Europe or Australia photo gallery wall?

July 4, 2021

You remember when the producer of Indiana Jones and the raiders of the lost ark asked Steven Spielberg whether they were going to be filming iconic landscapes and had to go to those specific locations or could they film in Tunisia? I take all Star Wars and Indiana Jones lessons to heart so I’ve just done the same thing here. I love looking at black and white photos of Europe architecture so today I had a little fun with photos of…Victoria and Sydney, Australia. I’m thinking they’ll look great as a gallery wall.

With the first one having a vignette effect, the second being a little unfocused taken on an old camera, being different angles and ranging from close up to looking up, I’d say they have a very collected feel. I love how a fairly low quality photo can look quite vintage and grainy. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

From studying black and white gallery walls on Pinterest, I’ve come up with a list of things I’m going to strive for. This list is what suits me personally and is only an opinion. I always say go with what works for you and makes you happy.

I’ve learnt:

• They look best when there’s some dark and light photos and how they’re arranged on the wall to work together as one so the light ones might be on the top row and they get progressively darker toward the lower row. Another way to do it is to alternate the light and dark photos.
• I love the frames being the same style, size and orientation for greater impact
• I love a group of 3 or 5 more than lots of photos. I think that has a greater impact.
• Have a theme such as travel.
• I also like it when they’re arranged so the one on the left has looks like it’s been taken looking to the left and same with the one on the right (looking right). I like symmetry even if it’s with different photos.
• I like interesting angles and lines for my eye to follow. In the triptych above, the lines of the zigzag moulding in the centre photo can be followed out into the other two photos. Didn’t realise that at first so it’s pretty cool. Those photos were taken about 8 years apart.
• Look at what else is in the room and the decor. Does the room have a lot of colour, decor and is a particular style such as Scandi or transitional? Do you need to tone down the photos or tint them to match the decor? Are you going for a streamlined look and need some black and white?
• What size do the photos have to be to suit the scale of the room or area on the wall? Can they be enlarged to that size without loss of quality?

Here’s are couple of others I did today. The first is in Sydney, the second in Melbourne and the third Sydney. If these three were stacked or placed side by side, the dark photo would let the lighter ones shine and vice versa, working as one.

When looking at gallery walls, analyse what you like, don’t like and what’s effective about each arrangement. I think this will help in creating your own gallery.

Life lesson for today: When one has had a run of unfortunate things happen in a row, some days, some things just come together well and fast and for a moment you remember there’s ups and downs in life and to focus on the good things. Did the vacuuming get done today? Nope. Did I have fun? Absolutely.

What do you like about gallery walls?

Have a great day,

Fiona