Over and over again, I hear from people that what makes designing a photo book so difficult, is selecting photos. Even if I design a custom photo book for you, you still have to select the photos, right?!?! So it’s important to get over this hurdle and find a way to make selecting photos less of a chore and maybe even {gasp!} enjoyable!

When I first heard that Marie Kondo was translating her very popular book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, into a Netflix show I was excited. I read her book when it first came out but tidying up always comes in waves for me. I’ll make progress over several weekends, then get derailed with life’s other demands.

This is what makes her show so enticing to me. Once I started watching the first few episodes, I realized how much it helps to see her and the families in action to get me back in gear. And whenever I fall off the tidying-up wagon, I can just watch another episode (or one I’ve already seen) to get re-inspired and make progress in my own home.

And this led me to photo selection. Kondo’s main mantra on clearing out the clutter can actually help you select photos for a photo book. As you are going through your photos, ask yourself, “Does this photo spark joy?” If so, it should definitely be flagged as a photo to print (either in a book or on your walls).

However, you also have to realize, multiple photos of the same event or moment, is just like clothes in your closet. While you may initially have a desire (joy) to keep 10 black dresses, at some point you have to ask, do I really need all of these? Or are there a few that spark the most joy for me. And that helps to narrow your selection….and all of the clutter.

I’m sure you would say most of your photos spark joy but you have to dig a little deeper. Are you holding on to similar photos just because you have the storage space? If pressed, could you actually select the pose/photo that provide you with the most joy?

Now, I would add one more question to help with your photo selection process.

How do I intend to use this photo?

Particularly when working on a photo book, it’s helpful to know if a photo is part of a series or a grouping – or – if you want it to be a stand-out photo on the page. Asking this question will help you determine if you can select a couple or if you need to be really strict and only select one.

Happy Labor Day!

With the official holiday to close out the summer, it’s time to start thinking about what you want to accomplish by the end of the year. And if you want to make a photo book, one of the best ways to start is to organize your photo library.

An organized library saves you time whenever you decide to print your photos. You’ll know right where to find your favorite photos and they will already be edited and ready to print!

Let’s get started with an easy challenge finding recent photos you love.

Challenge: Selecting Your Favorite Summer Photos.

I want you to go through your photos from the summer – Memorial Day through Labor Day (for those not in the US, basically June, July and August photos) and select 10 of your favorite photos.

They could be all from a vacation or you could select photos that sum up your summer.

Don’t overthink this: just select up to 10 photos from the summer that put a smile on your face.

Now here comes the organization part. Make sure you rate, star or tag the photos you select with your preferred rating system.

If you’ve never used a rating system before, start now. Most photo organization programs allow you to give a star or number rating to your favorite photos. Here’s a screenshot from iPhoto showing how to rate your favorite photos by quickly hitting the “heart” on a photo you love.

Don’t skip this step. It’s what helps you organize the photos that you love so they are easily accessible.

Here are my favorite 10(ish) photos with some suggestions to help you select your favorites from the summer.

PORTRAIT

It’s always good to include a classic and a creative portrait of your kids. They grow up so fast, it’s great to have a static frame showing who they are at this very moment.

BEACH OR POOL

Select an image from time spend at the beach or the pool.

HOLIDAY

Select an image from celebrating a Holiday. This summer our kids had fun with sparklers for the first time.

EVENT OR MILESTONE

Select a photo from the summer for any special event or milestone achieved in your kids’ lives. My daughter’s second ballet recital occurred at the beginning of the summer.

SIBLINGS

A favorite of mine is whenever I get these two in the frame together.

PLACE

Usually summertime includes travel to exciting places…or exploring fun places close to home.

EPIC LANDSCAPE

If you traveled to an expansive place – like the beach, lake, mountains, forest – chances are you have a great photo of an epic landscape.

FAMILY TIME

Include a photo that documents a visit with family.

EVERYDAY

Even though summer includes vacations and fun trips…and it also means times at home. Here’s a photo of my son and his stuffed bear while watching a movie.

EMOTION

And I’m sure you have a photo of extreme emotion – happy, sad, anger, laughter – from the summer. My daughter was not too happy to learn that an animal had been messing with her fairy garden.

SOMETHING NEW

If you worked on your photography this summer, challenged yourself with a project, or tried something new, include a photo from this experimentation.

Feel free to share your favorite summer photos on instagram, #favesummerphoto and tag @bookthisproject to hold yourself accountable. Plus, I’d love to see your favorite moments from your summer!

Once I finished this photo book for my sister-in-law, I knew this was something I had to try for myself. While I do not have a major life-changing event, such as a having a baby, I still know that our lives change in subtle ways. And these shifts in our everyday routine become more apparent when they are documented in photos and printed in photo books. Once printed, the patterns of everyday life and how the evolve become more apparent after 6 months, 12 months, 2 years. 

By isolating your year to two days spaced out by 6 months, you have fewer photos to cull, edit, and export for a book. This makes it easier to focus on the design. To try something new with how to arrange the photos. To have more fun and experimentation with design elements.

I’ve set this up as a challenge to my Photo Book Club Members to work with me on documenting our life changes over time in a very unique photo book. The goal is to limit the type of photos – either by event or time span – in order to focus on the design vision and how to best represent the photographs. 

Now, some of the Photo Book Club members are using this as an opportunity to dig into their own archives to select photos that have repeated over time, such as frequent trips to Disney or Christmas mornings. Others are following  my goal to document a weekend in the life in the spring and again in the fall, six months later. 

I just wrapped up shooting my first weekend and will wait until late October before I shoot the next round. I thought it would be fun to share some of my photos from my first weekend. It’s been a while since I’ve been consistently photographing my family….so it took a bit of energy to remind myself to pick up the camera. But I’m glad I did and can’t wait to see what our life looks like in October! 

Want to make your own Two Days in Six Months Photo Book? Click here for advice and help to make this special project for your family.

One of my goals for Mother’s Day, was to get in front of the camera. This is something that I often overlook. I’m so focused on taking the photos it’s hard to find time and make the effort to actually get myself in the photos. But this weekend, I made sure to set up my tripod, get out my remote and take some photos with my kids. I also handed my camera over to my husband to take some much needed photos. After all, it’s important that I make an appearance in the photo book as well.

The reason I design photo books is to record to precious moments of our everyday life so my kids remember what it was like to grow up. And they won’t get the full picture unless I’m in some of the photos too!

So while these are not perfect, I’ll take them. And most of these will wind up in my annual photo book.