Photobook party

I started making photobooks more than a year ago and since then, I have made more than a dozen of them. I used to put together photo albums of pictures I took in my travels but since around 2005, I hadn't really been able to make any. Then, when I got assigned in Sweden for work back in 2007, my boss there showed us a book of photos she had made of her family. I thought this would be a good alternative to an album because it was thinner and lighter. However, I never got around to it.

Then I saw an online deal for Photobook Philippines at about 75% off. That deal was just too good to pass up! I purchased a few vouchers and I was very happy with the books I made and ordered so when more deals came up, I purchased even more. Making my first couple of photobooks (you can read more about the process here) took a lot of time and effort. I mean, you have to select the photos, lay things out properly, add captions, and just get used to the software. But once I got through my first few photobooks, things started to get a lot easier.

At one point last year, I decided it would be great if I made photobooks for some of my closest friends I could give them these books as gifts. I bought more vouchers online and then I asked my friends if they had sets of photos that they wanted to see in an album. They all said they did so I asked to get a copy of their pics. They eventually figured out I was going to create photobooks for them but since it took a while for me to them to select which photos they wanted to share, I wasn't able to put together their books in time for Christmas.

I finally completed the books a few months ago but my friends and I couldn't find the time to meet up. It was also a few weeks back that we eventually did. Mitch told us that dinner was on her as a combined birthday blowout of Ferg, Aidan, and Rory. She selected Cafe 1771 in El Pueblo as our dinner venue since I suggested that we find a place that was relatively spacious and bright.

When I finally got to share their books, they all seemed very pleased. Iona had already made a photobook for herself before so she knew what it looked like and what to expect, but Mitch and Joyce hadn't. Or well, Joyce had, but the ones she made were the small 4"x6" flipbook ones so my 8"x11" book was a lot different. I had a different set of photos for each person. Mitch gave me family travel photos, Iona wanted a book focused on her daughter, Joyce shared photos of her son (from when he was still in her womb up until a about 1 year old), and Anna wanted a tribute book to her grandmother who passed away recently. I decided to use different templates for each of them so that everyone would have an even more unique book, at least in the context of our set of friends. Mitch said that it was only looking through her book that she realized it was better seeing photos in an album rather than online and she said that I should just stick to this same gift for Christmas and their birthdays. It takes a lot of time and effort but it is also a labor of love and it's much appreciated so maybe I will keep doing that.