When I started my career in Administration 20 years ago in Toledo, Ohio, many of my coworkers enjoyed making scrapbooks. Do you remember scrapbooking parties? Well as a single mom, I did not have the funds or the extra time to participate in said parties. However, I did stumble upon digital scrapbooking fairly early in the game, and they quickly became my gift of choice, as I have ALWAYS loved capturing memories, both for my family, friends, and while traveling.
I gave out so many prints and books from Snapfish, MyPublisher, Mixbook, and Shutterfly, I became a pro at it, and people started to expect photo gifts from me for special occasions. This led me to upgrade my camera at least once a year, sometimes more. Fast forward to 2012, when my little sister (I am the oldest :)) was a senior in high school. I wanted to make sure I had great images for her senior year, including at the graduation commencement and at her “coming out” Cotillion ball.
I purchased my first DSLR camera the day of her ball, and that is how my professional photography career started. Over the years, I have made over 100 of these types of story books. I prefer hard cover books, and 8×11 seems to be my favorite sized book, except for wedding books, I love the 10×10 album. I have searched high and low for other companies that I can customize as much as Shutterfly, but I have not found one yet!
Having said that, I offer this type of book with almost every photography package. Photo books help tell the story of the clients life at that time, and the books are fun, easy to transport, and affordable. Traditional photo albums run hundreds to thousands of dollars more than the books that I offer, without the creativity added to the way the images are placed on a page. Take a look at my latest senior book of Adrianna that I just ordered:
Click here to view this Abyrdseyephoto photo book larger
By the way, Shutterfly recently featured one of my senior photos on their February blog, take a look!
