Which is better for your wall: fine art displays or family photos?  Well, we admit we might be a bit biased in that regard, but we see that there is a place for both.  Fine art is for the walls in the more public areas of your house while family photos are for the more private areas.  Anyways, today we tackle the fine art vs. family photos debate.

The Fine Art vs. Family Photos Debate

The old home decor social rules have relaxed somewhat in recent years, but it was once considered a serious etiquette error to use prominent family photos in the more public areas.  It used to be that if you had a front room or salon to greet guests and a family room for living, you would put the fine art in the front room and in the formal dining room where you would have dinner parties.  Family photos, if you choose to display them, go in the family room, hallways near bedrooms, and bedrooms.

Getting the Family Photo

There are a few problems with big public displays of family photos.  One is that people, especially children, change over time.  After a year or two, you don’t even look like the same person.  This means you constantly need a new photograph to display.

If you choose this option, your choices are to either have a lousy snapshot taken by some amateur with a camera (or worse, a camera phone), or take on the sizable task of gathering people together and getting another formal portrait done.  Depending upon the size of your family, you might call this a manageable or monumentous task.

For the amateur photographer route, you will have some problems to deal with.  Can you get everyone in the frame and still see their faces?  Do you have someone who can take the picture for you or will you have to hope for a camera timer to work right?  When I was young, my father had a decent camera and we got together in my grandmother’s backyard for a portrait.  My dad set the timer and ran to get to his place in the shot.  It took several tries to get it right.

If you opt for the formal portrait route, you have a different set of problems to deal with.  You must find a competent portrait photographer with an open appointment slot which you can schedule your portrait in.  If it’s a single person or smaller family unit portrait you are after, maybe this task isn’t so bad.

Group portraits get progressively more difficult to pull off as the number of people involved increases.  The task of taking a formal family portrait becomes infinitely more complicated when distance and schedules enter the picture.  Because of this, getting all of your grown children together with their children for a large family group photo is going to get harder every year.  Is it worth the headache to you for a public wall display in your home?  Only you can decide that.

Once You Have the Portrait Prints

Another problem to think about is how many of your guests know your family?  How often do you get family photos done?  “Oh, that’s my son’s senior portrait.  Isn’t he handsome?  He just had his third child.”  That statement feels a bit tacky to a stranger.  Perhaps you feel the obvious dating in that statement too.

Family portraits are great but most of your guests aren’t likely to be part of your family.  We all know that listening to stories about someone’s relatives is boring to everyone but the person telling the story.  Looking at family photos is often a similar issue.

Sure, we all pretend to like such things to be polite.  People who have known your family for a while may be interested in your family photos but, when you invite the new neighbors over for dinner, those pictures just won’t be as interesting to them as they are to you.

We do want you to have family portraits and photos to enjoy.  We’re just saying we know that absolutely no one is as big a fan of your children and grandchildren as you are.  Because of that fact, you might consider looking at other options for wall art displays in your home.

The Fine Art Discussion

Now, let’s address the other half of the fine art vs. family photos debate.  Instead of publicly showing off your prized but dated family photos, why not show your taste and class with fine art that sets off your decor?  It will look all the more amazing in a frame that you’ve custom chosen for your home and had a local artisan build for you.

Fine art, in general, never goes out of style.  Neither do certain sub-genres of fine art.  If you look at landscapes, abstracts, nature photos, or other genres like those, then your art will always be in style.

Buying fine art for the public areas of your house will not run the risk of becoming dated like clothing and hair styles do.  You can easily find high quality art which fits your taste and your living room.  Your friends, old and new, will enjoy your taste and your sense of style.

Artists and photographers alike create tons of fine art and fine art photos which should meet your tastes no matter how eclectic or avant-garde.  Thanks to the internet, you should find something which you’ll like quickly and easily.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it’s your choice what to display.  The fine art vs. family photos debate rolls on.  There are no overall answers, only specific answers for each household.  Choose what you want to display on your wall based upon your tastes and budget.

Since you may now be reconsidering what art you want to display in your home, why don’t you head over to our online store?  You can buy fine art prints of all kinds of high quality photographs which should work well with your home decor scheme.