I have a shelf that runs the entire length of a closet filled with photo albums. I have another shelf in my closet filled with scrapbooks I have made between the film and digital takeover. I also have 2 photo boxes filled with old prints from Jr. high and high school. I am literally running out of room for printed photos. Around 2008 was when I really dove into digital and stopped using film. In 2009 I created the first yearbook for our family memories after a tip from my best friend and fellow photographer, Brigitte. I have made one every year since then. I created stand alone books for my vacation in California (2), Dominican Republic and I am currently waiting to receive 2 for Costa Rica. The company I had been using was My Publisher. The software was a pain and it took forever to make but the quality was outstanding. I would have to wait for specials because they were so expensive, even with the discounts. In 2017 they were bought by Shutterfly and no longer were going to be supported. It has taken me close to 2 years to find another company that would provide a similar product at a price that wouldn't break the bank. Shutterfly does books but I have found that their quality is to be frank, crappy. The color is always off. The books aren't as nice and the enlargements are awful. I swear by MPIX or My Photopipe (local) for prints and enlargements. When I am in a pinch I have found Costco to be a quick alternative if I can't wait for shipping. I happened to be in dire straits for an exhibition deadline recently and found myself at the Costco photo counter. They had a display of a photo book. It was very similar to what I had before. I decided to give them a try, and though some of the color was off, especially on the black and whites, it still beat any other books I had sampled and the price couldn't be beat. After starting and stopping 4 books to get the hang of the software I finally have a new yearbook for 2017.

I really like having a photo for the cover. The first 2 books I made were linen. I wanted to show off a few of the pages from the Costco book.

I love being able to go back and relive the highlights from each year. The hardest part is narrowing down the images to 100 pages.

These books take up significantly less space than traditional photo albums. I wish I had printed on the spine for each year. I just store them in chronological order under the night stand to keep my OCD in check.

Here is a look at my very first one, 2009.

Looking back through these brings all the feels. We have lost significant family, friends and pets in the last few years. These books have become my most precious commodity.

I am not being paid by Costco to post about this. I just like to share when I find a great product or idea. I hope my kids love these as much as I do when we are gone and they can look back and remember how much love we have for each other.