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Sorry, but the ugly truth is, I don’t know anyone who wants to sit down and watch a two-hour photo slideshow of their last vacation. They may be interested in hearing and seeing some photos, but not a continuous narration of every detail with photos for each one. Of course, if you serve food and liquor, they may stay longer, but they will still get bored before the show is over.
That doesn’t mean that you can’t take as many photos as you want on your trip, but you have to pick some of the best and just show or display those key photos. I discovered a great way to take my best photos, photos that gave me an idea of the trip and the location in general. And don’t overwhelm anyone with too much information.
The way I do this is to go through the photos when I get home and pick about 7 or 8 of the best ones from the trip. Then I create a montage (think of a quilt with irregularly shaped squares or rectangles) that fits well in an 8 X 10 print. Then I create a small 3-4 sentence paragraph about time and place, maybe even content of one or two of the photos.
Then I frame this 8 X 10 in a 10 X 12 frame and place the descriptive paragraph just below the photo in the frame. I usually hang these mounts on the wall in our study or family room. People can look at the photos, read the paragraph, and if they are more interested, they can ask to see more. I also make prints to send to family and friends to give a brief overview of our vacation.
This short description and montage style works great for any event, celebration, or photography adventure. It also lends itself to scrapbooking and other ways to store and display information about what is happening in your family and in your life. I have several that have to do with fishing trips, school reunions, and many other memorable places and experiences.
You can also put them in photo albums as the first page of your selection of travel photos. If you or others want to see more, continue turning the pages to see all the original photos in the size you want to print for the album.
My wife often makes a copy to take to the office and sit at her desk. He has several children of different ages and vacations on his office wall. She changes them from time to time for a little change or adds a new one if it’s the last adventure.
Most photo editing programs will allow you to crop and resize your photos and place them in the montage. Many of the camera manufacturers include this type of software with their camera or you can even find some free programs that will do the job like Gimp or Picasa. Just do a Google search to find the latest versions.
You can even save the files as jpeg and take them to your local Walgreens or photo printer for very high-quality printing if your inkjet printer isn’t up to the task. If you are looking for special offers or have a coupon, you can get an 8 X 10 print for around $ 2.
You can also turn these 8×10 montages into screensavers or desktop backgrounds for your computer. Use them the way you would use a single photo. I guarantee that if you start doing these little montages you will be hooked. It’s fun and they make great quick views of any event.