By Macklin Joy
Traditionally used to preserve, store and display your favourite themed and random snaps, photo albums often also make treasured and cherished keepsakes.
Unless your photography skills rival that of a professional photographer, not all of the images that you have captured in the past are worthy of displaying in the pages of elegant and stylish, luxury photo books.
Many people store their old photos in boxes that are seldom opened and explored. If your extensive collection includes memorable and valuable old photos, it’s a shame to stash them completely out of sight. With a little care and attention to detail, you can safely organise and store your prized old photos so that they can be viewed and enjoyed by the whole family, as well as future generations of your clan.
Favourite Photographs Of The Past
It’s not uncommon for people to randomly photograph whatever their camera is pointed at. As a result, you’re likely to have a huge stack of images that you’ve captured in the past but just don’t know what to do with.
Before you can create a stunning collection of photos of your family, holidays and gap year travel adventures, and special occasions and events, it’s a good idea to separate the wheat from the chaff. Gather all of your photographs in one place, and sift through them, separating them into piles of ‘great’, ‘good’ and ‘bin’. Once you’ve completed the task, you’ll end up with a pile of snaps that are ready to fill up your luxury photo albums.
Create a unique collection of themed photo books that display your life story and family history in chronological order. If you’re a parent, you can create a personalised photo album for each child, and regularly add new snaps to keep the content updated through the years.
If you have a large family, it’s possible to create a one-of-a kind photograph collection by asking your siblings to contribute to your favourite photos of the past project. Birthday parties, weddings, holidays and other family events are generally rich with prime photo pickings for your generational photo book displays. As you may not initially agree on the chosen selection of photographic memories, a traditional self-stick page photo album is ideal for this type of flexible arrangement.
Retro Snaps
Everyone has at least one favourite photo from their childhood years. If you’re an adult of a certain age, you probably have fond memories of having your picture taken in a photo booth, or by a Polaroid camera. These retro style snaps are great for adding authentic detail to stylish and modern softcover photo albums of the good old days. As softcover photo books flaunt a trendy art-inspired magazine finish, your collection of appealing retro photographs is bound to attract many viewers. If you leave the album on display on your coffee table, sit back and watch as your guests become enthralled by your picture format life story.
Fill the pages of your luxury photo books with themed displays of your childhood photos, and continue the collection over multiple books if necessary. You can alternate classic format photos with Polaroid snaps and finish with captions, comments and text that bring each photo memory to life. A large collection of Polaroids or photo booth prints makes a stylish and original display in a themed retro album of its own.
If your selection of retro snaps includes stunning landscape/horizontal images, it’s best to present them in a chic layflat photo book. The double page spreads are designed to showcase your favourite photographs in a seamless sequence that makes images stand out.
And don’t forget that that photographs that are captured today will one day become retro and vintage snaps! By preserving your favourite photos now, you’re saving prized photographs for future generations of your family. If this idea appeals to you, hunt out the best Insta-worthy images and store them in a computer file, or a clearly labelled box for easy locating at a later date.
Vintage Photos From A Bygone Era
Photos that are older than your years automatically qualify as vintage. Perhaps you have your parents’ black and white wedding photos or photographs of them when they were youngsters, in your extensive photo collection? Or even precious family heirloom photographs of grandparents and great grandparents that are sepia toned and in need of some TLC photo restoration?
Collecting old photos is a popular pastime, and many collectors pay good money for aged snaps of complete strangers. Vintage photos, in your attic stash, of people that you don’t recognise may inspire you to research your family heritage and history. You may need to ask older members of the family to help you on your quest.
Treasured keepsake vintage photos from a bygone era are best preserved and presented in luxurious, high quality paper filled photo albums that are fabric covered and foil-stamped. The high-end craftsmanship of the albums instantly transforms long-forgotten images into contemporary works of art.
To immortalise your ancestors, choose a premium hardcover photo album with an elegant Italian fabric finish, and embellish it with a personalised title or a family crest of arms. Alternatively, you can opt for a classy debossed photo cover for your keepsake album.
Arrange your timeless collection of vintage photos across the pages of the album, reserving the most striking shot for the opening page. To optimise your visual display, it’s a lovely idea to add text that provides information about the antiqued photos.
