Remember the days of photo albums?

One of my favourite photos from my childhood is this one with my sister. Every time we visited our grandmother in San Francisco, we would return to this spot at the top of Lombard Street throughout our childhood. (circa 1989)

If you were a child of the 80s like me, maybe you have a photo album or two. Likely they are this spiral bound book with mysteriously sticky paper covered with a thin layer of plastic. You know the type? We’d peel away that plastic to position our photo on the sticky page and then gently place the film back on top. Sadly, over time the pages lost their stickiness and the film sometimes slid off the pages.

By the time I was in high school in the 1990s the albums had evolved to have pages with where you’d slip photos into pockets instead. We could only fit photos in of a certain size (usually 3×5 inch or 4×6 inch), but at least pages wouldn’t lose their stickiness. I created many of these albums for myself during high school. Only recently have I started looking back at them again.

Our kids, the generation growing up in the fast paced digital era, are missing out on having prints and photo albums. There’s just something about turning the pages of an album and feeling the pages in your hand that you don’t get by just swiping your finger on a screen to view the next photo in a digital photo.

This is why my absolute favourite product that I create for teens and their families is the photo book.

These photo books are unlike anything you’ve ever owned. It is a personalised book with a highly curated set of your favourite images from the photoshoot. The pages are thick, made of archival paper, unlike the sticky pages of the albums from the 80s. Photos are directly printed on the pages in vivid colours and can vary in size, unlike the set sizes of the pocket photo albums in the 90s. 

What makes MY photo book so unique from photo books other photographers may create are the words accompanying the photos. YES! The photo books I create have words, quotes, passages and more, all given to me by your teen. Because not only do I photograph your teen, but I also get to know them as well during our shoot. For clients who order the photo book, I set up another time to record the answers the teen gave during the photoshoot. Usually these are around topics like their hopes for the future, memories from the past and lessons they’ve learned.

We also talk about their favourite things, artists, lyrics from songs or lines from a book. I may ask about school, family and friends. Then I compile their answers and it all goes into this one-of-a-kind masterpiece that is a capsule of your teen at this moment in time. It’s truly a phenomenal work of art and I spend a lot of time attending to the details of every photo book I create. I love seeing the expressions on the faces of the parents when they open it for the first time. Tears are not uncommon.

Sizes can be 12 x 12 inch square or 11 x 8.5 inch landscape. Page options include lay-flat pages or regular. Covers come in two varieties. The linen cover comes in various colours with your chosen image debossed (stamped) on the front. The image wrap hard cover albums features the image printed directly on the front.

When is the best time to invest in a photo book for your kids? Well… today! If you’ve never done anything like this for your teen, this year is a great year to start. Every season that passes is time gone. Their appearances change. Their hobbies and preferences change. This time next year, they will not quite be the same person as they are right now.

End of Year 2022 Special

Right now for rest of 2022, I’m offering a special around photo books which I’ve never offered before. My 75-90 minute photo shoot normally includes a stunning photo book from the resulting images. Book this package and receive another photo book ($450 value) for FREE!  Perfect for a gift for grandparents or have one for you and one for your teen.

Or book the teen 30-45 minute photo shoot and receive a photo book for only $150 additional! This is an amazing savings of $300 which I’ve never offered before.

Photoshoots must be booked before end of January 2023 and occur before 30 April 2023.

Contact me today to book or ask for more package details.