Back in November, I got together with a few other wedding photographers to talk shop. So much of what we do is done in isolation so it’s really nice to hang out with folks who really speak your language. Without an agenda, we mostly just sat around and chatted about real hot-button topics such as photo printers, photo software, photo books, etc.. You know, stuff you can just talk about for hours.
One of the other photographers, the awesome Catherine Farquharson, was showing us some books she’d recently made. It just was the tip of the iceberg. In addition to all the books she makes for her clients, turns out she also makes a book every time she goes on a trip and each year she makes a yearbook with her Instagram photos too! Mind. Blown.
For years, my own photos have lived on hard drives. And that’s it.
In retrospect, it does feel a bit crazy to think that I went through all that effort. Carrying all that gear or constantly pulling out my phone, here and everywhere — just to capture those perfect, precious moments. Then, once nabbed, they can just live on as mere pixels, buried under tera-mountains of other pixels. If I was never going to look at these photos again, why bother taking them in the first place? Do I really enjoy all this endless scrolling on my phone?
Catherine’s stack of photo books left me inspired. And galvanized.
I’ve since decided I’m also going to make a book of every trip I go on. And I am going to start making my own yearbooks too. There are so many photos that I love but just had nowhere to live.
Now I’m building them a house.
I’ve started sifting through the archives, pulling out all my favourites. Doesn’t matter if it was from a job, a vacation or a late Sunday afternoon spent on the couch with our dog. As long as I loved it, it made the cut.
I saw some photos that I’d totally forgotten about. But luckily for them, I’ve decided now that I want to remember.
(Here are a few photos from my still-in-progress 2014 yearbook!)
michelle yee photography 