25 photos that will NOT appear in my photobook!?

When deciding which photo will or will not be in your photo book it’s important to be discerning. Here is a list of photos that WILL NOT appear in my photobook. They won’t even appear here on the website!

1. My ex-girlfriend

2. That picture I took of my bloody toe after a bike accident when I was 13.

3. The shot that my dad took of the pigeon who pooped on my head while visiting Sacre le couer in Paris.

4. That pre-digital camera wasted shot of our left VW Vanagon tire.

5. My construction paper wizard outfit for Halloween circa 1986

6. that massive slug from outside our doorstep that I took too many shots of.

7. All those toilet and bathroom shots from the disposable cameras at my older sister’s wedding.

8. my sixth grade class picture with a full smile and braces everywhere.

9. photos from that family trip to Minnesota where we all argued the whole way home.

10. 6:00 AM blurry shots of dad’s breakfast at Perkins on said trip to Minnesota.

11. My ex-girlfriend #2

12. Photos of my stuffed animal collection.

13. Close up shots of my LEGO guys that I thought would come out really cool looking but came out blurry pieces of garbage.

14. All those dark shots that I took by mistake when I wound my disposable camera and stuffed it into my bag.

15. The photo of the police man who stopped dad on Broadway in NYC for blocking traffic.

16. That pre-digital camera wasted roll of film of pelicans in the Gulf of Mexico.

17. Pretty much every photo that mom says, “Oh, you were so cute, you have to include that one!”

18. photos of us doing yard work.

19. blurry photos of my legs with massive tube socks.

20. Those crazy shots we took in college at a concert where I couldn’t recognize anyone.

21. Random photographs where nobody in the family can identify anybody in the photo.

22. My ex-girlfriend #3

23. Those pre-digital camera wasted shots that I took of a Red Sox game on TV but came out as blurry garbage.

24. Our asparagus circa 1993 that grew a lot that year.

25. The rip in the carpet on the third floor of the church that we never found who was responsible.

What photos will you NOT include in your photobook?

Ask SSM: Connecting to FLICKR with your Silver Street Media account

Dear

Silver Street

Media,

I have all my photos on FLICKR.  Do I have download them all and then upload them to Silver Street Media in order to make my photo book?

-Confused, Athens Georgia.

Hey Confused,

Great question and we’re happy you asked!  YOU DO NOT HAVE TO download and upload at all.  You can actually connect your Silver Street Media account with your FLICKR!  It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3!

1.  Sign in to Silver Street Media by clicking on MANAGE YOUR PHOTOS.

2.  Once there all of your uploaded photos will be there.  Notice there are a couple tabs up above the photos.  One of them is STOCK PHOTOS.  Another is FACEBOOK.  The next one is FLICKR.  Click on that tab.

3.  Flickr will open in another window and then ask you to sign in to give Silver Street Media access to your account. 

4.  Once you sign in, your photos should then appear where the other photos were before.  If you have many SETS in FLICKR you can find them by looking to the left side of the photos and that will show you all your sets that you have on FLICKR.

Go ahead and use those photos in your awesome new photobook!

Are you a FLICKR fan?  How many photos do you have on there?

Do you have questions about photos, photobooks or Silver Street Media?  Ask us!  Send us an e-mail!

From Ultrasound to 21 years old: A Photo book of my life.

Technology is amazing isn’t it?  I think nowadays most parents are able to get photos of their child while in the womb.  Ultrasound photos are the first evidence that yes, a bun IS in the oven. 

What about that photo being the first page of your book.  That was the first photo of you.  The first photographic evidence that you existed.  Each subsequent page is then a year older.  As you get to page 21 then you are 21 years old.  What a book that would be a keepsake for your children.  This is how mommy grew up.

Have you ever thought of this idea?  Do you have a photo of your ultrasound?

Custom Calendars ROCK! How to make one of your very own!

Have you ever sat around the Christmas tree after you've opened your gifts and you pull out your calendar that your sister gave you or your Aunt gave you and you flip through it and you think to yourself, "I could make one of these!"  


Well, NOW YOU CAN!  Those moments in your pajamas around the Christmas tree are about to come true!

There are a few choices out there for making calendars.  You probably already know my choice when it comes to really great quality custom calendars!  CLICK HERE!  But here's a couple points that will make the creation of your custom calendar really fun and easy!


1.  When I made my calendar I chose to make a full size image for each month.  I had other choices too, I could you put a bunch of photos on it or 2 or 3.  You can be as creative as you want to be!  Maybe one big image and many small images.  Whatever you want!  Your creativity is the limit!

2.  I chose an 18 month calendar because I wanted the person that I was giving it to to have the calendar for a long time.  I could've chosen a regular 12 month calendar up to 18 months.  Choose wisely depending on who will use the calendar!

3.  I then had to choose which holidays I wanted on the calendar.  I could choose all the holidays, except Chinese ones!  Or I could choose none of them.  I chose all of them.

4.  One of the coolest things that I did was to edit any day that I wanted!  So for example, February 3rd is Chinese New Year!  The Year of the Rabbit!  I want to put that day on the calendar!  I can do that.  If you want to remind everyone which day ARBOR day is so we can all go and plant a tree!  You can do that.  National Ask a Stupid Question day?  You can add that too.  April Fool’s Day?  Yep.  Groundhog Day?  Chipmunk day?  Squirrel Day?  All yes!  Isn’t that the coolest?  My calendar was really personalized!

Give it a try.  Remember: Calendars are really great gifts, especially when they are customized and about you and/or your family!

A Photo Book in a month: from start to finish

I had an epiphany one day of the perfect photo book that would make my parents cry, make them love me more and make them walk down memory lane.  Sometimes my imagination can run away without me but most of the time a photo book will well surpass the power of your imagination!

To make that amazing photo book that will make your parents a basket case you have to first start at some point before that moment that the gift is given.  A month would be best.  You might say, “A MONTH!? WHY SO LONG?”  A month because you plan well and you NEVER let something go to the last minute, right?

This is how I did it.

Step ONE: (2 weeks time) First, I did some research and went through the photos.  I found photos that fit my theme and made sure I had the information about each photo.   Then I scanned those photos into the computer and make them digital files.

Step TWO: (A few hours time) Second, I arranged the photos in my favorite photo sharing site like Flickr or PhotoBucket.  I then filled in the captions for each photo.  This was a fun part!

Step THREE: (another few hours time) Third, then I uploaded my photo album to my favorite photo book software or site.  Your choice.  Some photo book sites have an "AUTO FILL" option.  That makes it so much easier.

Step FOUR: (at most a week’s time) Fourth, I then ordered the photo books from my favorite photo book site and sat back and waited for your book to arrive!  Oh my they're already here.

Step FIVE: (10-30 minutes time depending on your skill) Fifth, I took the photo book(s) out of the box and wrapped them in wrapping paper and put my parents’ names on the label.  I mentioned skill only because when I wrap gifts people often mistake them for trash and end up throwing my gift to them away.  I didn't want this to happen!

Step SIX: (about a week’s time) Sixth, I enjoyed hearing from people who haven’t gotten their gifts yet for the event and reveled in the fact that I started a month ago and now you have this responsibility off my plate!

PS. This rarely happens that I plan ahead.  I just hope it helps you all out!

Do think that’s too long?  Too short?

5 Things I quit doing and made that Photo Book!

1.  Quit Watching TV - I had to get my butt off the couch and I made that awesome photo book that I knew would blow everyone's mind!  Not to mention my friends and family!

2.  Quit surfing Facebook – Facebook is great but it takes up a lot of your time.  If you are looking for photos for your next photo book, ok.  But...sometimes though Facebook photos don't work well in photo books so you have to be careful.  

3.  Quit Sleeping till 10 am on Saturday and Sunday – There were times when I slept in on Saturdays and Sundays.  But I figured out that waking up early is sometimes the best time to make a photo book for me.  I had to make a big pot of coffee though.

4.  Quit Worrying about what the photo book will look like – We’ll take the NIKE motto here and tell you to “JUST DO IT”.  Don’t worry about what it will look like because it won’t look like anything at all if you don’t actually make one!  I had to really make sure I understood this one.  It won't look like much if I don't work on it.

5.  Quit watching movies – Friday night was always a movie night for me.  Soon I took my Friday movie night time and sat together as a family and looked through our photos and choose which one to include in your latest photo book.  What great memories!

Photo Books: the death of the “Gift-Shop-Type-Big-Photo-Tourist-Book”

We’ve all been to a big city that has a gift shop haven’t we?  In those gift shops we’ve all seen a nice book that contains photos and explanations of said big city.  There are great shots of buildings and the people and the natural scenes of the city.  You might even have one from a city or place that you’ve been to.

Most likely though, half the photos in the very expensive book are photos of places that they tell you are famous, but you haven’t ever seen those places.  But they must be really famous places since they are in the book!  When you buy the book you’ll put it on your coffee table to show people the places that you’ve traveled to.  Unfortunately that book only contains 3-7 photos of places you’ve actually seen.  The rest of the photos are places you’ve never seen and perhaps could be stock photography that are not even in that same city!  Who knows!?

What if…

What if you could travel to that same city and take your own photos of places that YOU’VE ACTUALLY BEEN TO and then put that into an attractive coffee table book.  Your visitors to your house could look at it and assume that they were looking at the old “gift shop type Big photo tourist book”.  Until of course, they see your photo in the book!

Think about it.  Your book would be all the things you actually saw in that city.  That book would show your day or a couple days that you were there.  It would show all the things that interested you about the city.  The people.  The architecture.  The tourist locations.  The non-tourist locations.  The food you ate.  The food you didn’t eat.  The photos won’t be like the photos in the “gift shop type Big photo tourist book” but they will be photos that you took in places where you were standing!  Instead of only a few photos in the book of places you’ve seen, each photo would have a story.  Talk about captivating your visitor!

How about you all?  Have you even purchased a “gift shop type Big photo tourist book?”  Would you think about doing this the next time you take a trip to a big city?

Why a Birthday Photo Book is like Time Capsule

I was at a birthday party this weekend.  It was for my niece who turned six years old.  I had in mind that we could make a photo book about her 6^th birthday and so I made sure to take lots of pictures of specific people who were there. 

Action photos of her older brother playing baseball. 

Her little brother eating birthday cake sitting on the steps. 

The birthday cake itself, which was made by the birthday girl’s older sister. 

Then a photo of her other sister giving me the birthday cake and ice cream.  It’s a close up and the cake looks delicious!

We got photos of her gifts.  A book.  Underwear!!  A great dress.  A necklace (that we gave her!)

There are pictures of the birthday girl’s mom and dad doing all kinds of things, playing games, scaring my boy, cooking, etc.

There are pictures of her grandparents, all four.  Sipping coffee.  Giving hugs.  Enjoying the great weather.

We were the birthday girl’s only uncle and aunt who were there along with our little guy.  There are probably very few photos of us but that’s fine.

There was a relative from Sweden visiting who really enjoyed the birthday party.  She took many photos too and we’ll probably use some of those if she gets the photos to us soon.

We did a group shot of everyone who was there.  I set the shot up, told everybody to squeeze in.  CHEESE.  10 seconds later the photo took. 

One set of grandparents also had a camera who took photos and we’ll try to get those to include in the book.

All those photos are going to be an amazing in a photo book.  But time will change and we’ll never all be there at that moment again.  When my niece is 16 years old, 26 years old and 36 years old she will have an amazing TIME CAPSULE of her 6^th birthday.

The question is… how many people were at the birthday party?

Answer: 15 people.  WOW!

My Christmas Photo Book is now part of all my Christmas books.

A while back I made a photo book from a couple Christmases ago. 

There were pictures of our various trees throughout the years. 

There were close-ups of some of our ornaments and their stories. 

There were pictures of the snow that fell around the holidays. 

There were pictures of our visits to church on Christmas Eve. 

There were pictures of us at Grandma’s house on Christmas Day. 

There were pictures of the gifts that we got through the years. 

Many smiling faces and many happy people. 

There were pictures of Christmas parties, drinks, cookies and decorations.  There were pictures of Christmas lights, nativity scenes, stars and angels.

There were many pictures of family members past a present. 

Some who have grown up, some who haven’t changed a bit and some who are no longer with us.

There were even shots of us watching classic Christmas movies.

Now our photo book is part of our annual Christmas book reading with all our nieces and nephews.  The Grinch has gotten old.  Charlie Brown is always a classic but we’ve seen it and read it.  But everyone wants to read the photo book that tells our family’s story.  Our Christmas history.  Our Christmas past.

Merry Christmas this year and make sure to grab and keep those memories.

From Twitter to a Photo Book

The other day I finished by photo book which takes 30 of my favorite tweets over the past 2 years.  I designed how the tweets would look in Photoshop and made each tweet into one page each. 

It took a while to design each tweet but in the end I’m pretty happy the way it looks.  I’ve included a few photos but simple pictures that go along with the tweets. 

This could be a huge thing for those who actually care what their tweets say, not those who just tweet what they had for breakfast!

What do you think?  Do you take Twitter seriously?  Have you thought of this idea before?