How I Chose the Story for a Photobook of 17 Years of Memories

In 2002, my friend (and former college roommate) and I, along with our husbands and children, began spending two weeks together on the Maine coast near Acadia National Park. It was the centerpiece of our family’s summer. It’s now 2019 and time, as it does, has changed things—our children are grown, working, independent. So, now it’s just the four of us to sail, hike, explore islands and indulge in lobster and blueberry pie.

Guess it’s no surprise I decided a photo book would be the best way for me to preserve and share stories of this time together. I’d planned it as a gift to be given in the summer of 2017—our 15th year together. But, nope; as often happens, life situations moved my book plans way down on the priority list. Christmas 2017? Summer 2018? Christmas 2018? Nope, nope and nope. Summer 2019? It just had to be.

I thought I’d share with you, in two parts, the story behind my creation of this book, a look behind the scenes at process, numbers, and finally getting it finished. At the very least, it will reassure you that the reality you face in making a photo book—it takes lots of time—is a project, but it’s worth it. At the very best, I hope you’ll learn something to make the process easier so you can end with a book you’re proud of.

The cover of the photobook! (“Summah people” are what people who only spend the summer in Maine are called.)

Way back in 2016, I began my photo book plan by answering the essential questions: What’s the story? Who is the audience? Why am I the one to tell it? Why tell it now?

The story: A review of our summers together in Maine – 2002 to 2018 – using photos and funny written memories.

The audience: My friend, her husband, Howard and me. And, maybe our kids.

Why am I the one to tell it? Because I want to… and I’ve got lots of photos and memories.

Why tell it now? Because the time of our families vacationing together is ending. I want to commemorate that chapter as we start a new one.

With those questions answered, next step is content collection. Fortunately for me, I’ve been photographically all digital since 2001. All my Maine vacation photos are stored on my laptop, edited and organized within the year’s folder (and yes, backed up two other places). Yet, while easy to find, there were still thousands of photos to review and sort.

How did I choose the photos? Well, I started with the story – what were the elements of our summers that made them so wonderful? Some elements were easy to identify – exploring by sea, exploring on land, and downtime. Exploring by Sea would include our favorite islands to visit and what we did there – walk/hike, eat picnic lunches, snooze. Exploring on Land would include our favorite hikes, gardens and local adventures. Downtime would capture our hanging out time – reading, doing puzzles, playing games, cooking, just being together doing whatever.

The element most important to me, though, was sharing the photos of the kids (and us!) through the years. That part of the story, and those photos, became the opening section of the book in which I recalled our history together – the different houses, the boats, and our annual photo of the whole group – with the year the photo was taken as a caption. Such fun to see the kids change so much…and us change so little!

I ended up choosing 692 photos for the book, copying each one (not moving it…I want to keep the original in its place) into its appropriate folder within the “Are You Summah People” folder. Yep, it took a lot of time but here’s the thing: I thoroughly enjoyed the entire reviewing and choosing process. Our vacations were magical. It had been ages since I’d seen some of these photos. Super satisfying…

Finishing this book to give to our friends during our 2019 vacation was at the top of my 2019 resolution list. No excuses! Scheduling time to work on it was a must, so I called my friend and fellow photo storyteller, Renee. She is always working on a book. We committed to a weekly late Friday afternoon two-hour work session, starting in the fall of 2018. That commitment was key: Renee was coming, so I had to set aside the time. And Renee and I could talk about design ideas, work through technical bumps with the software and cheer each other on when necessary. Camaraderie is always a plus for me!

I’ve got the story. I’ve got the photos chosen and organized. Now on to make the book!

Read part two, about production design—choosing the online book company, determining the cost, finding the overall design, choosing and editing each page’s design, cropping the photos, the inevitable frustrations, etc.—and share the end of the story, here.