos Deserve More Than a Digital Gallery
The moment when a client receives their online gallery is wonderful. It’s so fun to sit down and relive all of those little moments from your session together.
But that online gallery doesn’t have to (and shouldn’t be) the final stop.
Instead, when you display family photos in your home, it means you get to see them every day as you’re walking down the hallway, heading upstairs, making dinner, and doing all of the normal everyday things that are involved in family life.
Best of all, there are so many options beyond putting one framed photo on the mantel, such as:
- Build a gallery wall with several favorite images
- Frame one large statement photo
- Add smaller framed prints to shelves, desks, or side tables
- Create an album you can pull out whenever you want
- Rotate photos as your kids grow and your family changes
The best option is always going to be the one that works in your home.
Some of my favorite photos to display are the ones no one planned. The big laughs, tight hugs, and little in-between moments feel like your family. If those are the photos you love too, read why I’ll choose candid photos every time.
Creating a Gallery Wall With Your Favorite Family Photos
Choosing just ONE favorite image from your session can feel impossible, and I understand. Creating a gallery wall gives you room to use several different images.
This is such a great opportunity to have family portraits with close up shots of your kids, candid images, and the little in-between moments that make you smile. Mixing everyone together and having smaller groupings as well can be so fun.
Before you order anything though, consider the wall itself that you’re going to use. A large open wall over a sofa will need something completely different than a narrow, darker hallway.
There’s also an opportunity to be creative here, whether you like everything to feel uniform, or a little more collected. Matching frames creates a simple consistent look, while mixing sizes can give more flexibility with the photos you end up choosing.
Remember, gallery walls also aren’t required to contain every photo you’ve ever taken: start with the images that you love the most, and you can always add more to it later.
One of my favorite products for clients is wood gallery frames. I actually made a video showing them so you can get a better look before deciding what you want in your own home.
Use Framed Prints to Bring Photos Into Everyday Spaces
Gallery walls are fun, and they aren’t the only way to display family photos. Sometimes adding one framed print is exactly what a room might need.
Consider the places that you naturally spend lots of time in your home. Is there an empty wall in the living room, or a side table that could use a framed photo? Maybe your nightstand needs that little something extra to make you smile first thing in the morning.
Some easy places to use framed family photos include:
- Living rooms
- Bedrooms
- Hallways
- Home offices
- Entryways
- Bookshelves
- Console tables
- Stairways
Start by choosing a few spaces where seeing your family genuinely makes sense, and don’t worry about turning your house into a photography display studio.
For my family photography clients, there’s also an easy way to order prints and wall art directly through your photo gallery store. If you’ve been staring at the options and wondering what you’re supposed to click, I’ve got you.
I made a quick video that walks my clients through exactly how to order my favorite wood gallery frames through their photo gallery store. My all-inclusive family package also includes a $100 credit toward prints and/or wall art, so don’t forget to use it!
Turn Your Photos Into a Family Album or Photo Book
If you have limited wall space, albums might be a great option for you.
Family albums are one of my favorite options when clients ask me how to display family photos, especially if they don’t have a ton of room to add more frames around their house. Instead of taking up more wall space, they are a great way to have your newer photos somewhere you can easily enjoy them, without crowding existing wall space.
Even better, albums also have a unique way of letting you keep more of the story together. When you don’t have to narrow down your session to one or two images, you can include all of the family portraits, individual photos, close-ups, and the heartwarming moments that happened along the way.
That’s why I offer custom-created photo albums in a variety of sizes, so you can turn your session into something you can actually pick up and flip through. Holding and looking through photos in your hands creates the feeling of living through the session again and again.
Keep it on your coffee table. Pull it out with your kids, and look through it again in five years when everyone somehow looks impossibly tiny.
Display Family Photos in Places You Might Not Expect
Family photos don’t have to be reserved for just your living room. One of the easiest ways to display family photos is to look for smaller spots around your home where a photo would naturally fit.
A small framed print can work on a bookshelf next to your favorite books. Photos from a beach session might make you happy every time you walk into your home office. Several frames along a hallway can turn a space you usually rush through into a mini collection of favorite memories.
Displaying multiple smaller frames also gives you the option of thinking beyond the classic everyone looking portrait. For example, the candid photo of your kids cracking each other up, the one where everyone is walking together, or the close-up that was almost overlooked because it wasn’t a traditional family portrait: these can be such great choices for the smaller areas in your home.
The photos you display don’t have to be the most formal images in your gallery. Just choose the ones you want to keep seeing over and over.
For more ideas for the kinds of family photos that look great on your walls, come hang out with me on Instagram for recent sessions, favorite images, and plenty of San Diego family photo inspiration.
Rotate Your Family Photos as the Years Go By
When you choose the photos you’d like to display, keep in mind that you don’t have to commit to the same photos forever! You can display family photos from your newest session now, and switch things around later.
For example, keep the frames and change the prints, then move older favorites into an album. Then, after your next session, add a new photo to your gallery wall.
This works especially well if you take family photos regularly. Your walls can change right along with your family.
And please don’t feel like replacing a photo means the older one suddenly doesn’t matter. You’re simply making room for another chapter while keeping the older images somewhere else you can enjoy them.
The photos you display today can bring back details you didn’t even realize you’d forget. Read why preserving family memories matters and why I believe the little, everyday moments are worth holding onto.
Choose a Display That Feels Right for Your Family
There isn’t one correct way to display family photos.
Maybe you’re a gallery-wall person. You might want one BIG framed photo from your favorite San Diego beach session. If you’re already looking at your walls thinking, “Christine, there is literally nowhere left to put another frame”, then make the album.
The point is to choose something you’ll actually enjoy in your home.
Start small if that feels easier. Pick one favorite image and one place you’d love to see it every day. Or choose a handful of photos and start planning a gallery wall. You can always build from there.
Your photos don’t have to live only on your phone, computer, or inside an online gallery. Try to display family photos in a way that fits your space, your style, and the way your family actually lives.
And if you’re realizing it’s been a while since you’ve had updated photos to put in those frames, I’d love to help with that too. Let’s create photos that feel like your family now and deserve a spot somewhere you’ll see them every day.
Helpful Links
- My favorite wood gallery frames: Watch my video for a closer look at the product.
- How to order wood gallery frames: Follow my step-by-step video for ordering through your client gallery store.
- Family photography in San Diego: Learn more about my family sessions, what’s included, and how the process works, and print credits.
- Get more options for frames by booking a full family session, not a mini!
