Growing up, my parents had lots of photo albums. They are hobby photographers and so our parties and trips and family celebrations and milestones were all well documented. And then, well organized and annotated into photo books (the kind with the sticky pages and clear cling overlays). Since my parents were hobby photographers, so too, were my brother and I – each given our own cameras, first point and shoot, then 35 mm, to capture our own view of the world. I too, then, organized my photos into albums – annotating, planning the layout, picking the right design cover for the new album-to-be.
And then came digital photography. Where our photos lived on our cameras. Or possibly on our computer hard drive. This mostly aligned with the time I had my first child. And so, I began making photobooks using Shutterfly. These photobooks were more stories than compilations of lots of different images from the year. They were topical, “I am going to be a big sister!” or “Olivia’s Trip to the Zoo,” or “Big and Little (a story using my daughter and things around the house to write a simple story comparing BIG things and LITTLE things).”
I wrote books for every birthday party – from princess parties to pirate parties to playdough and paintball parties. These stories because the albums. I created larger format books for our family trips and vacations. And most recently, I wrote a story for my son, who is about to graduate HS, about his grit and perseverance with sports (called Max Tried).
The photo story books are now the albums that my children will return to. Just as I return to the albums of my youth from time to time. They are bound in hardcover, and fill 2 shelves of a bookcase in my dining room. I recently shared Max Tried with my sister-in-law, who requested a hard copy for her own 2 children who are 5 and 2. I love this. I love that my stories will be there to share these special moments with generations to come.
What do you do with your photos?
schoolinspirations 
Anita Ferreri said,
March 12, 2024 at 1:00 pm
THIS is a MUCH better format than the old photobooks with corner holders that sit in my basement waiting someone to do something with them!
carolannclark said,
March 12, 2024 at 3:33 pm
I love that you have these for your kids. My youngest came along and we switched from hard copy photos to digital. But…I still have the 3 almost finished Creative Memories scrap books-one for each child.