Well, the most emotionally charged, personal connection filled, holiday is almost here.
St. Valentine’s Day.
The pressure to express your love for another is never greater than on this day.
But what is the right way to do that?

These classic candy hearts, with their messages of love, have recently been updated to include “Text Me” and Tweet Me”, as well as “Love Me”, “Kiss Me” and who couldn’t resist saying yes to “Marry Me” printed in nearly illegible letters on a sugary candy?

Ok, there are many ways to profess your love on this day.

Now, we are not a crafty site, nor pretend to be, so, let’s see if we can get to some other gifts ways to use your photo knowledge or prowess to make Valentine’s Day a little more special.
We’ll give you some of the crafty type links at the end.

Have you and your loved one ever been in a photo booth? You know, you get into a cramped space, close a curtain and get 4 chances to make faces and have a special photographic bonding moment with someone.
If so, make a copy of your favorite image of you and your loved one, and tip it into a copy of this book.

We have been saving our photobooth pictures for many years and this book,American Photobooth encapsulates that common photo experience in our lives. Your addition of a personal photo, adds to its collection and personalizes the gift.

Elliott Erwitt is a master of the photographic art, and this,Personal Exposures, is one of our fave volumes of his work. Yes, the cover says a lot about love but it’s a rich experience inside. Not overly see-and-say as a V-day gift.

This French photographer’s book Robert Doisneau 1912-1994 (Icons) is a perfect small collection, put out by Taschen, of some of his classic Parisien street scenes. And Paris always says love, right?

For a less conventional look at couples, Ellen Von Unwerth: Couples may take care of your needs.

One of our go to gifting books, is this collection of photographs Woman: A Celebration assembled by Peter Fetterman. You may find some copies on Amazon or you can contact Mr. Fetterman, as we believe he has bought up most of the remaining stock.

You can always go through your files, make a print and find a perfect frame.
As digital as we have all become, the physical print will always give a sense of permanence to a loving relationship.

We would not recommend emailing a photo, nor blind copying a ton of recipients to make it easier on yourself. Tacky and insincere.

Remember: no matter how many times you are told, “please, don’t do anything” you should translate that into “ ok, let’s see what you do.”

It may indeed be a Hallmark manufactured holiday, created with the chocolatiers and florists to make this day a major sales day for them, but get over it.

If we have one day in the year, designated to say “ I Love You” do what you can to make sure that other person feels the love.
Not such a hard thing to do.

And adding chocolates and flowers never hurt either.

Here are some of those links for craft projects using your photos. Time to kick it into gear, if you want to make the date.
And trust us, you do.

HP, Shutterfly, and Kodak. Your online your iPhoto or Picassa stores lets you create right from your online library in a very simple way.
Of course you can combine it all and have your photo printed on roses, from this company.

Or, maybe you prefer the style from this company (below) where you can combine photos AND words:

Yes, Think Big, indeed.

You can go the other way, and have a photo printed onto edible chocolate:

perhaps a photo cookie like this:

Heck yes, with new edible ink technology you can print your photo on just about any foodstuff.
And what says love more than “Here’s a photo. I Love You. Eat it.”

OK, our tongue is firmly in our check with the last things we mentioned. Although, we are taking bets as to how many folks give one of these a try.
(we are leaning toward the chocolate lollipop deal )

So enjoy the day, honestly, and spread a little love around.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 24th, 2010 at 5:48 pm and is filed under Photo News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.