Framing My Own Photos Is the Perfect Souvenir

In 2022, after two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, I traveled to Italy with my family. As I stood on the terrace of an agriturismo (a type of Italian farm that offers accommodations to tourists) in Tuscany, I felt like I was exhaling for the first time in ages. The stress and worry I had been carrying for the last two years was replaced with feelings of peace and hope. 

Wanting to capture the moment, I started snapping photos with my phone: the view out over an olive tree grove, a beautiful vineyard, rows of the region’s iconic cypress trees. I hated that my trip was coming to an end, and all I could think to do was to capture as many beautiful views as possible before returning to “normal life.”

I didn’t bring back any traditional souvenirs (I feel like these overly touristy finds are a waste of money), but I found myself scrolling the photos on my phone and reminiscing about the vacation a lot. That’s when I realized that the beautiful landscapes I photographed were actually the best “souvenirs” from my time in Italy. I decided that turning the photos I’d snapped into artwork for my dining room would be a super-simple and satisfying DIY project that’d help me memorialize my trip. Here’s how I did it.

The first step (and, honestly, the toughest part) was narrowing it down to just a few photos to work with. Photographing a gorgeous location like Italy more than made up for my average photography skills (it’s pretty hard to take a bad picture there), so I had plenty of images to choose from. I ultimately chose photos that represented specific moments of the trip that I most wanted to remember. 

The first photo I chose was of cyprus trees and large terracotta pots. It was taken at a private villa where my family felt like we’d stepped into a storybook as we enjoyed an amazing lunch of local meats, cheeses, and balsamic vinegars. My son, who was 10 at the time, kept asking, “Are we really allowed to be here?” 

The second was a view of the Amalfi Coast, a place I’d dreamed of going for years. I’d seen plenty of professional images of that iconic landscape over the years, and it blew my mind that I’d been able to experience it in person. 

For the sake of variety, I had one photo printed in 5×7 inches and the other in 11×14 inches. I then picked up inexpensive frames: one black and one gold to complement my dining room decor. I chose frames with white mats and penciled in the name of the place and date (Tuscany 2022) on the mat. Finally, I popped the photos in the frames and admired my new artwork. For only about $50 all in, I added something so meaningful to my home.

Every time I sit in the dining room, whether with a cup of coffee in the morning or a glass of wine in the evening, I think back on that visit to Italy and remind myself to exhale. I also smile remembering how my son thought that we’d mistakenly wandered into someone’s home, like some American tourist version of Goldilocks. These one-of-a-kind photos have also become a fun conversation-starter when guests inevitably ask about them. I love to reminisce about the trip and share stories of the things we did there.

Whenever I go to new places, I still avoid the tourist traps selling mass-produced souvenirs, but now I make sure to take lots of photos with an eye toward printing and framing them for my home. I’ve found that landscapes and close-ups of pretty items like pottery or hand-painted tiles are hard to mess up and make beautiful artwork.

I recently took photos of the rows of vividly colored tulips at a tulip farm my friend and I visited not far from our homes in New Jersey. I can’t wait to frame and hang them to remind me of the sunny afternoon we spent picking tulips and laughing hysterically as we wandered around for way too long trying to find our way back to the car. Whether it’s a short excursion or a once-in-a-lifetime vacation, the best souvenir is always a gorgeous photo that transports me back to a day I cherish.