The humble fridge. The dumping ground for bills, invitations, children's art and those obligatory postcards from traveling family. Not to mention the faded and curling take away menus and, of course, some photos.
I don't know about you, but the fridge is where I display images that I get sent by people. I'm not a person that prints photos, it's digital all the way for me. My computer desktop is where I showcase all the good stuff.
A visit to my sister-in-law's place recently showed me the error of my ways. She treats the fridge as another display area. I headed to the kitchen to get a glass of water and ended up standing at the fridge marveling at the images she had on display, asking about the photos and the stories behind them.
Tracy jumping in Japan.
This led us to discuss what makes a good fridge photo and we decided to collaborate on our first blog post with Tracy, who is a photographer, taking the images and me wordsmithing.
We came up with these top 5 pointers for a fridge- worthy photo:
1. Avoid a plethora of selfies
You want variety on your fridge photos, just like you do in your house. It can be tempting to print selfies where you look amazing and plaster them over the fridge. But then what you end up with is a bunch of photos with you doing your duckface on the left, on the right, wearing a hat, at the beach... you get the gist. Surely you do more than that in your life? Ok, ok. You can have one or two.
A first birthday party kiss.
2. Storytelling
Pick a photo with a story behind it. Once you start avoiding selfies, you'll find that there's so much interest with your photos. A friend of mine has an old black and white photo of her grandma on the fridge that makes you ask, 'Who is that?'. Or you might put up a photo of you on holiday in front of the Eiffel Tower, or at a birthday/ hen's/ engagement party. There's always an interesting story to share if you look beyond the faces.
*Side note: There's nothing more boring than looking at someone's holiday photos. Give me the highlights, not every photo you took of Buckingham Palace.
An inspired, arty image of a Paris street.
3. Clear of Clutter
You want to be able to see the photos. And while I'm definitely guilty of loving magnets a little too much, don't be tempted to cover your photos with them. It will detract from the image itself.
Daddy and daughter, don't detract from this sweet shot!
4. Bright, negative space
Some photos are made for a fridge. They're bright and airy, there's plenty of negative space in case of point 3 above, and they will stand out against a white background. Choose them.
Eve at the beach.
5. Design
The theme in your house should follow through onto your fridge. Unless you're a real estate agent, those helpful calendar magnets just don't go. Take them off and put them in a draw for when you can't find your phone and want to check what day the 17th June falls on.
Red door. Take a look back at the other shots and note the red theme throughout the photos.
Happy snapping!
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