Lara Swanson Blog

Category Archives: album

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Couture albums

August 19, 2008 – 6:30 am

The most chic album that I offer is the Couture album. It’s really a work of art, featuring fine art papers from recycled content. Best of all, they will donate to a charity that you choose when I order the album! Charities include the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, Oprah’s Leadership Academy Foundation, Room to Read, American Forests, Global Volunteers, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Habitat for Humanity, and the National Wildlife Federation.

For the book I made below, I chose to have one image on the right-hand page of each spread (you can choose to have one image on the front and back of each page). They recommend including at least 80 pages, so this album contains significantly more images than our others! You choose an image that covers the front and back of the album - in this case, I chose LaTanya’s gorgeous bouquet.

Here are the edges of the album:

Some shots of the incredible binding:

First inside page and binding:

They don’t have lay-flat pages, but book-like pages:

It comes with a hard slipcase that matches the binding:

Finer and classier than the KiSS album, it’s not quite as durable, but is made from recycled materials and definitely stands as the most artistic of our albums.

By Lara | Comments (0)

Coffeetable albums

February 22, 2008 – 8:58 am

Our coffeetable albums are the most economical albums we offer, but they still carry quite a punch. We use templates to create the pages, which are bound in a linen hardcover with a full-bleed dust jacket (also created with a template). The pages are thinner and slightly less glossy than our deluxe albums. These are often purchased for parents or grandparents, while a couple will purchase a KiSS album for themselves.

Here is the black linen hardcover with its full-bleed dust jacket:

And a peek inside cover with the dust jacket:

Check out the page thickness and more matte look:

This is what the gutter of the pages typically looks like while lying open:

And the finished product:

Overall, it’s a sturdy album that we still recommend. I’ve used it for some portfolio work as well as gifts for my family. It won’t hold up to typical wear-and-tear like the KiSS albums will, but it’s still a great value.

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Deluxe albums

February 21, 2008 – 4:09 pm

Yesterday we wrote about our favorite KiSS albums, and today we’re discussing our Deluxe albums. They’re 10×10 with a minimum of 20 pages. They have thicker pages than the Coffeetable albums and also come with a beautiful black box to keep it protected. The pages are fully designed by hand by your photographer, unlike the Coffeetable albums, which use templates.

Standing up, in its black box (you can have your name printed in silver on the front of the box):

Detail of the binding and the full-bleed dust jacket:

More of the jacket and pages:

Inside the book (note where the cover art ends, and that although the first page looks white, it’s actually a protector page for the first page of the album):

This is how it lays open, and the gutter (note how shiny the pages are!):

The page thickness:

The hardcover has the same full-bleed design as the dust jacket, which is the biggest difference between it and our coffeetable albums:

Here’s the cover thickness:

Voila. The full shabang, on my office floor:

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KiSS Wedding Albums

February 20, 2008 – 9:58 am

We’ll be doing a series today, tomorrow, and Friday on the different albums we offer. While these few days will go over our standard albums, we’re always open to more ideas and vendors! If a client wants to try something new we’re totally up for it. Today we’re looking at the KiSS wedding albums. These albums are huge and wonderful; each page is hand-designed by your photographer to carry on your style and personalities within the pages (no templates here!). They’re 10×10 and start at 20 pages (10 spreads). Here’s another photographer’s experience with Kiss, and here’s an interview with the creator. Now, on to the photos!

Here’s how the album arrived. I’ve actually seen a number of different fabrics used, and I was pleasantly surprised to see mine was green!

This is a shot of the back cover. Since this was a sample album, I ordered it with the sample discount (20% off!) and they imprint all samples with the KiSS logo. It’s something to think about when you’re ordering your albums…

A shot of the binding:

Check out these 2mm-thick pages:

It begins with a black page, which means that every page thereafter will be a part of a full spread (2 pages). This makes design SO easy, since we don’t have to deal with single pages!

This is the first spread:

Another view of the pages as I open the book:

There’s an infinitesimal gutter - barely noticeable at all. This means that the pages both lie flat and we can extend designs right over the seam.

Another shot of the binding:

Sample kiss! Seriously, if you don’t mind having the KiSS logo on the back, then why not go for the 20% discount?

And last but not least, the beautiful leather:

Seriously, it’s so smooth and buttery. I’m sort of in love with this album, honestly. Brad’s a little jealous!

By Lara | Also posted in asofterimage | Comments (2)

Tiffany & Chad - Packaging

February 14, 2008 – 9:23 am

A month and two days since Tiffany and Chad first logged in to see their proofs, I mailed them their album, DVD and thank-you notes. Now that I’ve got delivery confirmation from UPS I can happily post pictures of the packaging :) Here’s the whole shabang:

I purchased most of the materials from the Paper Source. As you saw in the video I made of their DVD packaging, Tiffany and Chad had a beautiful wedding with pinks and browns throughout all of their details. I used pink- and brown-striped wrapping paper (which was actually pretty difficult to use, since it was thicker paper and not the typical stuff you buy on rolls). I also used a beautiful chocolate satin ribbon to tie everything together. Here’s some detail, including my thank-you note to them:

So we included the DVD, the album, and the 101 thank-you notes that they’ll send to everyone. Here’s what the thank-you notes look like (they’re postcards):

And here’s everything ready to slide in to the outer box:

Tiffany and Chad have been absolutely wonderful to work with. I’m sad that this is the end of the work for this wedding, since it’s been such a blast. Here’s to hoping they need lots of family portraits soon :)

By Lara | Also posted in packaging | Comments (0)