I photographed Liz & Austin’s wedding in Maryland last fall.  A few weeks later, Liz told me they were interested in having me design a wedding album.  We went over all the different types, and Liz choose my fine art book.  It’s a hard cover book with a full photo wrap.  The pages are thick but still paper, not mounted board, and the printing is top of the line inkjet, creating beautiful rich colors.  These books are great when you want lots of photos.  Liz & Austin’s book (I use album & book interchangeably) was almost 50 pages and truly tells the story of their wedding day.

Some photos of the book are below.  I will followup with a post of several of the photo spreads inside.

The cover is custom designed for each of these albums, using your wedding photos. Below, you can see how flat the pages lay, giving you a very large spread. This book is 9×12, so one spread can be filled with an 18×12 photo (or several smaller ones).

In the next photo is an example of seam in the middle binding.  If you look at the middle of the photo, you see a tiny line where the book folds.

You can see how substantial this book is. There is something special to me about a heavy wedding album. I just want it to have that certain feel.

The bottom album is a 10×10 black leather flushmount with custom imprinting. Lots of clients were asking to have a photo on the front and have more options, so after lots of research I choose this new book, with three metal cameos on the cover.

On top, this leather is the most luxurious I have ever touched. It is off-white and so soft. This is a 5×5 mini album, typically used as a duplicate wedding album or for portrait clients. On the front you see a metal cameo. The photo is directly printed on the metal. Inside the pages are thick, like the flushmount but it is actually inkjet printed.

Of course, all the options can be mixed up to choose the exact perfect book for you. The off white leather can be on a large 12×12 flushmount, or a fabric cover can be on the mini book. Metal cameos of any sizes can be added anywhere too!

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I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that I love books, how old ones feel with yellowing pages, and the smell of a used book store. Wedding albums should have a feel too, and this one does. It is substantial. When I picked it up for the first time I was surprised by it’s weight. It’s 44 page sides, where most of my albums are 30. This book makes me want to design them all as 40 to 50! It really tells the story of Tiff & Adam’s day.

Inside the pages are designed as full spreads.  This means when you open your album, the page lays flat with just a tiny seam in the middle, and the design goes all the way from left to right.  This book is 12×12, so each design is 24 inches wide by 12 inches high.

The leather is super luxurious, and there is something about the black. My sample album is dark brown, and I must admit I strongly prefer the black seeing them side by side. These albums come in funky black and white patterned slip cover cases. They are thick weave and I just think kind of neat.

I think a lot about the idea of a heirloom. Brides invest into their wedding photography because it is a day to remember forever, and the photos are to be passed down to children for generations.

Which leads me to the thought of tradition. Flushmounts and coffee table books are modern, which is great for some brides, but I’ve realized that personally I’d want something classic with a little touch of modern. (And one day I will get around to making my own wedding album!)

When I first started designing wedding albums,

I thought of matted albums as something dated. I recently started researching what today’s manufacturers sell, and there are some amazing matted albums that can be as classic as you want, or have lots of modern touches. I’ve narrowed my search down to three album companies, and can’t wait to decide so I can get a sample created.

Cypress Albums
These are beautiful, hand-crafted fine art albums. The covers are made of Japanese bookbinding fabrics. I have an adorable little box filled with the cover materials and ribbons. They are luxurious. Cypress makes boxes that I currently use for printed proofs. They make folios and dvd cases too, all out of the same fabrics. The books come either bound with ribbon or library style, and have real photos mounted in high end papers.

Photo Courtesy of Cypress Albums

Leather Craftsmen
Their 8500 series of albums won Professional Photographers Hot One award for this album. It’s minimalism is what draws me to the style. Where Cypress is a beautiful book that is a work of art in itself, the 8500 is about the photos that are in it. It’s a hard cover, board mounted prints, and can be designed with many options. As with all the options I’m considering you can add in panoramic pages printed edge to edge.

Albums Australia
I do not know a lot of United States photographers that use this Australian manufacturer, but the ones who do rave about them. Their Matrix album is the one I am considering. It is a very traditional matted album known to have impeccable quality. I am still researching the details on these.

I’ll weigh the business side of this decision of course (numbers and other aspects that I prefer not to think about but have to), but your thoughts (photographers, friends and brides) are always welcome too.

As a photographer, books are an important aspect to what I do.  I can not stand that I am a year behind on my personal photo album.  I want to feel my photos and have them in a book, not just on my computer.  I am usually adamant about having true photographs in your book, and not inkjet printing.  This new fine art book has finally shown me that an inkjet print, can be beautiful too.

This new book is coffee table style, with lay-flat pages.  There are a plentiful selection of cover options.  The one I just designed is green sea silk.  The pages are made of an indulgent textured felt paper.  The printing is beyond my expectations, and rich.  With the paper, it is completely different looking than a traditional photograph, but still retains true color.  The books come in sizes from 3×3 to 10×10.

These fine art books would make a great addition to any portrait collection, and brides could use them for a little pocket version of their large wedding album, or to give to their bridal party.

Are your products a green product?
Yes. Everything we make is a renewable source and is all natural.

Just announced today, is their new album, available to professional photographers. By 8am this morning I had setup my new professional account with them and fired off an email with lots of questions. As soon as I create a new wedding album design, I will be ordering a sample. I am so excited!

This photo is courtesy of Loktah’s website.

It comes in a variety of colors, all super soft leather. This one is smoldering brown. It’s pages are thick. It’s 12×12 leaving plenty of room for really big photos, or designs with lots of images. I designed this sample album using Kayla & Skyler’s wedding photos in Salem, Oregon.

And then there are Little Kisses… You can get 4×4 duplicates of these books that are fun to toss in your purse or give to your bridal party. They come with the same covers, thick pages, and photographic prints. Linen versions have just come out too. I need to get my hands on one of these.

If you read my blog often, you probably realize I get excited about albums. I photograph plenty of weddings where the bride and groom receive a high resolution dvd as their end product, without a book, but I just love when the couple wants a wedding album. Designing the pages and having something tangible to hold onto just makes me feel like the wedding photography is truly complete.

I almost forgot. They come in these fun pretty flowered linen bags!

I just thought after yesterday’s post a few wedding album layouts seemed like a good follow-up.

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