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CREATING A "HOLIDAY" ALBUM
By John Turi

Are your photo albums out of order? Do you have photographs from various occasions where you cannot remember what year or event they are from? If so, here’s an idea for you. It’s called a "Holiday" album, and it just might change your experiences with friends and family.

The concept of the ‘Holiday’ album is to acquire many different points of view from the same occasion; all captured with photographs.

If you are planning a holiday event at your home, contact all your family and friends who are planning on attending and ask them to bring a camera along. If someone forgets to bring a one, it is a nice idea to have on hand a few disposable cameras, especially if children are around and would like to photograph; children take very interesting pictures at times.

As your guests arrive, announce to them that you are creating a ‘Holiday’ album, and they should photograph candid moments, group shots, or what they feel would be a wonderful moment captured on film. The important thing is that everyone enjoys him/herself, and no one is left out. After the event, let everyone know that they should send you a copy of their favorite photographs that were captured from the day’s event.

As you receive the photographs, tape them onto a standard 8.5x11” size sheet of paper, grouping four to a page. If you’re handy with a word processor, print out captions for each photo. If not, hand-write something above or below each print.

After you have collected several sheets worth of prints, take them to your local photo printer and have one complete ‘Holiday’ album made for everyone who attended. You might want to purchase a paper punch and some cardboard folders (report fastener folders work very well and are inexpensive). Put all of the pages together in the folder and create a fun cover design; be sure to date the event. You are now ready to send your ‘Holiday’ album through the mail to any relatives not yet hooked up to the web.

If you or someone else in the family is computer literate, you may prefer to scan the images and create an online ‘Holiday’ album - or, when you have the images printed out, many places have the option to also include in your order a CD with all of the images on it. The Internet has many websites that are just for hosting photographs to share with family and friends. This is a convenient way to share with family members scattered across the country.

Every occasion can have its own ‘Holiday’ album — to keep those memories around for years to come. Your family will thank you for it as the years go by, and the albums are used as keepsakes.

A good source for creating and getting creative ideas for your 'Holiday' album is RitzPix.com. You can upload your images into online albums, and there are plenty of options for photo printed gifts. Happy Holidays!