I was looking for a new printer and I also wanted to print photos. Problem with inkjets is that you have to use them regularly or the ink dries out so that was no option either.

I eventually settled on a black and white laserprinter, which is cheap to buy and run (a new 3000 page toner is like €40) and a Canon Selphy CP1500 for photos, which uses dye sublimation so no issues with ink drying out. It only prints 15x10 photos which covers the majority of my needs, for anything larger I want to use a good photo printing service anyway.