The England Album

I love taking pictures (probably inherited this love from my dad, who did some professional work, once upon a time, long, long ago). In England, I kept my camera busy. It's not a great camera - a point and shoot Olympus FE110 that I got for Christmas in 2005, but it does well enough for what I want - and besides, I think that good pictures have more to do with the person taking the picture than the performance of the camera - I've seen people with incredibly expensive, high-tech cameras take plenty of crappy pictures because they don't know how to use it. I also don't use Photoshop - I edit pictures primarily with Photo Manager and maybe some fun things with the free options on Picnic. Most of what I do involves shifting midtones and enhancing the contrast. Some programs seem to require a four-year degree, so I stick with what is simple and subtle improvements.

I printed the best pictures to put in a scrapbook. This is also another area that I didn't want to spend a ton of money on, and I also didn't want to work too hard. And, above all, I didn't want a cutesy scrapbook. I abhor cutesy. This turned out to be a fairly simple process, with a few basic items. I found a beautiful metallic brown 12x12 album with an embossed design on the front, and I used black paper. I framed pics using a white marker, and journaled on note-paper that I tore the edges off. Alphabet stickers, pre-cut cards for captions, and a few sheets of printed paper rounded out the materials.

I included post-cards, tickets, and brochures from the trip. I am pleased with the overall look. I have found that one side-effect of scrapbooking is the re-kindling of desire. I am already looking forward to going to England again. Maybe in a few more years...