The Magic of a Photo Book

By Marjolein Dartnall

As a parent, I’ve watched my children flock to the old photo albums. Photos are like printed memories, and the photo albums have never been off limits in our family. They love looking through the photos albums rediscovering their memories. The photos are all (film) prints of course. Cost me a small fortune – clicking away – and having the film developed.

Now with my new digital camera I hardly know myself. It is much easier to snap digital photos – as it doesn’t cost a thing! Just quietly – I even think I have become a better photographer. Being able to preview your snap shot on the go is so helpful. I’ve collected thousands of digital photos so far. Printed a few on normal paper – but the magic of the ‘film print’ photo can’t be beat.

Meanwhile my digital photos are sitting on my hard drive and I have been trialling different ideas to easily have the digital photos available for my family to enjoy. Until someone introduced me to the “Photo Book”. Tah-dah… Oh wow! So easy and so available! The quality was superb – like an expensive home and garden magazine with a hard cover. Each page of the photo book I could design myself with interesting backgrounds and added text.

We were all looking forward to receiving our first photo book – ordered online. Wouldn’t you know it… Disaster! As I brought out the new photo book to show off to the kids - they were all so excited and one of the kids spilled their drink on our new photo book! You know what it is like, too many little hands, all trying to see different pages at the same time. Having a drink spilled on a standard photo album would have been a disaster. The old prints would have been ruined. Getting reprints made can be difficult – as the negatives are not always found easily. If you are anything like me, the photo packet gets stored in a drawer with many others, and the really old ones are sitting in a box in the garage. But since the digital photos were online I was able order a new photo book and it was delivered a few weeks later at my door. So easy!

There is a lot to be said for keeping your precious memories online with a trustworthy photo website. You never know what kind of mishap is waiting for you around the corner. In fact, I did not just re-order one photo book; I re-order two photo books at a discount. My mother was so impressed, she wanted a photo book for herself.