From Phone to Frame: Preserving Travel Memories with Instantly Framed

Instantly Framed - Knowmad Adventures

Nothing quite captures a moment like an image, but too often my photos sit buried in my computer’s enclaves never to see the light of day. In this time of digital this and digital that, I have the hardest time sitting at my computer, sifting through the memories and actually printing anything. Not to mention matting, framing it and then actually hanging it on my wall! That was until I connected with a wonderful small company called Instantly Framed. They make preserving travel memories easy. It starts with an app, a couple clicks, and three days later a gorgeous, hand-crafted dark walnut frame shows up on your doorstep with your travel memory printed in archival inks onto professional photo luster paper.

Preserving Your Travel Memories: Instantly Framed Giveaway!

We’re so excited about keeping our travel memories alive that we wanted to share the love with our fellow travelers:

  • First, we’re hosting a frame GIVEAWAY! Check out the Knowmad Facebook page for info on how you can win.
South America Travel Memories Contest
  • But, if you don’t want to rely on luck, get $10.00 off your order with discount code KNOWMAD10.
  • Hurry! Both offers expire June 1st, 2015.

It’s funny how framing a snapshot can turn it into art and how hanging it on a wall can make you see it for what it really is. Pictured above is a photo I took at Salar de Tara in the Atacama Desert of Chile. Half a decade earlier Jordan and I spent the first year of our married life starting Knowmad Adventures. We criss-crossed the country of Chile and then hunkered down in Patagonia to distill everything we had learned into one a catalog with thirteen itineraries. The photo I chose for the opening page of our catalog was a mirage of emerald greens, deep blues and cathedral rock formations – a place I’d wanderlusted over and never been, the promise of the unknown that our company would hold for us. And, ironically, it was a picture of Salar de Tara, my namesake.

It wouldn’t be until we had spent several more years exploring South America, adding trip ideas in Peru, Ecuador, Argentina and even Antarctica, that I made it to Salar de Tara (little did I know that I had a new life growing inside of me then, but that’s another story…). We were researching operations and adventure lodges in the Atacama Desert and took a side trip to visit the salt flats I’d been dreaming of since those early days spent designing our first catalog. It was a long, hot drive in high altitude. Jordan and I gave each other a sideways glance that said “we’d be better off napping” but we had no choice but to drive on…

At the end of the road, bordering the lagoon, was a little shack selling soda, beer and snacks. With little to do but wander around and snap some photos I think we both felt a creeping of disappointment. We found a rock outcropping to sit on and rest for a while and that’s when I noticed the flamingos, the blush pink fading into dark purple mountains, and at that moment everything was just right.

Maybe it wasn’t just a moment in time…maybe it was a culmination of moments and that makes a memory. And maybe it’s not the destination that’s important, but the journey.

South America Travel Co-FoundersChile Travel Memories

Don’t forget to check out the Knowmad Adventures Facebook post for more information on the Instantly Framed giveaway!

 

Un Beso, Tara

South America Travel Tara HarveyTara is the Co-Founder, Marketing and Operations Manager at Knowmad Adventures, a company dedicated to creating unique, private and custom trips in South America. She first traveled to South America in college and is endlessly inspired by the cultures, food, colors and idiosyncrasies she discovers there. Read Tara’s biography and more about the Knowmad team.