Mar 31, 2006  |  By: KATHERINE VOLIN  | COMMENTS     

So you just got back from your incredible Costa Rican vacation and can’t wait to get your photos developed so you can stare with awe at all the snapshots you took of the scenery, your travel companions and maybe a hottie or two on the beach.

But after you’re done regaling your friends with vacation stories and forcing them to admire the beautiful people, what are you going to do with those photos?

"It really is important to spend a few moments thinking, ‘Well I’m not going to leave these photographs in the envelope that they came in from the photo department at CVS,’" says Patrick Baglino, a local gay interior designer. "I don’t care if that means taking hot glue and making a constellation on your ceiling so you can look up every night and see your boyfriend."

If astrological arrangements of photos don’t appeal to you, local design experts and online photo websites have plenty of creative suggestions for what to do with your travel photos.

The advent of digital photography spawned online photography sites like Flickr, Snapfish and Shutterfly, which offer plenty of creative uses for photos.

The sites allow paying customers to upload, store and/or print photos. Flickr, an online photo community, lets users link blogs to their photo page. Those digital videos you took on your camera but never watch can be uploaded at Snapfish so you can view them online. At Shutterfly, customers can print their pictures onto canvas, an idea Karyn Roed, the design team manager for McLean-based Rowe Furniture, especially likes.

"Put it in a frame with a thick mat and write the location and names and then sign it, so it’s more of a piece of artwork than a picture," Roed says.

Other websites allow for more overall creative uses of photos than a canvas or the requisite "granddaughter on a mug" piece that you can buy at any mall. NicNorman.com, for example, can place your photo — digital or print-— on a belt buckle, or manipulate it into a piece of Warholesque pop art for your wall.

Despite the popularity of digital photography, the accessibility of a printed photo retains its appeal.

"You can do a lot more creative things now that we have digital photography, but I think the average person doesn’t keep up with their photos the way that they used to," says Roed.

If you have digital photos and feel compelled to share them with others but want a more creative method, Roed suggests putting your photos on a CD and playing them on a projector.

"If you have a bunch of friends over, you could be showing your pictures on the wall," Roed says.

MUCH AS SOME of us may try (and you know who you are), we can’t all be Martha Stewart. Nonetheless, our local design experts put together a few simple photo solutions for even the most craft-challenged photographer.

Shadow boxer: Roed suggests placing vacation souvenirs, for example sand and shells, in a shadow box with a photo.

Window units: For some of her photos, Roed says she bought antique windows, removed the glass panes and replaced them with chicken wire. Then, using clothespins, she attached photos to the chicken wire and put the window on a wall.

Lamination station: Baglino recommends finding a heavy laminate or lucite and using photos as coasters. Lucite "might cost a little bit, but if it’s a very good photograph, it might be done," Baglino says.

Dump the album: "Even though it’s tedious, I really love old-fashioned photo corners," Baglino says. He recommends setting photos in photo corners, which are available at most craft centers, and then placing them in a book or journal.

Divide and conquer: Roed suggests enlarging a photo and then cutting it into nine separate pieces and framing each piece prior to reassembling on the wall. "It’s one image, but it gives it a different look," Roed says.

Pop a squat: "Put photographs where they’re unexpected," Baglino says, a look he achieved in his slate-tiled bathroom when he placed a series of silver-framed photographs on the floor.

Connect the dots: Grouping 50 or so frames together on one wall can work, Baglino says, if the frames are connected by a similar theme within the photos. "The photographs all tell the same story," Baglino says, "Different years of the same person on vacation, the family on vacation, the extended family, and so forth."