Archive for the ‘Digital Scrapbooking’ Category

Second Day of the Hayman Fire in Colorado 2002

Talking with a friend of mine this morning, I learned her father lives outside of Boulder, near where the Fourmile Fire burns. Luckily, so far, he’s fine. But looking at the images and videos on The Daily Camera, it instantly brought me back to memories of the Hayman Fire. It was big, angry, and grew quickly. And again, there were people who were told to be out in 15 minutes.

What do you take? The P’s.

• People
• Pets
• Papers (the important ones)
• Prescriptions
• Photos

Someone said they ‘packed a box of memories.’ We all want to hang onto the stories that have weaved themselves into the fabric of who we are now. Stories become precious.

Evacuating in 2002 was hard and incredibly stressful. What do you take after the Ps? Look around you now at literally anything you have. The lamp next on the table – you know it’s story – who it came from or what store you found it in. If purchased, why you chose that one over others. The spoon you use while cooking. The place you put your change and miscellaneous items.The dress still in the very back of your closet that you felt beautiful in, but that now would never even begin to fit. Our things store our memories. They become memory jogs.

By recording the stories of all these things, I find I can let them go if I had to (or just need to make room in our tiny house). That wasn’t the case in 2002, before I found digital scrapbooking. I wanted to hang onto so many things then.

In looking through the layouts I’ve done, most are the stories about moments. One project I want to take on at some point this winter (assuming life will slow a tiny bit) is to tell the story of the things. Get good photos of the things. Their stories matter. They tell who we were, what shaped us into who we are now. They are connections to people and times past. By scrapping these stories and tucking them safely away in a 3-ring binder makes it easier to let the actual item go if needed. And letting go allows room for more stories to come in.

So while my heart aches for those who lost their homes in this current fire, it also again reminds me that things are really just things. Things burned in the fire (or broken or damaged during evacuation) consumes the thing and leaves the essential, most important part: The Story.

Click to see more Yellowstone Scrapbook Pages

Since I’m often found for Scrapbooking Yellowstone, I’ve pulled together my layouts in a gallery at my Photoshelter account and embedded a slideshow here. I’ll be organizing and working to include credit for kits, templates and such over the next few days, but most come from DSP.  Hope you find some inspiration in there! If you have photos you would like help pinpointing a location or identifying a thermal feature or animal or whatever,  I’m happy to take a stab at it – either post in the comments or email me.

And if you’ve got layouts of Yellowstone, I’d love to see those! Post links in the comments so I can take a peek and find inspiration as well.

While in The Illustrated Journal class taught by Susan Zwinger, she mentioned doing postcard poetry – finding something that captures your heart each day and writing a few sentences about it and perhaps add in a sketch. Being a photographer and scrapbooker, I took this basic idea and saw the potential in it for me. I love the concept and have continued to create a few more ‘postcards’ to add to the album. A few simply document this trip, but others fall more into the poetry/prose category.  Just another way to document. These will be printed as 4×6 photos and the panoramics as 4x9s – some of the same sizes I do offer as actual postcards.

There are so many things I picked up from the class I took at the Yellowstone Association. I’m still working to organize all of my thoughts on it, but I’ve started on a few quick layouts (in random order for now) to include in the Yellowstone 2010 album I’m working on. They’ll be ordered as 4×6 prints and added in somehow.

This first one was a bit blurry, so I altered it until it made me smile.

The mix of people in this class was perfect. Lots of backgrounds, lots chatting and sharing and lots of giggles and laughter.

Used to getting up early, I was out wandering around with the camera. Sorry about the watermark covering the lone bison – it’s the dot in the top of the n.

By the third day…

More to come…

I cannot believe what designer Kim Liddiard has done for me today. She asked if I would mind doing a test run on a new product of hers. It’s life changing – well, life saving – TIME SAVING. And that, especially in summer is life changing.

Summer is always jammed with busy-ness. My life is no different than anyone else’s – so much to do, so much more I want to get done – and gorgeous days beckoning me to step outside, just for a bit. I always want to keep up with basic documentation of life – the stuff to create layouts with. But how do I get the pages that reside in my mind and in my notes actually DONE?

I did THREE pages today – between laundry, and cooking ahead for an upcoming trip I’m taking, and processing photos for those who are waiting for them, and working to make sure the 365 blog can continue while I’m on this upcoming trip.

If you’re a photographer looking for a simple way to present photos to clients – or create storyboards or albums quickly…

If you use Photoshop – if you want to try digital scrapbooking, but even the layered template/quick clicks seem too much to learn or just do…

THIS. IS. THE. ANSWER.

REALLY.

The secret: Actions

Yep, actions – lovely one click actions – to get the basic page done in literally a minute! I had the idea in my mind for this first layout, but had put off creating it – and while Kim has these as square layouts, I created it as she designed, flattened and then dropped it onto an 8.5×11 layout. Added in journaling and a bit of extras to tie things together and voila:

IDEAS TO FINISHED LAYOUTS (and posting this) in LESS THAN AN HOUR for all of it!

Click on them to see them larger.

Action Used: It’s a Snap 9 Square 12×12

(for the 9 square, I cropped and sized the photo and uploaded it all 9 times)

You can find them now in the DSP Store! AND – Kim has a freebie for you to try on her blog!

Action Used: It’s a Snap 4 Gifted

1.

Love to write? Want to write? Are you a scrapbooker wanting to journal more?

I have to say once again that THIS SOFTWARE ROCKS! The more I use it, the more I rely on it and adore it. And the customer service is wonderful!

I’ve received a few emails asking me what software I use for my writing, so I decided I’d just ask for a small graphic I could put up. I use this software to track oodles of things I write about, research and just things I want to remember.

He offers a 45 day free trial of it if you want to see if it will work for you. I downloaded a whole heap of writing software trials awhile back, and I’ve tried Word and Open Office as well. This software, though, by far works the best for me for organizing the constant stream of ideas and thoughts that ping around in my head.

Disclaimer: I’m just a customer, and receive nothing special for posting this.

2.

The other graphic over there is for the next scrapbooking class I’m taking in September – which goes right along with the software. I’m reading the book the class grew out of: Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Rosenthal. I’m up to E. And already I’m filling in the pre-class work and writing up a storm in The Journal.  All I can say is that it’s transforming the way I think about scrapbooking – letting go of pre-conceived notions I didn’t realize I still held onto and sliding into what I think will become a good match for my life and the way the thoughts zing through my head.

Disclaimer: I won a free spot in the class from Cathy, but I’m not obligated to do a thing to promote it.

Our pace on this trip has been a bit slower – in part due to rain and cold weather and in part due to just deciding to relax and not push much at all.  So, the number of photos taken is considerably down from last year, but the processing of photos is up.  I also made the decision to hold off and register all of my photos as unpublished rather than doing two sets of registration.  This is ASMP’s best practice suggestion and really, they are right.  It keeps everything cleaner.  This means I need to wait to share a lot of the photos I’ve taken, but it should help in the long run.  So, I thank you for your patience with this.

However, I have registered all the photos taken and worth keeping for one reason or another from last month, so can share a layout I did and belatedly post The Story Behind the Click(s) in this layout.

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The Story Behind the Clicks

There was a brisk wind blowing in off the lake when I was driving back from West Thumb Geyser Basin.  I had gone into Yellowstone, and specifically, to West Thumb becasue the weather forecast said this was the best day of the week, even though snow showers were likely.  And they were.  I was tired from walking around a few times, making sure I had captured all the pools I follow and track changes on, and from the long drive I had taken just a couple days prior from home to Cody.  My plan was to simply drive back – only stopping if I saw a grizzly.  But as I drove along the shore of the lake, the ice starting to break, I was enchanted by the piles of ice that had washed up on shore.  Then the sun came out and shone on Mt. Sheridan in the distance – OK, I knew I could process the difference to make for the photos I saw in my mind.  So, I started to look for a good batch to photograph, and soon found them at Pumice Point. 

An oriental couple had pulled off  before me and were busy taking photos of each other shivering at the end of the parking lot with the ice covered lake behind them.  I bundled up and headed down the shore to the ice I saw before the pullout and started to work the scene.  I knew photos were in there, but the only way I really find them is to keep shooting, keep looking, keep walking up and down until I saw the scene that I knew would work.  I could have stayed another half hour easily, but my fingers had started to stiffen and my fairly fresh camera battery had already lost a bar.  It was time to keep moving. 

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Upon processing, I realized the things that had captured me.  Many photographers talk about deliberately paying attention to the rules of composition and deliberately breaking them.  I’ve tried that, but then my photos don’t capture what I ‘see’ in a scene.  So, I keep adjusting until I see something in the view finder that just ‘looks right’ or catches my breath.  Later I can analyze why it works or why I missed it. Overall, though, I had plenty of photos to work with for this double page layout.

And one thrown in from Steamboat Point which I may swap out with a Pumice Point one for consistency. The journaling went from a long explanation to a few simple sentences – condensing it to the essence of all the writing, but I see now I didn’t change the photo out…

CREDITS:

• Suzanne Walker’s BeYOUtiful Page Kit & BeYOUtiful 2 Page Kit
• Cathy Zielske’s Layered Page Template – part of her Design Your Life class

Yes, a layout today, and a bit of a twist on The Story Behind the Click.  All of us have these types of photos – ones that bring you straight back to that place and time.  You see not only the photo, but all the surroundings and you can almost hear the conversations that went on.  This is the journaling that should go with your photos no matter how you record your life – no matter what your end purpose of the photos.

Grab a photo today and write your story behind a click.

……………………………

The big slide in Cody, Wyoming. Not long ago, it was deemed a huge eyesore by someone advising the town and down it came – and it was time for it to go. But in this photo it was the new big attraction in Cody. That’s me in front (gangly and all) and my sister behind. The photo was taken by Ruthie, my grandfather’s cousin. We were her only family and she loved photography.  In fact she (being a teacher) was the first one to help me learn how to compose my shots better and the first one to say to me, “get closer and fill the frame.” During this time in the 1970′s she hoped to break into stock photography as a bit of extra retirement income and this was one of her photo shoots. She got permission from our parents and treated us to quite a few times down the slide.

After climbing the stairs for the umpteenth time, legs aching, we’d wait until she was ready (she did handle those harsh bright light/shadow contrasts well), and called out to us to slide down. On this one, she requested that we hold up our arms. I’m not the ‘arms up and smile while you’re terrified’ type on rides, but screwed up the courage and did it simply because I knew it would make for a better photo for her. Of course my trepidation made my solid and rarely ruffled sister just roll her eyes.  Of course, she got the coordination gene that I didn’t.

I now have Ruthie’s slide collection and while some of it has been scanned in, I need to scan more. I cherish so many of the photos she took – she stayed with us for part of each summer, and often at Christmas.  Her photos are a unique snapshot of that time in our family’s life.  I can see now how she, too, struggled with the creative effort every photographer (or artist of any medium) faces. I think she had a few minor successes at stock, but nothing in her records indicate she was ever accepted at an agency.  But she was a success.  Her success, though, wasn’t fame or fortune – it was simply doing what she loved and connecting with those in her life.  I can still hear her laughter.

As I work at building my own stock collection, Ruthie often crosses my mind.  At times it feels as though she’s standing next to me just on the other side of the veil, supporting and encouraging me as always.  When I take what feel like enormous steps, I screw up the courage to do the “arms up and smile” thing even if I’m terrified as I take that step.  And I keep in mind that success can be defined in many ways.  Doing what you love and connecting with others in your life – making memories – definitely counts as tremendously successful.

Happy Friday!

When I was a kid, I loved listening to the grownups talk.  I’d sit and listen and suddenly find the conversation had taken so many twists and turns and then I’d wonder how they got to the new point in their conversation when the original topic was vastly different. I’d then go back through the conversation in my mind and make those connections. Once I had gone all the way back to the original topic, I’d tune back into their conversation and start the process all over again.  Tracking backward along the rabbit trails the conversation took fascinated me – and seeing how people make connections now still fascinates me.  We all think so very differently and Communication and Inspiration skip hand in hand – inviting us along – down one rabbit trail after another.

I think that’s one reason I really enjoy listening to the Paperclipping Round Table podcast.  Lots of rabbit trails, inspiration and thought provoking topics (at least for scrapbookers – of any type). This week during their discussion on Chronological Scrapbooking, I realized my concept of that focused on the organization.  Never in my wildest dreams did I think that ANYONE actually scrapped the pages in order!  You know, start Jan 1 of a year and crunch your way through your photos, creating layout after layout in order until Dec 31.  And someone on there (Stacey J?) did it for NINE YEARS.  Wow.  No way could I even start to think that way, let alone scrap that way.

That and other discussions got me thinking about how I’ve wrestled with recording and scrapbooking life.  How do you live your life and record it as well?  My answer is to have many approaches.  In a way, like my photos, I have to first collect raw data – my written and physical (ephemera) RAW files in a way.

I write a lot – always scribbling down something either with a pencil (.05mm lead, thank you) or typing a note into my computer journal (using David RM’s The Journal software).   And of course, I write here on my blog. These three spots work for me.

Well – there is a fourth spot – I take photos as a visual journal. On an email list I’m on someone mentioned how sad to watch life through the viewfinder. Yet I see it differently. Much of the time I focus better looking through the viewfinder – focusing what I take in – cutting out the extra. That click of releasing the shutter cements the scene and moment in my mind. Clicker training works incredibly well with animals because clicks register deep in the brain.  Maybe that’s what photography does for me – that click tells my brain to remember the moment and set it apart from other moments.  It works well for me.

From that raw data – photo and words – I scrap.  I create.  Pulling a past moment together becomes easier with my notes and photos.  I can almost time travel right back to that moment.

Yet I crave the linear framework that time creates – and I definitely prefer to organize chronologically. My layouts have a chronological home to go to when finished.  In the six years I’ve scrapbooked, I find I don’t mind my first layouts next to a current one next to a printout of blog posts.  In fact, I’ve disassembled all of my old albums to get everything together in a neat set.

Maybe scrapbooking is really just a collection of rabbit trails of thoughts and events along our journey through this life.

A mini-book disassembled to include in my regular scrapbook album

Pages from an 8x8 Album now in my Childhood Album that's divided by Decades

Basically the past decade's album is divided by Years

I like this vacation album too much to disassemble, but will reprint layouts for the yearly albums.

CREDITS:

• Page Kit – Artifacts Large Value Collection by Elizabeth Weaver
• Layered Page Template – by Cathy Zielski (from her Design Your Life class)
• Photos – © SnowMoon, LLC
• Font – Century Gothic

Yesterday I started to pull together a list of kits I’ll be bringing with me on my smaller external hard drive on vacation.  Then I decided to see just how quickly I could pull together a layout using this idea. It would have come together in about 20-25 minutes except I hadn’t yet pulled together my photos. Now I know the work flow I’ll need.

• Pick Photos
• Choose Template
• Choose Kit
• Assemble Page
• Journal

And I probably should just keep this tip in mind all the time. Choosing photos often slows me down, so making it my first step will get me over that hurdle. I also used a trial version of PSCS5 which I noticed in saving has the default of “public domain” in the file info. I put the credits in the description field to keep track of what I used. I don’t like that default and will have to see if there’s a place to change that. If you know how to fix that, please leave a comment – I’d be ever so grateful!

All of this planning ahead for how I want to scrap makes this feel manageable. Of course, looking ahead a bit helps with most everything in life, though, doesn’t it?