From phone to frame in 5 minutes
Everyone has their favorite photo on their phone. At Hard Copy Photo we get your photo out of the digital world and into the real world. “From phone to frame in 5 minutes” is our motto. Customers visit our booth, email us their photo and we print it there on the spot. In minutes they walk away with a high quality 5x7 print of their favorite photo, in a unique handmade frame made from reclaimed wood.
|
|
|
Wall frames
Table frames
Photo ornaments (available at the Holidays)
Our booth
Stacey @ Delmar Farmer Market
About Us
Tom
|
I spend more time in construction dumpsters than most people. I love old stuff, especially old wood. There's so much great old wood getting sent to the dump every day - I intercept it and use it to make unique stuff. With Hard Copy I combine my love of old wood with my love of personal photos and give people their favorite photo in tangible form. They then see it everyday and experience that ping of joy that your favorite photo delivers.
|
Stacey
|
For me, I love that Hard Copy Photo leads to such great interactions with people. Since the process takes a few minutes, we end up talking to customers during that time, usually about their photos. Engagement photos, group get-togethers, family vacations, photos with pets - the highlights of life. It's rewarding to talk to strangers about these special moments. That's something you normally don't get to do and through Hard Copy we get to have those conversations. It's just really nice.
|
Gotta love a loaded construction dumpster... |
|
FAQ
How does it work?
We have travel with a professional grade DNP RX-1 printer, laptop and large battery power bank. Customers email, Airdrop or text their photo to us. We print a 5x7 photo on the spot, the customer selects their frame from a wide selection of our salvaged wood frames. We then put the photo in the frame and do "the big reveal", which never fails to bring a big smile to their face usually accompanied with "I love it." We wrap it up and send them on their way.
This is different, I never seen this before. How did you start doing it?
Tom has always been attracted to the importance of physical photos. As the world of everyday photography moved toward digital he saw that fewer people were printing their photos, so he came up with this idea. It sat in his head for a while until he could figured out the portable printer, power supply and how to make the frames. He ironed all that out and we continue to make the process better.
All the wood is salvaged?
Yes. Tom gets all the wood himself for free from dumpsters, on neighborhood trash night, on the side of the road, etc. It amazing that when you look at trash through the right lens you can see all sorts ofpotential. Examples:
How long have you been doing this?
About a year. We've done 20+ events in that time, from farmers markets to beer festivals to craft fairs to music festivals.
I love the reuse part of this.
That's not really a question...but yeah, so do we. While we're pro-environment, for us it really comes from just being sensible and reducing waste. So in addition to using salvaged wood, we package our frames in old cardboard found in our neighborhood on recycling night. And the frame spacers are cut from discarded manilla files folders.
We where you based? Do you have a brick and mortar location?
We live in Albany. NY. We do not have a brick and mortar store.
You handmake wood business cards? Isn't that a lot of work?
Yes, we handmake our business cards from wood scraps. Tom is dedicated to the Native American philosphy of "use every part of the buffalo". So instead of throwing out the small scraps from the frame making process, he uses them to make business cards. Yes, it's a huge amount of work and we know it's wildly inefficient. But it's cool, so we do it.
wooden business cards