Last year, I remember it being around August, I set myself the challenge of producing a photography book of our son’s life – around 5 years of images, it was going to be a special gift for my husband, a Father’s Day present. Of course when I embarked on this challenge I had no idea that it would take sooo much time, I don’t know if you are the same, but we take a great deal of pictures, store them to computer and never print them. So you can imagine covering a time span of birth to 5 years, it is a long time, two laptops, three hard disk storage bricks, it’s huge!
The process of going through thousands of photographs, was joyful, many tears of gratitude, it made laugh at moments forgotten, I smiled when I remember how fragile my son was when he was born, and now he is this robust, confident and happy child.
As I looked at the start of this year, I reflected on the year that had been, there was no greater reminder than my son’s life, the gratitude I have for this person, this unique being on the amazing planet, this creation – his is indeed, a miracle.
So I start this year feeling very grateful for the joy of having this little boy and sharing it with this awesome person, my husband. I would also like to thank a friend of ours – Mark, who gently asserted that he should take some photographs of our son at the tender age of 9 weeks and then at the age of three. Mark did this for free, his work was professional, beautiful and now such a special memory of how tender, precious and fragile our son was, and he now stands before us a confident, 123cm, 24 kilo 5-1/2-year old; where did the time go?
So thank you Mark for this gift you have given us, we really didn’t want to do it, but now we fully appreciate what you did and we are forever grateful.
And if you are wondering how you can convert your digital photographs into a publication, there are so many company’s that offer this online, I chose blurb.com. The pages for our book weighs in at 224 pages – it will print out like a coffee table book, no photographs falling out or fading, just an enduring publication of our son’s start to life.
I have now set myself the challenge of doing a book a year – because there are just too many photographs to go through if you only do it every five years; too many red eyes to fix!
As I head into 2013, I don’t have any New Years Resolutions, just a feeling of gratitude, appreciation for the life I have and I would like to say thank you God, for all the blessings in my life.
