Today I am going to give you guys a few tips, tricks and ideas for creating wall displays in your home. Next week I am going to create some sample wall schematics, utilizing these ideas, to give you even more direction. I will also post some images of wall groupings to show you these concepts on real life walls.

Idea #1 : One Cohesive Element

If you have been in my studio and met with me to go over your images you have heard me talk about this idea. One of the simplest ways to create harmony in a wall grouping is by selecting one guiding cohesive element that you stick to. Your one element can be any number of things. One of the most obvious is frame color. If you pick one color of frame (black, silver, gold, white...) and stand by it in all that you do on that one wall it will help unify all of the various frames and images. You can have all different moulding styles. You can then have color, sepia and BW images. You can have multiple opening collage style frames and single image frames. The color alone will help everything stick together.

You can be more strict about this idea and have all the frames match in color and style. This is not my favorite only because it makes it much harder (what happens if your chosen frame goes out of stock?). It can look great though and be very clean and graphic looking. Make sure and pick a simple readily available style of frame or purchase all of your frames at the same time to guarantee that you can keep it all the same.

You may decide you want to only hang canvases and have that be the theme. Again, this can be more limiting but it can also be very striking.

Idea#2 : Lots O Sizes

One afternoon, my husband and I were gardening (it was before kids, ah...leisure time, but anyway) and he was working on one side while I was working on the other. We had all these little annuals we were planting. At one point I look over and his side looked like a field of crops - perfectly spaced rows of little flowers. It was hilarious, and terrible looking by the way. It just didn't flow or feel natural. Don't let that side of you come out when working o your walls either. You don't need a chalk line or a spreadsheet to do this. Don't be afraid to use all different sizes of images on your wall.

The trick here is to spread it out correctly and achieve the proper balance. Try alternating and mixing the various sizes to make it flow. The eye will do better and enjoy the looking more if it can periodically rest on larger images before moving on to smaller groupings. A common mistake people make is to have too many small images, which makes the wall feel more like a grid. "Small" is a relative term but, in my experience, people tend to print and frame way too small to really achieve impact. I get why, it feels scary to purchase and hang large images but, in most cases, it really looks better.

Alternate your horizontals and verticals to add interest too. I think it helps to lay out your frames on the floor somewhere and play with your arrangement before you go banging holes into the wall. Pay attention to how your eye moves along the image set. Use the motion and gesture in each image to help guide your eye along a wall. When we start looking at images of real walls, this will make even more sense. One of the tricks to making this eclectic happy mess work is in the next idea...

Idea#3 : Center of Interest

I like walls that have a central focal point. Pick one of your favorite, large (this is key) images and have it be near the center and move out from there. For a family wall, consider the wedding image in the center (the beginning of it all). A large family group image would also work well in the center. At our house (which I will show you next week), I have two large individual images of the boys in the center and other small frames on the sides.

Quick Tips:

- Place your frames at eye level in most cases (about 5' from the floor). Hang higher if you have really high ceilings.
- Plan your layout before you start hanging. Cut out pieces of paper that are the sizes of your frames (or sizes that you are considering). Hang these papers simply by using tacks or painters tape to get some ideas before you commit to a layout.
- Alternate color, BW and sepia images to create a more balanced effect
- Don't be afraid to stack frames. 2 smaller frames one over the other looks nice next to a large frame.
- Purchase a laser level. It is one of the most amazing and smart tools made today. You will wonder how you ever hung pictures without it. Black and Decker makes a great one.

Now that I've gotten you thinking, do you have any specific questions that you would like to ask? I will answer them next Monday when I post images of wall groupings.

After the session is complete and the images have been selected, the next big project begins. Where do you put your amazing new photographs? There are some standard places that work well - the family gallery wall (usually up the stairs or along a hallway), over the fireplace or in the living room. Then there are the places we tend to forget - the playroom, children's rooms, the bathroom and kitchen. Bathroom you say?! Actually yes, I have seen people do very cool displays in a dressing room, a walk-in closet and even the bathroom.

Over the next few months I am going to show you guys where some of my clients have put their portrait art to help give you some ideas and inspiration. First up is a tricky stairwell spot. This stairwell has all rounded walls except for this little nook that the builder very thoughtfully installed. The nook is about 58" x 60" (+/- a few). This client had images from a maternity session, a newborn session, a session with her daughter, a family image and an image of the 2 children together. We had printed the two collages that you see on the lower right and left already as well as the maternity image on the upper left.

She told me about the nook in her stairwell and gave me the measurements. From there I figured out how big the remaining images should be to fill up the space and we printed them and installed it for her. It was a tricky hanging job because they had to fit in just right. All of these images are printed onto canvas (we call them gallery wraps). I think it worked out really nicely and Mom was happy too!

The smallest image in this set is 15x18 (the two collages- lower right and left)

The image of the 2 children is 16x20

The maternity image is about 16x24 and the family is 20x24

Here is the entire stairwell:

Do you have any images of great photo displays? I'd love to see them!

Take a drive in early spring in Texas and you will see parents alongside I-10 and other country roads taking pictures of their babies in the bluebonnets. Parents make it a mission to find the best patch of bluebonnets and drive way out of their way to get the beloved bluebonnet picture. For you non-Texans, the bluebonnet is our state flower and we're crazy about them!

Objective: try something new by making a simple collage of images.

My oldest son, Sayer, recently lost his first tooth. I still can't believe it by the way but then I am always shocked by how fast he's growing up. So, in an effort to capture the big moment, I brought him up to the studio this past Sunday for a little mini session. My concept was a single image on a white background that I could make into a big canvas and put in their room. I was going to put it alongside this one of Finn, which is currently a 40x40 canvas:

If you are a follower of these Monday Lessons, you might be saying..."hey! she's going into a session with her kids with defined expectations! She said not to do that last week!". I know, I'm busted. Well, so here's what happened (and it proves my point), I have this idea for a single one image thing and sure enough I am not just seeing "the one". So, I switched gears in our little session and used my new chalkboard wall. I had Sayer draw himself a little backdrop and we did a few more shots. Once I started to look at these more, I really felt like they would look best as a collage. My one shot canvas idea seemed shot. This is what I came up with:

I love making collages of images and this one is super simple to do. So, my challenge to you this week is to come up with your own 9-image collage. Here are the simple steps:

Step One: take 9 images and crop them all to 5"x5" and 300 dpi. I use photoshop. If you are using photoshop then all you have to do is grab the crop tool. Once you have that tool selected, you can set the dimensions of the crop in the tool, like this:

Step Two: Go to FILE>NEW. Make a new document that is 15 inches x15 inches by 300 dpi, RGB color, background: white.

Step Three: drag guides to create 5" squares. (Need help with dragging guides, just email me)

Step Four: Drop your 5x5 images into the grid, flatten the document and Voila!

Optional Step Five: If you like the gray border that I put around the 9-up collage above, it is also simple to do. Go to IMAGE>CANVAS SIZE. From there you can add pixels or inches (your choice) and it will increase or decrease the size of your canvas (not the overall image). If you want a color, there is a drop down menu there that allows you to choose colors.

Here is an image that shows the canvas size menu and it also shows the guides from the earlier step:

So, what do you guys think? Would a 9-up collage printed as a 40x40 canvas look good next to Finnian's big single image? Or do I need to choose one of the blackboard ones or one of the white ones? Let me know!

If you guys make one of these, I want to see it! Post a link in the comments below! I love hearing your comments, they make my day.

Every year I go all out for my holiday card. It's my business after all and so I always try and do something special. Normally it's a lot of fun coming up with my design and concept (planning my attack so to speak) and then the time comes to actually take the pictures...fun stops and frustration begins. Does it surprise you that I say that? I know you probably imagine that (of all children) my kids know how to have their picture taken right? They sit still and behave and I just snap away! It's a really nice fantasy and I like it too but that is not actually how it goes down.

Most kids (mine included) have a mind of their own when it comes to pictures. The best sessions happen when kids are happy, playing, wearing comfy clothes, are rested, not hungry and not aware that they are there for the sole purpose of being photographed. When I work in my studio or on location, there is a lot of play involved. I chase them around, make funny noises and ask off the wall questions to get them to laugh, etc. That is what makes it work- they don't really know that my main goal is their picture.

My kids are a bit immune to my charms. They know about the candy jar, they've seen my puppets and they know absolutely what we're doing at the studio. For us, I know how it has to be. It has to just flow. My kids are at their best when they are just being and I try and capture it. The problem is, sometimes I need them to do what I need them do when I need them do it, right?

I hesitate to even tell this story because I know that some of you got my card and thought how cute it was and how perfect and now here I am about to blow the "mystique" with the reality...Here goes, last year sometime in November, I take them up to the studio on a Sunday. I tell them what we're doing, the outfits were comfy, they were rested and fed and so on. Steven was with me to be my helper. They decided, for whatever reason, that they did NOT want to do what I wanted them to do when I wanted them to do it. I would tell them to sit together and one would stand up. I kept trying to get them to hug and they would wrestle. That was how it went. Steven finally stormed out of the room even saying something like "Damn it! It's not that hard!". Stellar parenting moment I know...I tried a save by saying, "Daddy, that's the naughty spot for you for saying a bad word!". Now when I think about it I just laugh to myself.

Finally I say, okay, let's make some silly faces. This always works for my guys. We ended on a fun note and called it a wrap but I was pissed. Here's the thing, I do this every day. I should have know that we had the shots without me being so uptight. If I had just relaxed and not had such specific expectations I would had so much more fun doing it. I know this so well but there I was trying to direct the action and getting all upset in the process.

Sayer knew I was a unhappy. Finn was oblivious- enjoying his "reward" candy ("only one piece and not two because you guys weren't super helpful!"). Sayer settles in on the floor beside my desk and starts drawing. I am downloading the cards and am pleasantly surprised that I did end up with some really fun shots. Again, not quite sure why I was so surprised. A moment later, Sayer comes up and puts this little drawing in front of me.

He says in a low, sad voice, "Mommy, I am really sorry. Here's a picture of me and Finn. I'm sorry Mommy that we weren't helpful". I froze, immediately feeling guilty. He says, "this is a picture of me and Finn doing the hugging thing you wanted us to do...sorry Mommy". My eyes pricked with tears and I felt terrible but at the same time I was just so proud and so touched that he had done this. Steven and I just looked at each other and we both hugged him. I had this empty silver frame sitting there and I put the drawing in it right away and put it on the window sill next to my desk. It's still there.

So, what's the lesson? Today it is not a technical one but something more important. My lesson was this, meet them where they are. It's just a photograph. Photographs are hugely important to me obviously but it's not the one image. It's all of them combined. It's the experience of taking them and the story that they tell as a whole. For me it reinforced that when I go in to a photo session with them and have specific ideas in mind for what I want to capture, I risk missing what they actually have to offer that day. That day it was this:

I had the shot that I wanted all along as well as a bunch of other ones but I wasn't really paying attention to what was there. I was too worried about what might not be there. Yes they were misbehaving and yes they were acting crazy but in the midst of it they were also being themselves.

I see it with my clients sometimes. If they come in with a set ideas of what they want they run the risk of being disappointed whereas if they come in with some general ideas, an outfit and a great attitude, they usually end up happier. A shy kid may not give me huge toothy grins when they first meet me and an active kid is not likely to sit still on command. We need to meet them where they are, especially if we want the photograph to be honest.

Happy Monday my friends!