Summer 2016 Photo Book

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.comwhile

The pace of life is so fast now. The way we shoot photos has changed. No more actual film and ACTUAL printed photos. We just have storage to contend with and the daunting/time-consuming task of sorting through alllllllllll the photos to find the ones that stay and the ones that don’t need to be wasting space.  I have about 14k photos on my phone (I KNOOOOOW!) and I never do anything with them.  Do I routinely delete them? No. I usually wait for a long plane ride to purge the unnecessary images. But then I get distracted by the TV in front of my seat and I forget to delete them. Hence, umm 14k photos on my phone.

I often think about what it will be like for Cooper to look through photos from his childhood. He’ll have to plug in all of our old phones and sort through all of the pictures of food to find things about him/his life/his childhood/his parents. At least it’s headed that way if I don’t print out photos, make albums and DELETE PHOTOS.  In my own experience, there are albums my mom made but so many photos are missing because they made their way into school projects and random throwback Thursdays and no one put them back. Systems created and habits abandoned.

Time to change that by being more deliberate and intentional. 

I spent 4 hours a few Fridays back putting in the time to process the images I created from the summer into a photo book with Blurb.  My book is a visual representation of  Summer Bucket List for 2016.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

It was a good creative/meditative challenge and it forced me to THINK SO MUCH…but in a good way. I feel like I really processed the passing of time in a way I haven’t been able to in awhile.

While doing so, I thought about why we create photo books….and how we’ve lost some of these thoughts because of our advancements in technology.

WHY CREATE A PHOTO BOOK:

intentioMaking your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

AND HERE IT IS!!!

I pulled my most favorite pages from the book (there are actually 114 in total) to share with you.

 

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

 

 

The book starts with my Summer Bucket List for 2016.  These were my intentions for the Summer.  A few things didn’t happen which is fine, but so MUCH MORE happened! Things that I didn’t anticipate! This summer was GOOD.

So, let’s have a look!

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

I started the Summer with a trip to Aspen with Joy for Food & Wine. It was a blast.

We went up to Tyler Florence and talked to him about the podcast we recorded with him. We definitely made him nervous. There’s a picture of us on the next page…not for public consumption. HA.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

I fell in love with dandelions this summer. I took many pictures of them and picked these two as my favorites.

Maybe I was just wishing for something.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

Rocks collection from the beach, a playdate at China Camp, a hike with my niece.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

Taking my niece on my favorite trail. She loved it. It made me happy.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

I had Cooper draw a self portrait at the beginning of the Summer and I took a picture of him to go with it. I think it’s fun to see the passage of time through your children’s art and photos. Next year his portrait will look different and he will be another year older, but this is our story and what life is all about.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

We went to my parent’s house for the fireworks. This year it was foggy.

I had a special birthday BBQ at my house for my dad’s 70th birthday. I put up balloons.

My dad was so happy.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

This summer, Casey and I made a point to go on more date nights.

There are pictures in the book from the Flight of Conchords show and a few from our impromptu local bar crawl.  We had a lot of fun together!  The picture on the left reminds me of that weird feeling of being a parent and out of the house without your child….driving into the night.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

I made a good/new friend this summer.  This photo-spread celebrates the light of new friendships.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

We had to cut down a bunch of trees this Summer- including the giant one that our treehouse was built around. I chose to look at the experience with the word CHANGE in mind.

Things change. It happens, but change doesn’t have to be scary.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

I took Cooper on a few adventures to the redwoods and to the beach.

We searched for light in everything we did this summer. There was a moment when we were in the car and I was getting ticked off at a situation and he said to me, “Well, look on the bright side, Mom….”

My heart swelled.

There were other moments this summer that made us laugh, cry, and super frustrated but we chose to make the most out of it. These photos remind me of that.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

I like little details (obviously) and I included a picture of what my “wrist candy” looked like this summer. It’s fun to see what interested you during a particular time. Right now I’m into brass, labradorite and moons! One of the gold bracelets was from my grandma and it fell off a day before she died. Weird, huh?

This picture of Cooper represents the few days he slept in. I can look at this picture…and see his cheek…with the scar on it and I’ll remember the crazy few weeks where he was covered in poison oak. We definitely team-worked that situation together. We learned to help each other help ourselves.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

Summer loves.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

A random picture that will make me remember that I was really into raspberries this summer next to the memory of how I put on a ladies craft night! 

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

Our first camping trip together as a family happened to be with family. It was last minute and it was fantastic. The whole month of August I wasn’t home for a single weekend. We lived it up in August.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

Beach walks, flower picking…. our TENTS.

It’s pretty meta there with my hand.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

Of course I did a little spread of the meals we cooked, the view from our tent and the art time I had with my niece Abby. This section has more family photos within it. It’s full of adventure.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

To sum up that time, I ended the section with the sun going down on our camp….and the cocktails by the fire.

I left wanting more camping trips in our future.  The fire was ignited. We will camp soon.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

I had a special ladies birthday weekend with my friend Helen Jane.

It was a local stay at my friend Leslie’s house.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

We created art together and sprinkled magic wherever we went in Mill Valley. We had steaks, drinks, laughs, succulent parties and typewriter time.

It was grand and I really like our weekend color scheme.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

The trip I had been looking forward to ALL SUMMER– LAKE TAHOE.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

When we booked the trip, we planned it around my niece’s summer camp ending at Stanford. We didn’t know my grandmother would pass before we left.

It was a trip about introspection. It was about healing. There was a lot of rest.  I thought a lot about time and how one life ends, another one begins and how we’re all are at different stages in our lives.

My father lost his mother and I lost my last living grandparent.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

Cooper- August 2016 (almost 8).

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

My parents love a view… our house had a view… I love this view of my parents with the mountains in the background.

And I love that there was a FULL MOON on my birthday this year.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

I even got into the hot tub on this trip….which did me some good despite my I DON’T WANT TO WEAR A BATHING SUIT tendencies. I ended up going in my bra & underwear and instead of feeling embarrassed, I buckled up and showed my niece and son that parents can go rogue and you don’t have to feel uncomfortable with your body if you don’t want to.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

We went bowling.  It’s always exciting to see how everyone reacts to their triumphs and losses during bowling. There were a whole lot of smiles.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

Speaking of smiles…Here are a few of my favorites.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

Tahoe was summed up in these two photos.

We looked for the light and we rested. We READ. WE ALL READ.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

I thought it was good to show a few snippets from the house this summer.

I put together this little vignette to work on my design skills…but also to remember how we played ping pong on our dining room table and how the cats always find the light spots in the house.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

Oh yeah…and CATS.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

The last trip I took this summer was to New York for my grandmother’s funeral.

Another photo (hello, selfie!) to mark the passing of time…but also one that reflects how I was feeling in that moment…traveling alone and over thinking.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

We did a lot of traveling in cars & trains during that trip.

I got to see my brother in the wild. HAHA. But really, I got to experience my brother’s life out in New York which differs greatly from mine.  We live different lives but are still so connected.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

Sibling notebooks, doodles while my brother was on a conference call, walking to the train with my sister-in-law & eating awesome pizza.

That’s what these photos will remind me of.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

That moment in Grand Central Station I’ll never forget…and the feeling of being in the back of a cab in traffic in NYC in the summer.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

For my grandmother.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

Another big moment this summer- Going to the Red Sox vs. A’s game with Casey & Cooper.

Casey caught a foul ball. We were on TV and Cooper ended up on the Red Sox Twitter feed.

It was a fun night. It was probably one of Casey’s favorite days all year.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

And then I tried to figure out a few images that represent my mind’s landscape at the end of the summer.

I left this period of time feeling more rested, I found deeper relationship with my niece, I embraced my love for sunflowers because they embody the SUN. I felt the sun so intensely at the cemetery when we were burying my grandmother’s ashes. It’s a feeling I don’t want to forget.

I’ll remember my early morning trip to the Alameda flea market and how I never understood this until now:

When you know what you want, what you need finds you.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

The last page is meant to set my intention for the next season.

What I learned:

I am strong and I want to be stronger. 

I thought that was a good thought to end on.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

A little bit about the cover…

I took the title from the Beatles song. It was a song that was played at my grandpa’s funeral and it kept coming up on the radio throughout the summer.

Making your own photo book with Blurb! Check out My Everyday Life - Summer 2016 on Shutterbean.com

A little more about the book:

This book Blurb’s trade book (It’s a great size! I wanted something I could throw into my purse). The book was made with standard paper. All of the photos were taken with my phone- iPhone 6s Plus. I edited most of them with Snapseed (on my phone) and did final touches through Adobe Lightroom. I used the super convenient/intuitive Bookwright software to create my book.  I couldn’t be happier with the print quality and the ease of use. I loved using their custom photo/text templates to help inspire new directions in my book making process. Overall, it was a success and I love how this creative practice will inform how/inspire how I shoot in months to come.

I hope this inspires you to do something with all the photos on your phone. This definitely will be the first of MANY photo books I want to create.

This post was produced in partnership with Blurb. As always, all opinions are my own.

 

  • Lindsay

    Such a beautiful and thoughtful album. Great inspiration to pause and take the time to reflect – to capture your minutes, hours, weeks & years so that later you can look back and remember how beautiful and full your life was / is. Thank you for this post.

  • Jean

    Your lovelight shines through the photos and dialogue. Thank you for sharing all of this.

  • Danielle

    Thank you for sharing all this Tracy. Your photo book is beautiful. You have inspired me to make one with all the photos on my phone. Thank you ♥

  • Sara

    This is beautiful! Do you have any recommendations re: where to have individual prints made? I’ve made a couple of books of more formal occasions (trips, wedding, etc.), but would love to have some updated candid photos around my home (just basic 4x6s, 5x7s). Thanks!

  • Maggie

    Wow! <3

  • Kayla

    Love this post. Thanks for sharing your creative process and letting us all have a little glimpse into your life each week. I always look forward to reading your blogs.

  • Ashley

    Thank you for the inspiration! I’ve been meaning to do this for years, and just spent 3 hours putting together my first book and got it ordered! 🙂

    • Tracy

      FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was hoping that would happen!

      • Ashley

        Aaaaaand as I was laying in bed last night, I realized I forgot to add in a trip and Christmas, haha. That’s what I get for being rushed, good thing they’re cheap!

        • Tracy

          oooh! i forgot to mention that I wrote out all the big things that happened this summer in my journal so I would have a reference when I started. When I went through the pictures, I was like OH YEAHHHHHH!!!!

          • Ashley

            So smart! I plan to make one for each year, so will definitely do that for the others. 🙂

  • Catherine McCord

    LOVE this idea. Can’t wait to do it!!

  • Anna

    Oh this is SO very cool. I know what my next project is going to be!

  • Francesca

    This turned out so awesome Tracy! You are inspiring me to get off my butt and actually make some of the photo books I have on my “to do” list!

  • Marla

    It’s so cool how the universe speaks in many ways when someone we love passes. Very nice book

  • Emily

    Ugh this is such a beautiful photo book! I’ve (obviously) been following your everyday photos throughout the summer, but it’s lovely to see them all together like that.

    (Also re: the wrist candy photo — I love those bracelets! if you could share where you got them, I’d appreciate it! I understand if you don’t have time/would rather not, though.)

    Thanks as usual for sharing your life/work, Tracy!

    • Tracy

      the one with the stones is from stitch fix

      the small gold one is from my grandmother

      the one that has the moon on it is from my friends shop — http://www.neveandhawk.com/

      and the other one i have is from a boutique in st. helena

      🙂

      • Emily

        Ahh too bad I can’t do much to replicate it! Beautiful, though — thanks so much!

  • Leah

    This is a beautiful book. Inspired me to download the software, excited to take all those photos from my phone and turn them into something. Thank you for the inspiration. Thank you, as well for sharing the beauty around you, you do it with what seems like such ease, you connect with things that I would pass and never see, you’ve shown me that I need to slow down, open my eyes and enjoy the beauty that is around me. You are a gem.

  • Kristen

    Tracy, Thank you for doing what you do! You inspire endless creativity in the kitchen, and remind me to take a moment to pause and reflect on the beauty in day to day life. Thanks for sharing such special moments with your readers. Reading your blog always brightens my day 🙂

  • Lori

    Tracy- This is both gorgeous and inspiring. I love how thoughtful you were with your photo choices and the layout. Your photos are always, always beautiful and I’m so glad you shared your album!

  • Katja

    What an incredible album. Your photography is so inspiring!!

  • Josephine

    Well, if this isn’t the best kick in the butt to do my own photo books!
    Your photobook is stunning, and I can’t believe that’s the work of only 4 hours! It’s so thoughtfully laid out – I’m sure Cooper will love referring back to it in years to come…
    You’re a very creative, talented lady, Tracy!

  • jess

    stunning, inspiring, thoughtful. and all with the iPhone camera!!? gorgeous!

    • Tracy

      yes! I can’t believe my phone sometimes. I am out of practice shooting with my Canon!

  • Jenna

    Such a beautiful book of memories, and I loved your writing on this post. I have about 1500 photos on my phone – mostly of my toddler, before that it was of my cats – I do regularly go through and delete the “non-keeper” photos because I’m too stubborn to buy more storage for my phone or upgrade & otherwise I keep running out of space.

    Since my daughter was born I’ve made an effort to go through my favourite photos for the year and print some out – for albums and to send with Christmas cards to our far-away relatives.

    P.S. You really shouldn’t be hard on yourself about Cooper not having a bunch of photo albums to look through – you’re doing much better then most of us with your Everyday Life photos – he can just look through your blog when he’s older to see pictures of himself when he was younger. It’s even better, because of the captions, even if you’re not sitting next to him when he looks through the photos, he’ll know what moment the photo represents and/ or what you were thinking about in that moment. I think that’s amazing!

  • Claudia

    What a thoughtful way to recall a beautiful summer. I have been thinking of the line from a song “another season leaving us too soon” as we transition into fall, and I’m inspired by you to look back and celebrate, but also to be excited for what comes next.
    Thanks for sharing!

  • Kris

    It’s a beautiful book, Tracy. Thank you for sharing it with us.

  • Nina Khosla

    I love the idea of this and will definitely be making one soon! My question is: does the small book you ordered lay flat when you put it down? And, do you wish you had upgraded on the paper or do you feel satisfied with the standard?

    • Tracy

      I feel satisfied with the standard! I tested out the papers before I ordered and I found that standard worked best for writing- so if i wanted to color/draw on the book it would do just fine. It doesn’t lay flat. The tradebook has more of a paperback novel feel to it. Their regular photo books lay flat, I believe.

  • Kate

    beautiful POV in your photos and in your outlook on life

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