My Photo Books: The Whole Set, So Far

I don't generally print out any of my digital photographs, and I sometimes worry about losing them; having them all go up in a puff of smoke and disappear into the ether. Oh, of course, I do back up my photo library, and you should too. But I still worry sometimes about losing them. In the old days, I had a hard copy of every photograph. The 60 photo albums sitting in my living room bear testament to that fact.

I bought my first digital camera in February of 2010, a Canon PowerShot SX 120 IS, a great little point-and-shoot. In December of 2011, I bought a Canon PowerShot SX 40 HS (and since then, I've added a Canon PowerShot SX 50 HS to my collection). In the fall of 2012, using pictures taken with the SX 40, I made my first photo book through Shutterfly, the small square black book in the very top left: There Must Be Magic, Book 1: Heaven Beneath Our Feet. It was exciting to hold my first little book in my hands. My oldest sister was so proud, she bought copies for everybody in my family and gave them away at Christmas! (Of course, I autographed each one!)

Since then, I've made 10 more books, using a variety of online photo companies. The There Must Be Magic series has stayed with Shutterfly. For the Seasons of the Heart series, which I made in 2013 and early 2014, I used Picaboo for the first two and MyPublisher for the last two. For the 2013 book, I used York Photo Labs; I completed and ordered it on New Year's Day morning of this year, and selecting photos for it was a fun way to review the year that had just passed.

I have been pleased with the quality of the products made by all of the photo companies I've worked with. Because I've used so many different companies, I receive bargain offers all the time on e-mail. On Sunday morning of last week, I received the latest offer: a free photo book from MyPublisher (I'd pay just the shipping, which amounts to around $10), but I could only get the book for free if I ordered it by midnight on Monday! Could I turn around a new photo book in 24 hours or a bit more?

I am usually able to fit somewhere between 75 and 85 photos into a 20-page photo book. So I sat down and began sorting through my iPhoto library, and when I had the first 50 photos selected within less than an hour, I knew that I could do it. By Sunday evening, I had all of the photos picked, as well as a title and quote, and I had done the preliminary layout, which might just be my favorite part. (For a more detailed set of step-by-step instructions on how to make a photo book, see my earlier Blip on that subject.)

Quite early on Monday morning, I finalized the book's layout, and I went to upload my photo book to order it. But I encountered a network problem, and on the first upload, my browser just sat and spun; it didn't go through. I contacted customer support and they verified that my coupon code was still valid (that is to say, it hadn't been processed), and they asked me to try again. I did, and on second try, it went through just fine. (Side note: the latest book was made with MyPublisher software, and it's the only company I work with that makes you download software, construct the book on your desktop, and then upload the finished book when you're done. The resulting file can be QUITE large and takes as long as a half-hour to upload; your Internet connection has to be pretty robust and speedy to handle that!)

On Friday, I received my latest photo book - Spring Dreams, lower right - in the mail. It just might be the start of a new series. I had set it as my goal to make more photo books this year than any year so far, and I've already done that. I have also purchased discount coupon vouchers online to make four more books by early November. So I'm hoping to keep up the momentum!

If you like to take pictures but you have never made a photo book of your own, I encourage you to give it a try. It's fun to sort back through your pictures and remember the beautiful things you've seen. It takes me about five to eight hours total to go through the whole process of making a new book. If you spread that out over a few days, it's not a big deal at all. Sometimes the hardest part is thinking up a unifying title or quote to go with it. And the thrill of holding something of your very own - that you've made with your own eyes and mind and heart and hands - well, it just can't be beat.

I used to think that someday I would grow up to be a writer, and make books. Not out of any kind of fear of death, or selfish desire to leave something of my own behind, but just out of the desire to tell a really good story. A story about something beautiful, maybe even a love story; something that might move hearts and make people smile. A story to help remind people that no matter what, life is beautiful, and well worth living, even though it ends. (And maybe the fact that it does end is part of what makes it all so beautiful: the ephemeral nature of it all, we fight by taking photographs . . . trying somehow to stop time.)

I even came up with the name of my own publishing house, Skittering Vole Press, which I place on every single photo book I make. I have come to think lately that if I do make books (and it looks like I have done so, and will continue to) that they just may be photo books either instead of, or maybe even someday in addition to, a written tale of some kind. A picture-book story, perhaps much like those I post on Blip - each day, one photo, one story, one song - to remind us that the world is beautiful, just full of magic moments, and that life is well worth living . . . (I have thought long and hard about it, and maybe this is the only story I know how to tell.) Yes, in the end, it is always a love story.

The song to accompany this Blip is a song about picture books and love stories. I know I've used it here once before, but I just can't help myself. It's a favorite, and so here it is again: Willy DeVille & Mark Knopfler, Storybook Love, from the film The Princess Bride. Now, go, and tell your own love story . . .