Considering I’ve been doing digital photography for years (the earliest I have on this laptop is from 2002), I can’t believe I haven’t experimented with printing services before this. I used to print my own, but actually haven’t hooked up my printer since moving three years ago. And frankly, I didn’t miss the printing.

At the same time, one of the things that I’ve found great about the new smaller point-and-shoots is how much fun they are to give to younger kids. Years ago, my niece Beverly had fun with my old Olympus camera when she was 8.

This year, my niece Alexis is 8, and I let her go nutty with my Canon Powershot at Thanksgiving. Well, she got some really wonderful shots (it’s amazing how much more at ease people are posing for someone like Alexis!)

So I decided to print some of these great pics and include them in Xmas cards to family. Margott had mentioned Ritz many, many moons ago, and since they are around the corner, I gave them a try.

Consider me hooked!

I first experimented with the Thanksgiving shots, and they came out so well, and it was so reasonable (I printed 34 4×6 pics for around $10), that I’ve gone back thru the year and printed other pics from family get-togethers and some of my faves from my Flickr photos.

What’s nice about these kinds of services is that they are ideal when you are doing printing like I am…multiple reprints of a smaller number of shots (for some shots, I was printing 7 copies!).

With Ritz Pics, the photos are generally available in an hour, though I’ve just uploaded them at night and picked ‘em up the next day on the way home from work. You can get discounts too, if that matters.

This article has a good summary of other options if there isn’t a Ritz near you.