Family Yearbooks
A few years ago, I came across a photographer who wrote about making family yearbooks each year, and I thought it was a brilliant idea. Historically, I had been one who had taken a great deal of photos, but never printed or organized them. It was such a waste, I thought. I knew I needed a better method of holding on to our images, and this immediately spoke to me. There are a lot of companies that make photo books, and I simply turned to Shutterfly, as I was pretty familiar with their product. Although I don't recommend my clients use Shutterfly for prints, I'm less concerned about impeccable image quality with these books, and I appreciate their lower price point. Don't get me wrong, they still average around $150 per book, but it's significantly less than their competitors. Another reason I felt compelled to do this, was I had always thought about how awful it would be if we ever lost all of our photos in a fire, or other disaster. Every book I have made thus far is still available in my Shutterfly projects page, and I can simply reorder those old books at any time. It gives me such peace of mind knowing that they're protected!
Typically, I run a year or two behind, and I don't beat myself up about it. I could find any excuse to not do this, and trust me, I have! I've told myself that I don't have the time, and that I don't love the image quality. We are all so incredibly tough on ourselves! I no longer agonize if I don't love the composition or exposure of an image when it relates to these books. I force myself to make the time to create them. I go at my own pace, and when I have a bit of time, I log on to their website and modify it. All in all, I probably spend between 4-5 hours on each book each year, but I create it over the course of the year so it doesn't feel so daunting. Making these yearbooks has also forced me to document the things that made us laugh the most (and never would have remembered otherwise), and other events like my daughter's exciting basketball game or setting new personal records (PR's) in track. I simply keep a 'Notes' file on my phone and jot things down as they happen so that I won't forget.
There are also plenty of things that I don't bring my camera to, or simply I choose not to photograph. I'm not one to take pictures with my phone (unless it's a to-do list, or a grocery list that I don't want to forget). That's what the last two pages of the book are for. I list "other notable moments" with other things that I don't want to forget - no matter how big or how small. Some of the other moments may include: house updates (like getting a shed, or installing hardwood floors in my daughter's bedroom), or simply funny things that have been said that I have to remember. Like when my 16 year old daughter who was a new driver, and was on crutches, asked if she could simply drive with her left food instead! Strangely enough, I leave my camera home way more now than I ever have, as it forces me to simply enjoy my time with the people that I love. But I still want to remember these moments. These yearbooks help me do just that.
Most years we open the book and review it as a family on Christmas Eve. It's nice that the days we're looking at happened so long ago, as we've already forgotten about a lot of those moments. Well, that's what I tell myself when I finish a yearbook two years after the year ended ;)