366 Printed

I always feel it’s best to finish projects off as quickly as possible or they tend not to get done at all so as soon as 2012 was over I had my 366 project printed.

 

I again used Blurb. Not because I was 100% happy with the results last time (I wasn’t) but because I wanted the books to match in size and I couldn’t find another service that had the exact same size. I know silly me. Anyway, last time around I felt the images were a little dark. This time around the were on the light side. Some spreads even felt a little washed out. I’m ok with it though. This is not the kind of book you want to browse through the month after you finished it, it’s a book that will be awesome to look through in ten years time and at that point I’ll probably be super happy about the book and the project regardless of the quality.

 

I again went for a super simple cover with basically just the year because how do you find one image that sums up 366 days?

 

Oh and, last time around I chose premium paper. This time I tried out the standard paper. Check out the difference in thickness of the books! Standard seemed fine but now it got me thinking that maybe the standard paper contributed to the slightly washed out look. Hm, maybe I’ll go premium again next time.

Anyway, I’m happy that project’s all wrapped up now and I’ve popped it in the bookcase for the future. If you want to you can check out the whole book here or here. The 2010 book can be viewed here and here.

Comments

[Zosia]

It will be great to browse through these books on a snowy weekend in a few years time.
Will you be able to live with the spine printing (365 and 366) not aligned evenly, when they stand on the bookshelf next to each other? :-)

[Carlos]

Haha, I think I have to :)

[mribaro]

You were right about the premium and standard paper. The black color will never look as deep black on a matt standard paper as it will on the shiny premium paper.

[Tidy to be]

LOVE that idea!!!

[elena]

I love your blog and I love these projects. You seem to be such a wonderful person, a great mother to your son and to your cats. All the cat pictures on your blog always make me smile, and I hope you will decide to make a book out of the 52 weeks photo project of 2013. Best of luck and have a wonderful day!
:)

[stacey]

Great memory albums. Perhaps in the future you'll create the ideal jackets for them and so the covers will be matchy and aligned. I want to thank you for another wonderful blog year; even though I don't participate in the comments I always enjoy your ideas and the clean look of your webpage :)

[Marisa]

Wow. What a great idea. It must be so satisfying to complete such a project and see it in print!

[Debbie from Chicago]

Thanks for sharing. :-)

[Nini Tjäder]

Very nice!

[DeNacho]

once again in complete awe of your minimalist style. ugh! i wish i could get there! i also wish i could complete a project like this. it's so much better than traditional photo albums. my husband & i are approaching our 15 years together (12 married) and i'm wanting to do a 15/12 book. i just hope i have what it takes to pull it together!

[Heather P.]

This is such a cool way to document each passing year! I love that your project is now something you can keep and look at years from now!

[Johanna renling]

I really love this idea!
I have something smilar. But with one sentnce for Each day. Something that happened that day.
Writing on an index card so next year you can see what happened last year or two years ago on the same date

[Loretta]

Thank you for all the wonderful blogs in 2012. And the "366" book is beautiful! Thank you for the inspiration - I'd like to try something similar.

[Ellen]

Simply gorgeous. And VERY inspiring. As always!

Thank you.

[christine e-e]

amazing... how do you find time to complete all your projects? by the time I get home from work, I'm ready to sit & relax with a glass of wine. You must never sleep! Glad to hear about the difference between paper choices - I'm getting ready to put the finishing touches on a book about our Peruvian trip (last summer). I'll be able to make a better decision about my Blurb options.

[Erin]

I LOVE this idea. I want to start doing this, too! But since we're already 3 weeks into the new year, I think I might try doing it by birthday year. I'll be 34 this year, so I could name my books 34, 35, 36, etc. That will also give me some time to get into the habit of taking pictures daily. I'm going to do it!

[m.e.]

This is a splendid idea and executed beautifully. You've given me an idea for books like this of my own photos, years of which are in boxes all over my place. My friend Cathy and I have been talking about writing tales for our great-grandchildren, and we could do it along with the pictures...though you're right to focus on just one picture a day. If you take more than one per day, do you choose the best one? Fascinating.

[Valerie]

Hi Benita! Loyal follower over here....I loved your book and scrolled through every page of it! I noticed that the book used all vertical photo's. Were there options to use both horizontal and vertical photo's in a book? I have always wanted to do this, as it would make a fabulous gift! With all the photographs that I have taken of our dogs, it sure would be neat to look back at the photo's throughout the year! If you don't mind me asking, how much did it cost you to do your book and how long did it take for it to be completed/printed? Thanks so much for any information, as I LOVE all of your work and have even made some of your craft ideas which rocked! I am so glad I found you...!

[Carlos]

Blurb have plenty of layout options for a mix of portrait and landscape photos but I tend to shoot mostly portrait so I made my own very simple template for the book.

The book cost around USD 65 including the shipping over here to Sweden. I ordered it on January 6th I think and it took ten days for it to arrive.

A doggie book sounds like a great idea!

[Carlos]

I tried to get a good mix of photos in a week so sometimes a good one didn't make it because it was too similar to another good one that week. For the 366 project I sometimes took lots of photos in one day and on other days took just one or a couple. Weekdays after work in the winter was the hardest, dark, uninspiring and I was mostly at home. Now with project 52 I have the option to skip on days when there's nothing interesting to shoot or when I'm uninspired.

[Sandy Williams]

Love your books! What size are they? 12x12 or 8x10 or ??? I want to order a book but am still confused on size.
Thanks Sandy Williams

[adesigndiary]

Benita you are truly such a stylish and creative woman...I LOVE your photo books...I am a decorative painter and I have been trying to think of a good way to present my portfolio of work in a stylish and professional way and I think, thanks to you, that I have found it!!
Which size and format of books did you use (if you don't mind sharing)? I checked out the Blurb site but I am a bit baffled by the sizes and how they will turn out...
Thank you for sharing your work with us!
Jules, Dubai

[Carlos]

Mine are 8x10 inches hardbound.

[Carlos]

They are 8x10!

[minna]

This is nice. Picture book is on my to do- list for kids. It would be nice to make own book for all three. Thank´s for reminding me :)

[AJ]

I second everyone who loved this project. Very impressive. I too am still trying to put together one book from a week in London, but it's taking so long I've since gone on two more vacations.

I must say, though, looking through both books, one of the best things is seeing the progression of your photography. Not because there was anything at all bad about your earlier photos, clearly you have a great eye, but you seem to be taking more imaginative shots from more intriguing angles. I think that years down the line,not only with this be a great record of your day to day life, but a wonderful history of the growth of an artist. It's lovely.