It happens to the best of us. Christmas comes around and you find yourself tasked with getting a gift for that one person or couple who already has everything. What do you get? Why not some photography? Below are 3 great ideas for giving the gift of photography.

Portrait Prints

Pictures are arguably one of the best decorations. They not only look nice, but they embed a visual reminder of the stories we are living into our home. Each image has a depth to it because it has a memory associated with it that we can relive as we look at it. I love being able to look at the walls in my home and see the people I love and the places I have been. It makes the space undeniably my own.


Gifting a printed portrait of yourself, your family, or of someone special is always a great option. It gives them something that cannot be found at Best Buy or Target. That uniqueness makes it special.


If you are like me, you think about cost when you give a gift. Prints are great because the cost can scale as desired. If you are running on a tight budget you can just order the print and gift that. At the time I am writing this, even high quality print labs, such as mpix, charge less than a dollar for a 4"x6" and only $3 for an 8"x10". Try finding a different but equally memorable gift at that price! If you want to embellish and spend a little more money you can increase the size of the print, add a frame, or choose interesting wall art options.

An image that I will decorating my house with.

Wall Art

Alright, if you don't want to send that person a picture of yourself or someone else, you can always buy a print as a piece of artwork. Maybe you have an image of something or somewhere that you know is special to the recipient. The banner image on this blog post was an image I took a little over a year ago of Turning Point Park in Rochester. It is proudly displayed as artwork in my home. If you don't have an image like that of your own, it is almost guaranteed that there is a photographer who has one that you might be interested in and would gladly sell you a print. Though I have given the example of a landscape, there is no reason to limit yourself to that genre. Photographers are artists and produce all kinds of aesthetically pleasing art. There are thousands of free images available at websites like Pexels or Pixabay. If you have a budget and want some other options or maybe curated or vetted work, check out websites like Etsy, 20x200, or Lumas. Below are some wildlife images I took on a recent trip to the Everglades. Prints of these and the banner are available for purchase at my print shop.

Gift Card for a Photography Session

Maybe the gift recipient has never had the opportunity to have a professional photographer capture them and their family. You can always come up with an excuse to introduce a photographer into a situation. Here are some excuses:

  • Hire a photographer to document a special event for you so that you can better enjoy the event yourself.
  • Gift a senior photography session for a family with a rising senior.
  • Spice up your date night! Get all snazzed up and do a couples photography session with that special someone.
  • Gift a portrait session for a birthday present. A great photographer can show them how handsome or beautiful they are.

Why not reach out to your favorite photographer and purchase a gift card? If they don't typically do that normally, I am sure that they would be happy to figure out how to make it happen for you. At Jeromy Tompkins Photography, you can inquire about a gift card through my contact page and I can make that happen!

Get Gifting!

Christmas is coming up fast and there is not a lot of time to get this all sorted out. You probably have a week or two at most to order those prints in time to get them by the 25th. Remember that shipping is going to be a real factor if you are not ordering prints from your local drug store. With that, best wishes and until next time.