Katherine Miles Jones » North Carolina Wedding, Engagement, and Family Photographer

2020 Photography Gift Guide

Below is my 2020 gift guide for photo-related objects, prints, and books.

My hope is that the objects help bring your photos into your home, and into your life. Fill a simple glass box with affordable prints and let your kids sift through them: bend the edges, leave the fingerprints. Scatter three dollar frames around your home. We all have images that we don’t put to use—so these are gifts for everyone.
Glass Box (fill with prints) | Wooden Frame (three dollars!) | Brass Double-Frame
White Frame | Picture Ledge
Disposable Camera (just the best gift) | Baby Book | Wood Block
Fridge Photo Magnets | Notepad (magnet on back) | Memory Game

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Browse through these prints, if you’d like, and discover new photographers. I have been drawn to the solitude and quiet of Moreno’s work this year (upper left image below). There’s a loneliness that’s all too familiar in 2020, but in that familiarity is comfort: we are alone, together. Edward Hopper meets William Eggleston, and it’s an honest collision. Gift a print to a friend who just moved, or to someone longing for travel these days.

A family’s newborn photo session is a memorable occasion that captures the beauty and innocence of a new life. When planning a newborn photo session, it’s vital to consider the safety and comfort of the baby.

The clothing chosen for the baby should be comfortable, soft, and easy to change, to enable the photographer to capture a variety of poses and moments, buy childrens clothing here for a broad range of styles and sizes that ensure that the baby looks adorable and feels cozy throughout the photoshoot.

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Coffee table books are my love language. Below are six fine art photography books, as well as three photography commentary books. High on my wish-list is Women with Cameras (Self-Portrait) (top center book below), which consists of found images of film-self portraits: discarded 35mm slides made into a collection. Fine art books are stand-ins for museums these days, certainly welcome gifts.

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These photo books are lighthearted, specific and transportive. In each one I see someone I know that needs it.

Airports (my Dad needs this!) | Her Majesty (my Mom needs this!) | Accidentally Wes Anderson
Issues: Photography in Fashion Magazines | Houses | Libraries (my husband needs this!)

Non-tangibles make great gifts (don’t take up space, can be ordered last minute). A few ideas:

Make a donation in someone’s name to 100CAMERAS, a non-profit that works with children around the world who have had challenging experiences and helps them process those experiences through photography.
Purchase a gift certificate for a portrait session for someone from a local photographer. This is especially helpful to photographers this year, and is always a welcome gift. Photographers local to North Carolina: Katherine Miles Jones (hi!), Julia Wade, Anagram Photo, Megan Kerns, Merritt Chesson, Becci Ames, the list goes on. What a community here.
Reach out to a photographer to see if they offer help organizing personal photos and creating photo books. It’s such an overwhelming process (I am currently tackling five years worth of personal photos!), and gifting someone a consultation or photo book design service can be such a weight lifted. (Don’t hesitate to reach out if this is something you’re looking for.)