Artsy Couture Canvas Photo Book Review

Many of you know that I went to Peru from late June to early July, even though I've yet to blog much about it. If you've been waiting, today is the day - and I'm even more excited to bring to you the very talented work and the craftsmanship of Artsy Couture products in conjunction with my trip pics. You'll see why in just a bit!

First, so many people have asked me "why Peru?" and the answer is easy: "have you ever seen the show, Ancient Aliens?" - seriously, I'm not kidding! Have you? Eight or nine years ago, they did a feature on Machu Picchu (in Peru) and all of their ancient astrological theorists weighed in on how in the world these massive rocks could be perched on a mountain side from quarries miles away, some requiring this 600-year old civilization to cross water. Some said it was an airport. There was one person who suggested that the stones were actually lifted there through magnetic waves. I spent that entire hour glued to the television. I couldn't fathom how such a place came to be, and it instantly took hold as the number one place on my list of places to see before I die.

So, when my best friend Michael reached out to me about going with him this summer, there was no way I was going to say no! I got my passport renewed, I bought a power cord converter, and a Canon PowerShot Elph hand-held camera.  

I have three DSLR cameras that I love. But they're heavy, and cumbersome, and even in auto mode take a long time to frame the shot, sometimes meaning you just miss it. I didn't want to miss out on any of the great photography opportunities in Peru, so I invested a small amount in this camera and I am going to tell you - if you're traveling, do yourself a favor and grab one too! 

Peru was amazing! I mean, it was better than amazing. Except for the food. Not bad, just not great. But the people, and the atmosphere, and the scenery was more than wonderful enough to eclipse any memory of blase food. Here are a few of my favorite pics from the trip: 

And of course, Machu Picchu: 

There are so many photos. So many! Over 2,000! And many of them were really gorgeous, totally print worthy. But I'm not the kind of person who has pictures of my travels on the walls or in frames. I don't keep photo albums around, they're cumbersome and so much work. Of course, when someone hears you've been to Machu Picchu the first thing they ask is if you have pictures, so I had to find a way to both keep a firm memory of my trip handy and be able to show all of my friends the beautiful things I saw and would definitely go back to see again. Enter Artsy Couture! 

Now seriously, listen close. If you travel and want a better way to keep your travel memories at hand for yourself and to show others, this is going to change your life! I'm not kidding. 

Artsy Couture is an online professional photo lab. They create effortlessly elegant products with your photos. Everything from large stretched canvases to family greeting cards to save the dates. They also have a luxury leather bound photo album with printed pages and canvas photo books in super large format, perfect as coffee table books! 

Now, tell the truth! How many of you don't have coffee table books? None of you! We all have them. Whether it's the latest or one one of our old favorite interior design books , travel books, or history books - we all decorate and live with them daily. Now, Artsy Couture makes it possible to have your very own coffee table book with their large format 11x14 print canvas cover book, starting at $49.99. Whether you want the photos to be of your travels, your interior design work, or your family and friends, the possibilities are endless and the final result is gorgeous. 

Eeeek! The cover of my Peru Coffee Table Book

I uploaded the 2,022 photos I took in Peru to their website. This took a long time, and honestly, was a bad idea. While I HIGHLY recommend their product, I will say that it is important that you take the time to pick the best of the best photos you want printed in your photo book. They have a program that will let you know if your photo isn't high enough in resolution to print well, but they do not proof read your text, or look for photos that aren't clear due to photographer error. And let's face it, we get excited and have shaky hands, and there are gonna be a few unclear photos in those 2,000! So learn from me - only upload photos you have reviewed and want to have printed! It'll save you time, and you'll be happier with the finished product.

Artsy Couture does an amazing job of making sure that the books are luxuriously and professionally finished from cover to cover. My book ended up with 247 pages. It's a big boy! There are more than 500 images in the book, all taken by me while in Peru. I mean, it's fascinating right? That you can author and print your own book in such a short amount of time? 

As I sat with the book, turning page after beautiful page, it was like experiencing the trip all over again! Artsy Couture lets you take the drivers seat in the creation of the book. You supply all content, and you can choose your desired layout. Above, photos I took at Museo de Larco in Lima are laid out with one full page picture next to two pictures that share a page.

And here, two full page photos, the left the ruins of Ollantaytambo and right the streets of Cusco. As with any trip, you have photos you love and photos you like. Having the ability to choose your layout with their user friendly website makes it possible to use them all - giving those you love full page billing.

You can even have one glorious photo take up two pages with their full layout option. Here, my first view of Machu Picchu opens up to an impressive 14x22 poster sized image.

Machu Picchu is a magical place, honestly. There's no way you can take a bad photo. But I was still quite impressed with the pictures I took, especially printed so beautifully by Artsy Couture on this high end heavy paper.

So much of what you see in Peru is richly colored. Above, the alpaca yarn dyed with all natural dyes made up of plants and bugs. I was so worried that the printing of these vivid colors would dull how vibrant they were in person. Not at all a problem with Artsy Couture. Each photo was as beautiful printed as it was on the monitor. 

Even photos of rushing water came out crisp and clear, like the ones here of the Alcamayo waterfall in Aguas Calientes. Here are a few more spreads from the book:

One page after another after another, I was more and more impressed with the beautiful work of Artsy Couture. They allowed me to print what has become not only a glorious coffee table book, but a constant reminder of such a wonderful, magical trip that I can share with everyone I know - without the need of a monitor, or the potential of losing pictures from a big and bulky photo album where every photo is exactly the same size. Every person I've shown this book to has asked "where did you have this printed?" Everyone is impressed by the beauty and luxuriousness of it.

Even the small amount of text I had printed on the last page was done clearly and beautifully. Not only was my trip to Peru one of lasting impression, I have this amazing photo book from Artsy Couture to keep it at my finger tips for the rest of my life.

Tyler and I have planned a trip with our good friends to Costa Rica in April of 2019, and I will definitely be using Artsy Couture to print a book of those pictures as well! If you're interested in all of their wonderful products for your own photos, give them a look. And use this code to get 20% off of your first order!