RTW Travel Photobook Progress
By the time we returned home from our crazy backpacking adventure, I knew I wanted to make a photobook in addition to a crafty scrapbook. Something classic and minimal. No embellishment. Just the photos and writing, hardbound with lush paper and coffee-table worthy. Something we could keep for ages and point to and remember you know that year we just dropped everything and hit the road? Let’s look at that again. And so, that book is coming to be.
When I exported all the photos from the drive we used on the road to the computer I use at home, I accidentally didn’t import all the organisation I had kept along the way. Gone were all my lovely divided events and tags and all that stuff. (I have since figured out what I did wrong but it just wasn’t worth doing all that again.) Instead of everything divided by noteworthy event and location, it was just one big batch of 9000 photographs in chronological order.
And actually, that is working tremendously well.
I’m using the same album format that Liz of Paislee Press used for this book, mostly because I loved her book so much that I instantly knew that was what I wanted. Originally I figured I could create all the templates myself, but then I kept putting it off. Now I’m using the templates from Paislee Press and I’m actually getting this done. I love that I can just open a double page spread of templates, go over to iPhoto and choose the right number of pictures and drag them over to make the pages. Because I have all the photos in one big batch, the number of photos on the templates is helping me edit which pictures to include. If there are eight photos on the next set of templates, then I look at my library and pick the next eight I want to share, in chronological order. I’m using plain white page backgrounds and one font throughout the entire book. The words are coming from a mix of my blog posts from the road, the handwritten journal I kept along the trip and my reflections now. The writing is quite therapeutic and calming, though at times it really makes me wish we were on the road again soon. In a wistful sort of way.
I’m making the pages one double-page spread at the time, then importing them to Blurb’s BookSmart book builder. I save each page as both a PSD and a JPG (just in case I catch a typo or want to change something later) and then I just upload the JPG to BookSmart, click to add a new page (1 photo – full bleed) and drag the JPG page onto the right page in the book. There may be some more efficient way of building the book, but this is pretty quick and I like being able to see it come together page by page. (The images here are the first five double-page spreads in the book.)
The completed book will be 8×10 and hardback, and Blurb will go to a maximum of 160 pages with their premium paper in that size. That’s what Liz used and I am totally doing the same. I’ve used the premium paper in smaller hardback books from Blurb and I love it – but I haven’t made a book quite this epic yet, so I am tremendously excited to see it become real. It’s definitely getting there now and I’m really enjoying putting it together and revisiting all those amazing places by looking through all the pictures.
And by posting it here, you can keep me accountable and make sure I get this completed sooner rather than later! You’ll hold me to that, right?
…something that just might be useful
If you’ve been meaning to make a photo book yourself, this week is a fab time to do that because Blurb are offering 20% off the book prices with code BLURB20 but that expires at the end of the month, which isn’t very long now! But with a set of templates – be they from a digital scrapbooking site or the drop-in templates at Blurb – you can make a photobook in just an hour or two. It just depends on how decisive you can be as you add photos and elements! If you like pages with a bit more ‘stuff’ than the templates I’m using, there are several options in different styles here – especially if you scroll to the bottom half of the page. You can also create notebooks with your favourite images on the cover and plenty of space to write. Could be a lovely Christmas gift if you’re already thinking of December! (Oh my!)
xlovesx
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27 September 2011, 17:07
I really REALLY need to do something like this with our New Zealand photos. Weekend project perhapse? Actually, this is ‘Miss Short-attention-span’ here, so 2-3 months is more likely! Good luck and can’t wait to hear/see it in shiny photo-bookey glory :) xx
27 September 2011, 17:19
This is looking wonderful…definately coffee table worthy!!
27 September 2011, 18:11
That is a great idea and I love those photos. I love the simple look, so why I need so many papers and embellies is a mystery :)
27 September 2011, 18:36
Shimelle you’re so amazing! Your pages scrapbook are incredible AND so is your clean and simple photobook!!! (Alien, that’s what you are haha!!)
27 September 2011, 19:16
Your photos are amazing!
27 September 2011, 20:09
Thanks for the tip about Blurb! I have all these pictures from our Europe trips last year and this year that I want to gather into a book. Sounds like what I’m looking for. :)
28 September 2011, 01:12
Shimmele, I love these pages! I was still looking for some inspiration for our summer photo book. Thanks so much! :-D
28 September 2011, 02:26
That’s looking really good – as good as the travelogue coffee table books in the shops. Got yourself a publisher yet?
28 September 2011, 03:59
Nice article. Thank you for your posting. Everyone wants to live a happy life. And there are many things can make you happy.
28 September 2011, 04:42
Fabulous, love the clean and simple style. Will make a fantastic coffee table read. Thanks for sharing
28 September 2011, 04:59
wow, your album looks beautiful. I love the simple but sophisticated style.
28 September 2011, 07:36
Your book is looking lush, definitely a great advert to visit the countries that you did.
28 September 2011, 08:06
Absolutely stunning Shimelle; think I have found the answer to my epic travel no-idea-what-to-do-with-the thousands-of-photos woes! I really like the simple graphic style of these albums very much. Thanks for sharing!
28 September 2011, 17:10
i absolutely needed this for honeymoon and wedding photos. tried to make templates sooooooo often and never get more then 3-4 pages done. thanks lovely!
28 September 2011, 21:09
Shemille, Your book is absolutely beautiful and your photos are amazing. I can’t wait to see more! I’m positive it will be a book you’ll cherish.
29 September 2011, 08:34
Love the book Shimelle! Must digi-lift this one! Any chance of a quick tutorial on how do do one page? Also, can’t seem to find the exact template you used, could you post a link to it? Thanks!!
29 September 2011, 08:38
This is looking great. Love the simplicity. All hail whitespace!
29 September 2011, 11:32
I have so many photos waiting to be revealed in a book like this…you’ve got me inspired!
29 September 2011, 13:40
This is awesome Shimelle! Thanks so much for sharing it! I plan on using both the Paislee Press layouts and the blurb coupon (on the website it said it’s good to the end of 2011). Is this a $ limk (i.e. – should I use it when I do purchase the book – you might as well benefit).
I recently went to Yellowstone National Park and took about 1500 pictures in 4 days. I realize that doesn’t hold a candle to 9000 images around the world, but I’ve narrowed it down to 250 that I thought would make a great book and this is just the kick in the pants to get on it so I can give one as a Christmas gift to my fellow travelers.
Would love to see a few shots of the finished verison when it’s done!
Thanks! :)
18 October 2011, 02:43
Thanks for your sharing
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