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2/19/14

My Process for Scrapping Travel Photos

As I've mentioned many times, I have a policy that each event, trip, etc. we take gets exactly ONE layout and no more. While it may seem like this would make it easy to scrap vacation photos quickly, exactly the opposite occurs. When I come home from a trip with 1000+ photos, it is really, really, really hard for me to commit to which dozen or so that I will scrap. By the time I finally decide, a long time has passed.  

It all starts out well. When I get home from a trip, the first thing I do is dump the photos from my camera to my computer. (Literally, the FIRST thing. I really like seeing my vacation pictures.) Within the week, I get pictures from Steve and/or the other family members who traveled with us. I go through them all and upload all the decent photos to our personal gallery and add captions. That part is easy. Time consuming, but easy.  

The hard part comes when I have to decide which ones to print. I can quickly and easily prune the 1000+ pictures down to 200 or so that are good and have some relevance to the story(ies) that I want to tell. Over the next few weeks, I go back to the photos a couple of times and make further cuts. And then I stall out. When I get down to 50-60 good pictures, I struggle to narrow them down so I stop trying. Weeks (or months) pass. Eventually, enough time has passed that it becomes easy to pick which photos to print.  

Next, I take some time to think about the layout of my page and make the decision whether to print each photo as a 4x6, 3x4, or 2x3. Then I make the appropriate collages. I don't enjoy this step, so I usually stall out here for awhile too. Weeks (or months) pass. Eventually, I get it done and order the pictures.

Once I have the prints in hand, it usually takes me a few weeks to scrap them. When there is only ONE layout for a major trip, there's a lot of pressure to make that one layout a good one. I agonize over every detail. Eventually, it all comes together and I'm ready to scan it and share it here.     

All of that helps explain why, in February 2014, I am sharing the one and only layout from our November 2012 trip to Oahu.   


I have to say, the wait was worth it. I'm really happy with this layout and how well it represents everything we did and saw during our vacation.

5 comments:

  1. Well at least you scrap them!
    I just place all mine in a themed album bought from the place we went.
    I may randomly scrap a few pictures here and there as I find the urge to do so, but for the most part, the pictures just go into an album!
    Great job on the layout! I really like how you were able to fit in so many pictures, journaling, and still make it some pretty!

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  2. I am loving your process and I am LOVING your lo!! LOVING the photos!!!!

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  3. It's interesting that you only allow ONE layout per trip in your album...but you sure make the best of it!

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  4. I absolutely LOVE hearing about your processes!!! What a GORGEOUS layout, too! Those colors together just blow me away. If we have a big trip, I do an entire album for it, otherwise I usually do a layout, maybe two for a trip. My last big album was our Las Vegas trip for my 40th Birthday. It took me a few months before I was done, and it stressed me out a few times. I wanted it to be so good, include all the memories, stories, laughs, etc., and I got overwhelmed. My solution was to break it down into smaller bits, then work on one thing at a time until I was done. And, I love that album. I was looking through my blog posts about it last week, hoping we'd get to go back soon. :)

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  5. I'm on the 10+ year plan so I think you have a great system!! LOL Love that Hawaii layout!! So pretty!! :)

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