Although I am making some transitions in my business and spending more time on this blog as well as the photography classes I offer, I will still be offering very limited photography sessions throughout the year.
To see more information on types of session I offer and samples of images, you can click the links below.
FUNBOOTH SESSIONS
I offer sports photography upon request.
I no longer do weddings.
Please e-mail me if you have any questions or you want to book a session.
[email protected]
“Cultivate a good life and document it”
That’s the slogan of Project Life. And I can’t believe it has taken me this long to find out about it.
I am NOT a scrapbooker. The thought of designing and even worse, creating a scrapbook page makes me want to cut my fingers off. It does not appeal to me.
Sure, I love the end product. But even then, I always had an “issue” with scrapbooking because it felt like it was more about the “stuff” than it was about the pictures. And I want my displays to be about the pictures. About the people. About the story.
So I’ve tried several different ways of displaying photos. And, unfortunately, I’ve just left a lot of my photos on my computer where no one gets to see them but me.
Until I found Project Life. It’s exactly what I’ve been looking for. Simple. Affordable. And something I can keep current with. And it supports my intent to display photos that will enrich our family’s life. Project life is about the STORY, not about the STUFF.
I listened to a 3 day conference Becky Higgins (the creator of Project life) did online and decided we should probably be friends. Because our mission is the same. Document your life. Tell a story. CREATE a story/life (cultivate a good life). And in the process of doing that, you become more grateful, more aware, and more intentional.
“The truth is, if what we choose to do with our lives won’t make a story meaningful, it won’t make a life meaningful either.” Donald Miller
Cultivate a good life, and then tell the story by documenting it.
Project Life goes hand-in-hand with the Tell My Story class.
Here’s how it works. You buy a Core Kit, an Album, and Sheet protectors (I use 40% off coupons and get them at Hobby Lobby or Michaels). Select and print your photos. Then it’s simple. You just slide pictures and journaling cards in pockets. And in no time, you have a completed album. (You can watch video demonstrations on the Project Life website)
There are a few reasons I prefer Project Life over an album you design digitally online.
First, I sit in front of a computer far longer than I’d like to for my business. Any more hours in front of the computer and my eyeballs might fall out.
Second, I like to be able to do it while I’m doing something else (like catching up on all my DVR shows, or sitting by kids while they do homework).
Third, it’s FAST. And super simple. Both of which are requirements in pretty much anything I do these days.
Fourth, they look AWESOME when they’re done. More visually interesting than a traditional photo album with pictures in pockets.
Fifth, my kids can get involved and help. They become invested in the project.
Sixth, you can also journal in the albums. There are “journaling cards” where you can write small amounts of information to supplement (note I said supplement as the pictures are the main focus of the album for me) the pictures.
Seven, you can make some killer unique gifts with Project Life. I’ll post some things I’ve done with them so far in a separate post.
But the biggest reason I appreciate Project Life is that I’m able to look through my albums and see what we’ve accomplished and what efforts we’ve made at living a good life story, but it also helps me see what we’re missing so we can be more intentional about our future and live the life we want to live.
The boxes also make a great spot for folding paper cranes. Folded 30ish of those (out of 1000) for a friend fighting stage 4 Lymphoma.
Try it out. I’m pretty sure you’ll fall in love like I have.
And your kids will love you!
And for those of you who aren’t really the scrapbooking type (which I’m totally not) check out the Project Life App. It’s a game changer!!
Click here to visit the Project Life website.
And for another idea on displaying photos in your home, click here for a super awesome wall display.
{For Step 2 in the Picture Display Movement, click here}
ORGANIZE YOUR PHOTOS:
For me, this step initially felt the most overwhelming. But once I got started, it turned out to be no big deal and went really fast.
I use iphoto for all my photo organizing. BUT. You don’t have to have iphoto to organize photos like this. You can use the same “folder” system on any computer, Mac or PC.
The problem for me initially was the lack of organization within iPhoto and being able to effectively choose what I wanted to print and keep some sense of order in doing that.
All my pictures were in iPhoto, but that’s it. If you don’t use iPhoto, your pictures are all sitting somewhere on your computer waiting to be organized (probably in a native “Pictures” folder). I started using iPhoto in 2009 so I had 5 years worth of photos in there and was overwhelmed by the prospect of organizing them.
Until I came up with this system.
Keep in mind there are hundreds of different ways you can organize photos. Which is what overwhelms me. So I had to pick something simple. That I know I would do and that I would maintain.
To organize the photos that were already in iPhoto, 5 years worth, I created folders for each year as well as a “vacations” folder. See the photo below, under “albums” where it has folders for each year and one for vacations. If you aren’t using iPhoto, just create these folders right on your desktop or in your “Pictures” folder.
I then created an album for each month in that year as well as an album for Holidays in that year. Then I moved those albums into the folder for that year. If you aren’t using iPhoto, just create another folder for EACH month and put those months in the individual years folder (so each year will have 12 folders–one for each month).
I get asked this question alot.
My answer: It depends on what you’re using the pictures for.
I know most professional photographers will say to only get your photos printed at a professional lab. The only time I disagree with this, is based on your answer to the question, “What are you using the pictures for?”
If I am printing pictures 5×7 or smaller and they are intended for an album, like Project Life, I print my photos at Costco.
OR I print my 4×6 photos at York Photo online. If you google “free 4×6 prints” a code for 100 free prints to york photo should pop up. You can use that the first time you order prints from them. They also have sales on their prints all the time so I have a folder on my desktop with pictures I want to print and I wait until there is a sale and then send a batch of those pictures in to be printed.
If I am printing bigger than 5×7 or printing anything large that will be hung on my walls, I use Pixels Foto and Frame (for the Utah readers, it’s on 90th S. and State Street in Sandy) or Persnickety Prints (in Orem, Utah)–Persnickety also ships for a flat rate and their customer service is unbeatable. Online I use Persnickety Prints or Mpix. These are all professional printing labs with affordable prices.
I use Persnickety for regular prints (they’ll do custom sizes which I love to do) and I also use them for matboard prints like this one:
Mpix has a bunch of novelty photo items like calendars and photo books and cards along with regular prints. I also use them for printing stickers and business cards.
Any photos I print I use a matte or lustre finish instead of glossy. Makes them look better in my opinion.
If you have never printed somewhere before and don’t know what the prints will end up looking like, just send a few photos to be printed. Then if you like how they look, you can send a bigger batch for prints.
I have been using Persnickety Prints the most lately. They do printing for Instagram pics (square photos) as well as Project Life album sizes (3×4’s). I also love their polaroid type prints and various sizes of square prints. They specialize in 12×12 prints (that work great with the Project Life app) and they make 5×5 mini photo books that work perfect with Instagram prints or as a custom book.
For some ideas on an incredibly easy way to document your family story, check out the Project Life App. It’s “scrapbook” cheating in the palm of your hand.
And for ideas on how to display photos in your home, you can check out several ideas of Wall Displays using photos here. And for even more, you can follow my Pinterest board “Photo display ideas”.
