Nine More Pages from the Book of Lost Things

On February 10, I received an email from MyPublisher, my favorite company that I use for making my photo books. When I read the first paragraph, my heart sank. For here is what it said:

Dear Valued Customer,
We wanted to let you know that on May 8, after 23 years, we are closing down. Thank you for your loyalty, and for being a part of our proud history.

It went on to state that after that date, I'll no longer be able to access my account, or my photos, or the books that I've made. When I try to go to any of those links, I'll be redirected to Shutterfly, their sister brand. I almost cried.

I've talked on blip about how much I love making photo books. I've included several postings on how I do it: you may find the latest version here. The current total is up to 29, and right now I'm working on book 30, which will be a celebration of my 30 years working full-time at Penn State.

Here is the most recent blip picture of the photo book set; it shows it last January at two dozen. Since then, I've made just a handful more, including two celebrating my oldest sister's and my adventures last summer. The Dancing Girls helped with those.

This picture shows the nine books that I've made through MyPublisher. Two are from the Dreams series, two are from the Seasons of the Heart series, there are two in the Woods and Waters series, and the others are singles: the Arboretum, dinosaurs in Harrisburg, and a book about several of my favorite local state parks.

Why have I loved MyPublisher best of all? Because of the ease of use of their interface, the variety of layouts, the gorgeous, shiny supergloss printing option that makes the colors really pop, the classy book jacket style with interior cover flaps just perfect for quotes and one or two last pictures. They are a feast for the eyes, a pleasure to the touch.

For the sake of posterity, here are links to the cover photos of most of these, or a close approximation, left to right and top to bottom:

Spring Dreams
Shingletown Reservoir
a nearby shot, just upstream of the reservoir

Summer Dreams
Prince Gallitzin State Park
a monochrome version of the blue cover shot

Seasons of the Heart, Book 3: Summer
Young Woman's Creek

Seasons of the Heart, Book 4: Autumn
Casanova Road, near Black Moshannon
a scene just around the corner

The Arboretum at Penn State

Pennsylvania Woods and Waters Book 1
Bear Run

Pennsylvania Woods and Waters Book 2
Black Moshannon

Dinosaurs Invade Harrisburg
see the extra from this shot for one more of the dinos

Pennsylvania State Parks:
Bald Eagle, Greenwood Furnace, and Whipple Dam

I went to MyPublisher's website to find more information about the close-down. There I found a small statement that I can call their customer service phone number and ask someone to provide me with digital copies of my projects. Each project now includes a "download" link as well. I will do that, of course, as I want my own copies to keep.

But this juncture represents the functional end of these projects, these nine books. There will be no more copies printed, no more shares. I never thought, in the joy of their making, that the originals might cease to exist someday, that the Universe might take them back. I think it's left a hole in me.

I'm trying to find some upbeat way to end this, but it turns out that I can't think up a happy ending for this tale. I would only say this: enjoy what you've got because you never know when it might be gone. The soundtrack is the Eagles, with Already Gone.

P.S. The title of this posting references another sad posting from about a year ago. I don't really recommend you read it, as it's much, much sadder than this one. It features pet loss, and I just read it and bawled all over my computer again. (You've been warned.) But here it is, for the curious: Three Pages from the Book of Lost Things.