YOUR MITZVAH ALBUM
CREATING YOUR ALBUM.
You chose the photographs. We survived the Mitzvah. Now let’s turn all of that into something that doesn’t live on your phone.
I make handcrafted, custom-designed, museum-quality albums here in Toronto. These are not online photo books. They’re proper albums, designed photograph by photograph, printed beautifully and made to last.
Before you dive in, take two minutes to watch this quick video about why we make albums in the first place.
It’s only two minutes, but it explains a lot about why having your photographs in a beautiful album still matters.
FIRST THINGS FIRST
HERE’S HOW IT WORKS.
1 CHOOSE YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS
Pick the photographs you want in the album. You can choose them directly through your online gallery or download everything to your computer and make your selections there.
2 SEND ME YOUR CHOICES
Once you’re finished, let me know. If you’ve made a favourites collection in your online gallery, even better.
3 I DESIGN THE ALBUM
I organize everything, design every spread and do the necessary editing and cleanup.
4 YOU APPROVE EVERYTHING
I put the complete design online for you. We go back and forth until you’re happy. Nothing goes to print until you give me the final thumbs up.
5 WE MAKE THE REAL THING
Once the design, cover material, font and cover text are approved, the album goes to my printer here in Toronto.
THE BIG JOB
CHOOSING THE PHOTOS.
Don’t overthink it. Choose the photographs that make you feel something.
If choosing hundreds of photographs makes your eyes glaze over, I can help. I can make an initial selection for you, reduce a larger group to a more manageable number, find colour versions of black and white photographs, convert colour photographs to black and white, or help organize the whole thing.
I can also include photographs I didn’t take, Photo Booth pictures, phone photographs, your invitation or other bits and pieces that belong in the story.
Please don’t rename the original image files. The filenames help me keep everything in chronological order.
And try not to leave this for the year 2034. I’ve made albums two or three years after a Mitzvah and they still turn out beautifully, but choosing the photographs while everything is fresh is considerably easier.
A LITTLE MAGIC
EDITING.
Normal photographic cleanup is part of what I do. If there’s something in the background I knew I’d remove, or a photograph simply needs my usual finishing work, that’s on me.
More substantial Photoshop work can include:
- Opening eyes or swapping a face from another photograph
- Removing flyaway hair, shine or distractions
- Whitening teeth or detailed skin retouching
- Adding phone photographs or photographs from another photographer
- Adding the invitation, speeches or other artwork
- Creating more complicated collages
- Removing an ex. Yes, I’ve done that too.
Additional Photoshop, selection and sorting: $85 per half hour.
I’m fast, and I’ll always let you know if something is likely to involve additional work.
THE FUN PART
I DESIGN. YOU APPROVE.
Once your photographs are chosen, I start building the album. Depending on the time of year, the first design usually takes about two weeks.
Then you get to see the whole thing online.
Move things. Remove things. Add something you forgot. We’re not printing it until you love it.
Once you’re 100% happy, we choose the cover and send it to print.
TAKE A LOOK
THE REVEAL.
Take a look at this short video. You’ll see what the actual albums look like and, even better, what it’s like when a family sees theirs for the first time.
THE ACTUAL ALBUM
THE SIGNATURE ALBUM.
My Signature albums are flush-mount albums with substantial, firm pages and archival photographic printing. They’re handmade here in Toronto to my specifications.
Covers are available in vegan leather, leather, linen, silk and photo-cover options. They’re sturdy, elegant and designed to survive years of being pulled off the shelf and passed around.
Which is exactly the point.
SIGNATURE 12 × 12 ALBUM
Includes the first 10 spreads.
Additional spreads are $75 each.
A spread is the left and right page together.
HOW BIG WILL IT BE?
HOW MANY SPREADS?
Most of my albums end up somewhere around 16 to 30 spreads. Some are smaller. Some are bigger. If you simply cannot part with another photograph, we keep going. The maximum is 50 spreads.
As a rough guide:
- One large photograph generally takes one page.
- Two medium photographs generally take one page.
- Four to six smaller photographs generally take one page.
Once I have your selections, I can give you a pretty good idea of how large the finished album will be before I start designing.
$995 base album + 6 additional spreads at $75 = $1,445
$995 base album + 16 additional spreads at $75 = $2,195
SAVE A LITTLE
ALBUM PRE-PAYMENT.
If you prepaid toward your album when you booked your photography, that payment comes off the final price and gives you a discount on the finished album.
Pre-pay $200
Pre-pay $400
Pre-pay $600
Additional albums, including grandparent albums, receive a 30% discount.
I keep a record of your album pre-payment, so you don’t have to remember what you did three years ago. That’s my job.
ALMOST THERE
PRINT TIME.
Once you give me the go-ahead, and I have your cover material, font and text, the turnaround time is usually about 3–4 weeks.
Keep that in mind if the album is going to be a birthday, anniversary or grandparent gift and the timing is important.
My excellent printer is an “all hands on deck” operation, not a factory. The time it takes is the time it takes. And I don’t argue with her.
And that’s it…
READY?
LET’S GET BUSY.
It’s a fun process. Pick your photographs, send them my way and we’ll make something your family will actually keep.
Questions? Call me.
Got lost? Call me.
Changed your mind seventeen times? That’s okay too.
Jonni