Photo For You

Last year, I started popping postcard-sized prints into envelopes and leaving them in the scenes where they were originally made.

I call it Photo For You.

It’s such a simple idea and one that I find very rewarding, which initially felt a little odd as I don’t get to have the affirmation or closure that I’ve traditionally sought from my creative endeavours.

Photo For You is an effort to undo all that; it’s a way to dissolve my ego by releasing the need for answers, outcomes and engagement — railing against a modern world that feeds on all those things.

The prints are anonymous and I don’t hang around to see what happens once I’ve deposited the envelopes, so I will never know if they were snapped up by a person or by the elements.

Here are some examples of envelopes left in locations (look closely) accompanied by the photographs within them — see more on the Photo For You page:

In a world of relentless messages and slogans, Photo For You is a way to challenge what we expect to see in our noisy surroundings.

I see it as a form of activism; a way to unpick the engrained notion that everything must be a transaction amid the materialistic mire. In an increasingly tempestuous world, it might even be uplifting for the recipient.

It’s counterculture. An anti-advertisment. Or, as one visitor beautifully observed, it’s an anti-prank.

In the spirit of all that, I may (or may not) have come up with the idea but it’s not one I want to keep to myself. I wholeheartedly encourage you to try something similar whether you’re a photographer or creative person of any kind.

It strikes me as liberating for all involved, generating small oases of calm in the chaos.

How They’re Made

I use a Canon Selphy to make the prints, an incredible wee machine.

It prints directly from my iPhone using dye sublimation, a heat-based process that transfers ink from a ribbon in four passes (yellow > magenta > cyan > protective coating) onto specially coated paper. It means that the prints are continuous tone (so no dots like inkjet) and therefore look like ‘proper’ photographic prints. The quality is stunning and they’re weatherproof too!

I’ve made thousands of prints on various models for many years. My current incarnation is the CP1300 but I imagine they’re all of a similar standard.

Remember, it can print any image so it doesn’t have to be a photograph. It can be a print of a painting, some text…whatever you fancy.

Once printed, I use an E-Z Runner to mount them on card, then into envelopes and compostable cornstarch bags for some protection from the elements.

Here’s my latest Photo For You, shot just a few days ago and nearly ready to be left in the location where it was made — another free, unconditional gift for whoever finds it…