When Henry was born, I did what any new parent does – I took thousands of photographs. I wanted to capture every detail, every marvellous curve and feature of this miraculous little being that Matt and I had created. I was enthralled by him, mesmerised by his miniature perfection. We live in a world where it is easier than ever to capture the moment. My iPhone captures sweet spontaneous moments, whilst my DSLR creates beautiful keepsake photographs. Before I knew it, I had thousands pupon thousands of photographs of the most precious person in my life. But I wanted these memories and moments to become tangible, not locked in a digital world where they would likely be lost along the way in a myriad of files.
Meanwhile, I was keeping notes of the little things Henry did – the quirky moments that filled the blurry haze of his newborn days, the little yet monumental developmental leaps we noticed each day, each one so precious, so new. A week by week journal of our son. It’s funny how quickly you forget things, and I love looking back to see what life a few months ago was like. I wanted to somehow combine the two – the photos with the journalling, for a complete snapshot of Henry’s first year.
I looked at photo albums and found nothing suitable for what I wanted. Baby books were too structured and restrictive and didn’t allow enough room for photographs. A plain scrapbook was too open and overwhelming. And then somehow, I stumbled upon Project Life, and I knew instantly that I had found the perfect solution. A beautiful and simplistic memory keeping system that allows you to document life – all of life – the ordinary moments as well as the special ones. It combines photographs with journalling in an appealing and compatible way.
What I love about Project Life is that it’s not about choosing photos that are perfect. Nor is it about only remembering the special occasions or exciting days out. It’s about capturing and documenting the ordinary moments that epitomise everyday life and paint a realistic picture of family life. The grainy selfie taken with an iPhone in the early hours of the morning when Henry and I are enjoying a precious cuddle, the blurry movement of his wobbly first steps, the snapshot of a messy face as he indulges in too many blueberries.
My discovery of Project Life came when Henry was around 6 months old – I had a lot of catching up to do. The task of sorting through no less than 10,000 photographs of Henry, all jumbled together, was daunting. But I knew it needed to be done in order to complete his album, and once broken down, it was a simple, albeit time-consuming, task. I was beyond excited when it came to printing my selection of photographs, at last I had reached the fun part! I love the aesthetics of matte photographs, so I chose to print with Photobox. The upload system proved quick and easy, and my prints (all 500 or so) arrived within a few days, boxed and ready to go.
The beauty of Project Life lies in its simplicity. Just slip your photos into the pockets and journal about the memories. The process can be as creative or elaborate as you want it to be. Personally, I could see myself getting overwhelmed if I focused too much on it looking perfect – with embellishments and fancy typeface on edited photographs. I knew if I took that road, I would never complete it. So instead, I simply print photos, as they are, pop them into the pockets and write a few notes on what has happened each month. The little anecdotes that I know we’ll want to remember in years to come. With this method, I’ve easily been able to keep up to date with the album, setting aside a few days each month where I sort through the latest photographs and collate the notes I’ve made. I love that I can include photos of varying sizes, and that I can include both portrait and landscape photographs.
I have poured so many hours and so much love into this album. It is a poignant collection of memories and photographs, showing Henry growing, changing, learning, living and loving. It is filled with photos that portray the special relationships he has with us, and with our family. It is so precious.
Now that Henry’s first year album is completed, I’ve started on our family album. Henry is still the star of the show as I can’t seem to take enough photos of his sweet little face, but it also includes family days out, photos of Matt and I, and our day to day lives. This year’s album will also be pretty important as it will capture our big move to the USA! I hope to create an album each year. A glorious keepsake for future generations.
this is such a lovely photo album! the project life system is absolutely perfect for this kind of thing. i really must do one for my daughter as i'd hate to lose all the photos i've got on my computer xx
This is such a beautiful idea. I hope to do this when I have children in the future.
Beauty and Lifestyle Blog
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This is so gorgeous. I've started a Project Life for 2014 & 2015, it's such a fun way to document your life. When I have my own family, I will be doing this as well. He's grown up into such a cute little man. Gorgeous album! xx
This is such a beautiful alternative to the regular baby photo album, so sweet x
Abbie|Thoughtsandthunder
Your album is beautiful! Loving reading your blog posts and so excited for your move to America.
I find your positivity and zest for adventure after what you have been through very inspiring xx
This is such a lovely idea and you have some amazing pictures, so lovely for you to look back on and show Henry in the future xx
Kat from Blushing Rose
This is gorgeous! Love it 🙂
Oh my gosh I love this, I wish I had done something like this for vinnys first year!
Liza | Glambeautys | YouTube
I love this so much, I really want to start project life this year as I hate how the thousands of photos that I take are all stored digitally, like you said, they could easily get lost among a lot of files. I love how organised but fun it all looks too and how you can decide exactly how creative you'd like to be. It's so special having something like this to document a child's life and I will certainly be doing it in the future x
What Rachael Wrote
Beautiful – I really need to do something like this (and I'm a photographer, I have no excuse) but it's just finding the time to do it!
Project Life is probably my favourite way to journal, and I think your baby is really going to appreciate the effort you put into that journal when he is older… he is super cute! Love Bella xox
My Blog, Little Isabelle
Oh, wow – this looks amazing! My brother and his girlfriend recently had a little boy and she absolutely loves ideas like this. I can't wait to tell her about it 🙂 I'm so glad you wrote this post. And Henry looks like such a little cutie!
Dannielle xx
Such an amazing post, and a great idea!
http://itslolll.blogspot.co.uk
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I turned to Project Life for the exact same reason as you, a photo album didn't seem enough to capture the memories and a scrapbook seemed too scary. Your pages are beautiful xx
OMG! this is amazing! I hope they deliver to Canada!
This is beautiful! I've been wanting to do one of these albums for a while now for Aria, and you've totally given me the push I needed to get motivated! I know they are a little pricey, but so worth it for such a beautiful keepsake.
Nicola x
http://www.lovelittlepoppins.co.uk
What a beautiful album and keepsake for you all! I love Project Life and am going to post some of my layouts on my blog soon too 🙂 xxx