22,000 photos and my first Giveaway!

In this age of smartphones and tablets, the urge to capture EVERY SINGLE MOMENT of our lives can be overwhelming.  Taking photos of everything from what we had for breakfast, places we visit and capturing our children’s first smiles are now the norm – I know I’m certainly guilty of it!  This compulsion has led to me having over 22,000 photos saved to our computer, as well as 4500 + photos on my phone!

It has gotten to the point, where I now regularly receive an error message that I am unable to take further photos/install apps etc as my memory is full.  Now I am sensible, and I do upload my photos into IPhoto and ICloud often.  But I still can’t delete the photos off my phone – who knows when I will want to sit and browse through the precious memories of the past few years.

Going back 15 years ago to when I was in high school, we never had digital cameras.  In fact it was a big deal if we owned our own camera rather than just using our parents.  Photos were carefully staged and considered (maybe not so much if a few drinks were involved) before being taken, and we would then wait the week or so to have our prints developed – as let’s face it when we were being paid $5 an hour for our afterschool jobs, you would only part with minimum cash.

I have been incredibly slack the past few years when it comes to printing out our photos.  I made a half hearted attempt to create a baby album for Liam, and I’m ashamed to say I haven’t even started one for Aiden.  We’ve had newborn photos taken for both of the boys, and whilst a few of the pictures are on display, there are a huge amount of photos still hidden away on our computer.

When the opportunity to review a Photobook by PhotoBox came up, I thought it would be a great chance to use the newborn photos of both the boys.

Initially I tried to cull the amount of photos I was using down to 20 or so for each of the boys, but after looking through all the different layout options I decided to go ahead and use ALL of their photos (around 85 between them). Just sitting down looking through all the photos we had was wonderful, and reinforced the need to have more on display and in albums.

I chose the classic design, and kept my book simple and didn’t add captions to the pages as I wanted the photos to really standout.  The photo books come with 26 pages, but you do have the opportunity to add more pages if you wish.  You can also choose the option for the site to arrange your pictures, however being the control freak that I am, I instead chose to individually design and arrange each page.  I was easily able to include all 85 photos within the 26 pages, and found it really easy to select different layouts for each page, and modify/move the photos around as I went.  I also really liked the feature which displayed only the photos you had left to add as you went along… this was especially helpful if you are like me and have developed a memory like a sieve since having kids.

My book arrived really quickly, just five business days after I ordered it, which in the lead up to Christmas I was really impressed with.  I waited until the boys were in bed before I sat down with a coffee (of course) and looked through my book.  I was really impressed with how it turned out. The finish is fantastic, and the photos look amazing – even the black and white shots looked perfect.  I was tempted to gift it to the boys’ Nan as a Christmas gift, but instead I’m keeping it all for myself and it now lives on the coffee table where I can (and have been) looking at it all of the time.

This has now given me the motivation I needed to sit down and start the MAMMOTH job of sorting through our photos, and ordering a few more photo books to display our memories.  Also with Christmas coming up, it’s the perfect opportunity to create a book with the no doubt hundreds of photos we will take over the festive period.

Now I’m giving one lucky person the chance to win a Photobox A4 Personalised Photobook valued at $49.95! To enter, please leave a comment answering this question: How long has it been since you last printed photos to put into an album, and what photos would you use for your photo book?

Check out Photobox Australia on Facebook for some awesome photography, great tips, and to stay up to date with their latest products and offers.  Whilst you are on Facebook, why not like my page too!

Terms & Conditions
1. This competition is open from now until Tuesday 24th of December 5pm Australian EST
2. The winner will be announced on this blog, Facebook and Twitter and will be contacted via email . Please supply a valid email address. You will have 5 days to respond, otherwise the prize will be redrawn.
3. The prize is not transferable, changeable or redeemable for cash
4. The prize will not be replaced in the event that it is stolen, lost or damaged in transit
5. Createbakemake accepts no responsibility for prizes sent on behalf of Photobox.
6. This competition is open to Australian Residents only.
7. This giveaway is not associated, sponsored, endorsed or administered by Facebook.
8. This giveaway is based on a game of skill and the most creative response will be selected as the winner.

Disclosure 

I received this product for the specific purpose of providing an honest review. No financial compensation was received and all opinions are my own