One of my goals this year is to get my photos off my computer, and printed into photobooks. I’ve made specific ones for certain events and as gifts for family. I’ve been working all year on a 2013 photobook (I made one last year as well), and as of this morning, I’m 42% complete.
Yes, I use a spreadsheet to keep track of my progress.
Yes, the sheet calculates how much of the year I’ve documented.
What can I say? I love spreadsheets.
I use Lightroom to organize my photos, and I filter my photos by date. It makes it easier for me to focus on just that week and choose photos for the album. I build the pages in Photoshop, using templates from Becky Higgins and digital scrapbook kits from Paislee Press. Within Lightroom, I can send photos to Photoshop and back to Lightroom pretty easily.
I take notes each week, and record them in my notebook.
This morning, I worked on weeks 19 and 20. You can see week 20 below.
I’m hoping to get the year documented by the end of the year. Meaning, in the next 4 weeks, I need to catch up.
It is a lot of work, and most of the time I enjoy the process. Some of the time it feels like a chore. After working all week, mostly in front of a computer, the last thing I want to do is sit in front of my computer here at home. There are some weekends where I don’t even turn it on.
But I love looking through my photobooks. I love when family comes to visit, and they look through the photobooks. I love doing them digitally and that the books don’t take up much space. And I can re-print them if I need to.
It took me awhile to refine my process. But now, documenting the little things is a habit. Recording the highlight of the day, or a funny thing Miles said, the songs he’s singing or the books he’s reading – all go in my notebook. I love looking back, and I know that 10 years from now, I’m going to love looking at this book.