For the past few days I’ve been at the computer, using Shutterfly to create a 12 x 12-inch coffee table photo book. This is a v special project. I have wanted to do this for 35 years. I have made several homemade photo books with pictures of the family over the years, but, while those look fairly good, they certainly are not professional.
The name of my book is my wife’s name and mine. The subtitle is “Our Families.” In this project I get to choose from among the 7,000-plus photos I have scanned into the computer. This also is where I get to choose the format of the pages, i.e., how many photos/page, where to place them, and what I will write as explanatory or informative material.
The creativity involved is nearly overwhelming. Here are some of the things I do:
• Choose from a large variety of photo placement templates, and/or customize my own placements.
• Choose from a variety of fonts and sizes for the written expositions
• Choose from a variety of backgrounds
Arrange and re-arrange the photos on a page, and the pages of photos themselves. One of the biggest challenges for me is to be consistent in arranging the chronology of pictured events. Unlike a traditional genealogy Descendants Chart, in which the older generations appear at the top and the younger generations follow downward, I have decided to do the opposite. I am first presenting the “now” generation and, subsequently, moving to the parents, the grandparents and the great-grandparents. I have decided to do this because I enjoy emphasizing how we, who are living now, are linked to each generation. Also, I believe the readers might be more involved by first seeing their peers, and then seeing how they lead to their ancestors.
Following the presentations of my wife’s family, and that of my family, I will show the family charts, and selected documents so that the readers will be able to glean the big picture. I am happy that I chose a big coffee able book. Why? Because it will be harder to ignore. I picture a great-grandchild years from now saying, “Mom, what’s that big book sticking out from the shelf?”
Mr. Ebsen may be contacted at robertebsen@hotmail.com.