#4....shoot it, print it, hang it

I had the opportunity to visit London for the first time a few months ago, and while I took so many iconic London pictures while I was there....Buckingham, Westminster, Millennium Bridge.....this photo that I took of two guys hanging out at a heavily graffitied skate park along the Thames is my favorite shot from the trip.

Something about the bright colors makes me happy, and I remember the whole trip just looking at this photo. I decided it would be the perfect piece of artwork to hang on a large vaulted wall in my studio space. To accomplish this, I took the raw image to a local print shop that deals in a lot of large scale printing for billboards. They told me that I could blow my image up to 54" wide by 36" high and it would still be 99% in focus, which they assured me would look fine if hung up high. The image was mounted on 1/2" Gatorfoam and weighs less than 5 lbs. I had some trouble hanging it at first, as the shop did not put mounting brackets on the back. I tried a few methods with picture hanging wire, but ended up using industrial strength Velcro in two strips.

Here is a picture of it hanging in my studio. The printing and mounting cost me about $300 and the Velcro cost about $10. This DIY project took very little time, as all I did was take the photo and drive back and forth to the print shop. I think it turned out great and it is a pretty affordable option for large scale original artwork. You can see more of my studio space on Design*Sponge, or for more even more images look here.