I’m sorry, but the ugly truth is, I don’t know anyone who wants to sit through a two-hour photo slideshow of their last vacation. They may be interested in hearing and seeing some photos, but not a continuous narration of every detail with photos for each one. Of course, if you serve food and liquor, they might stay longer, but they’ll still be bored before the show is over.

That doesn’t mean you can’t take as many photos as you want on your trip, but it does mean you should pick some of the best ones and just show or display those key photos. I discovered a great way to take my best photos, photos that gave an idea of ​​the trip and the location in general. And don’t overwhelm anyone with too much information.

The way I do this is to go through the photos when I get home and pick about 7 or 8 of the best ones from the trip. Then I create a montage (think quilt with irregularly shaped squares or rectangles) that fits nicely on an 8 X 10 print. Then I create a small 3-4 sentence paragraph about time and place, maybe even content one or two of the photos.

I then frame this 8 X 10 in a 10 X 12 frame and place the descriptive paragraph just below the photo in the frame. I usually put these mounts on the wall in our living room or family room. People can look at the photos, read the paragraph, and if they are more interested, they can ask to see more. I also make prints to send to family and friends to give a brief description of our vacation.

This style of montage and short description works great for any event, celebration, or photo adventure. It also lends itself to scrapbooking and other ways to store and display information about what’s going on in your family and life. I have several that have to do with fishing trips, school reunions, and many other memorable places and experiences.

You can also put them in photo albums as the first page of the selection of photos about the trip. If you or others want to see more, keep turning the pages of all the original photos in the size you want to print them in the album.

My wife often makes a copy to take to the office and put on her desk. She has several that are of children of different ages and holidays on the wall in her office. She changes them every once in a while for a little change or adds a new one if it’s the latest fling.

Most photo editing programs will allow you to crop and size your photos and place them in the montage. Many of the camera manufacturers include this type of software with their camera or you can even find some free programs that will do the job, like Gimp or Picasa. Just do a Google search to find the latest versions.

You can even save the files as jpeg and take them to your local Walgreens or photo printer for a very high quality print if your inkjet printer isn’t up to it. If you’re looking for specials or have a coupon, you can get an 8 X 10 print for around $2.

You can also turn these 8 X 10 montages into screen savers or desktop backgrounds for your computer. Use them any way you would use a single photo. I guarantee that if you start making these small montages you will be hooked. It’s fun and they make great quick views of any event.