Finding empty 8x10 wedding albums retail

[matlinek]

Some friends of mine recently got married on a shoestring budget. Since they

couldn't afford a real photographer, I stepped up to the plate with no previous

event photography experience. Needless to say it was a disaster, but in the

end I was at least able to pull together 20 or so passable shots that I would

like to organize into an album.

 

My goal was to get the pictures developed 8x10" and then buy a photo album that

will accept up to 10x10" (I have pictures I would like to use that are both

horizontally and vertically oriented, so the freedom of 10x10 would be great).

Unfortunately, I've discovered that photo albums that take up to 10x10 are not

readily available retail.

 

I know that there are professional albums out there that you bind yourself, but

if possible I'd like to avoid those. All I really need is a photo album that I

can slide prints into that will accept up to 10x10" (although in a pinch, even

8x10" will do).

 

Does anyone know of a place to purchase a photo album such as this in the NY-NJ-

PA area? I have no problem travelling to New York City, anywhere in NJ,

Philadelphia, or most of Eastern PA.

 

The next best thing I've found is eBay, but of course I left out the kicker--

the newlyeds are moving to California forever this Sunday! So I only have 4

days to pull this all together. If I can't do any better, I'll buy something

off of eBay and pay for overnight shipping. But I'm broke recent college-grad

to start with, so I'm hoping that there is someplace that I can just walk in

and purchase what I'm looking for.

 

Thanks a million guys!

[elnoralouisa]

Your other option is to have them get the album. You could have them pay you whatever for your services, and then upload the pics to an online service, and have them print what they want from there, the size that they want.

[buckry]

It might be nice for all of the "I've got my first wedding this weekend" folks to hear in what ways it was a disaster. That is, of course, if you feel up to sharing.

[merle_white]

Topflight album company offeres what you are looking for with 10X10

clear slip in pages

 

http://www.topflightalbums.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=725

[matlinek]

As it happens, I'd love to share my first wedding experience. It's a long story, but you asked for it!

 

Mistake #1-- I should've bitten the bullet and told my job I needed the entire day off. But I was hard up for cash (again, broke college student) so I decided to squeeze in half a day of work beforehand. This was a horrible idea. As could be expected, everything ran late. I ended up arriving sweaty and exhausted about 2 minutes before everything started. If you are shooting a wedding, you should strive to be AT LEAST an hour or two early.

 

Mistake #2-- I didn't scout the location where I was going to be shooting beforehand (see Miskate #1). This might not have been a problem under the right circumstances, but the way that the room was laid out was a nightmare--it had a sloping ceiling and a staircase that came up into the room. The end result is that in order to get a moderately passable shot of the bride and groom during the ceremony, I had to stand straddling the stairway railing with one foot hanging in the air. It's actually difficult to describe, but trust me, I wish someone had gotten a picture of THAT.

 

In this rushed and distracted state, I made stupid mistakes--namely, photographing the entire ceremony at ISO 1600 even though it was a brightly sunlit room. The result is that everything came out grainy and yucky.

 

Mistake #3-- I didn't go in with a prepared list of shots. It's easy to think that all of the different groupings of people that you want to capture will come together in the moment. They won't.

 

When you start doing the "portraits" phase, everyone is going to be milling around looking to you for what to do next. You need a checklist that enables you to quickly say "Well, I got a shot of the Groom and his new Mother in law by themselves, now I want one of the Mother in law with both of the newlyweds."

 

Instead, I expected everything to come together by itself, and the result is that after the fact I realized that there were easily a dozen different groupings that I would've wanted to capture, but which I failed to think of at the time.

 

Add to all of this the fact that I rented equitment that I was unfamiliar with and didn't experiment with it first. I knew that a fast telephoto was good for portraits, but slapping a 100mm F/2 on your Digital Rebel does not a portrait photographer make.

 

I'd never shot with anything longer then 55mm before (multiplied by 1.6x of course) so the 100mm (effectively 160mm) was a totally new experience that I wasn't ready for.

 

The sunny side is that at the end I was able to put on my 18mm lens that I'm used to, get up nice and close to the bride and groom (who also happen to be two of my best friends that I love dearly) and take some much more personal shots as I interacted with them. Still nothing that would impress a pro, but this is when we all had fun, and this is where the shots going in the album are coming from (for the most part). For a total amateur, I'd like to think that I pulled my weight on this pretty well.

 

So my advice if you're confronted with a similar situation:

 

1. MAKE SURE YOUR FRIENDS AREN'T EXPECTING PROFESSIONAL QUALITY. This wasn't a problem for me--my friends knew that either I was going to step up to this task, or they'd be at the mercy of whatever they got off of dad's point and shoot. But a lot of people don't realize how much work goes into this (I didn't even get into the HOURS I spent sorting through hundreds of pictures and applying my minimal knowledge of photoshop). It's easy for your photographically inexperienced friends to think that any Joe Blow with an SLR is going to give them the same quality work that they'd get for dropping $4,000 on a professional wedding photographer. Make sure that they are REALLY clear up front that this is not the case. There is a GOOD REASON that guy charges $4,000.

 

2. Get there early. Scout the location. Don't be bashful about moving people around so you can get a better shot. Try to stick to equitment you're comfortable with. If you want to rent, either give yourself a day or two to familiarize yourself, or just don't bother.

 

3. GO IN WITH A LIST OF SPECIFIC SHOTS YOU WANT. For example, you want a shot of the Bride and her immediate family, the Groom and his immediate family, both families together, the Groom and his Dad... the combinations are endless and it will be virtually impossible to keep them straight without a checklist.

 

Like I said, I didn't get anything that would impress the pros... But it could've been mcuh worse.

http://family.webshots.com/photo/2390727060064339689pVgMnS?vhost=family

 

http://family.webshots.com/photo/2031954010064339689TuzVhZ?vhost=family

 

I hope all of this helps someone, somewhere. If anyone asks this question ("shooting my first wedding for friends this weekend, please help"), please link them to this thread or tell them to contact me.

 

However, lets not hijack my own thread--I need to put an album together for these folks! And I just found out that they aren't leaving Sunday, they are actually leaving Saturday morning! Please let me know if you guys have any insight to my original post.

 

 

[annealmasy]

Um... why can't you just order the album off e-bay then ship it to California? Why do you

have to have it all before they move?

[matlinek]

It's my wedding gift to them, so I wanted to give it to them in person. I've considered shipping it out, and depending on how much it costs to get overnight mail from eBay, I may go that route. I just find it hard to believe that a photo album that accepts 10x10 prints (or even just 8x10) is impossible to purchase retail in the NJ-PA-NY area.

[gdwphoto]

Check out the Scrapbook stores. Even JoAnn Fabrics stores have slipin albums in several sizes.

[matlinek]

I actually tried a couple of craft stores by me, but I didn't have any luck. I'll try calling some more.

[larry_moore]

B&H has lots of them in stock There are also quite a few choices at places like Michaels.

 

In a pinch do a scrapbook presentation with photo corners sort ofa retro look that might be nice

Brooke Moore

[kelly_m.2]

Do you have a Calumet nearby? They have nice, and inexpensive ones. Ok I looked it up there is a calumet in NY,NY. There one here is SD,CA hase nice 8x10 Albums where you can slide in the 8x10's and they look matted. I think they are around $23 Trust me I looked every where too. Here is their number 212-989-8500 give them a call to find out before going there!

[photographydreams]

Nothing to do with the album, but download Abobe Lightroom - there's a 30 day trial i think - and play around with your favourite pictures... it's much easier and intuitive than photoshop, and you'll get rid of those blue tinges in some of your pictures, and get much better contrast as well. It will make a big difference to your pictures!