The Boys of Summer

Nobody on the road
Nobody on the beach
I feel it in the air
The summer’s out of reach
– The Boys of Summer, Don Henley

Sadly we are saying goodbye to summer. As always it was way too short, however a lot of memories were created during the summer months. Think about all the photos you took this summer…where are they now? Are you just going to store them away with all your other pictures? Why not let OUTSIDE the BOX create a special photo project or projects using these pictures.

This summer I created a couple special photo books, but the one that I spent most of my time on was a memory book for my son’s travel baseball team. One team mom was kind enough to take photos at all the games and events throughout the summer, so having just started OUTSIDE the BOX I offered to create a photo book for each team member using her photos – great exposure right??!! (no pun intended – exposure/photographs…ha!) I asked her if she would mind my using her photos to create a book for the team and she said yes (a little too enthusiastically I might add…hmmm…I think she was glad that all she had to do was take pictures). Then I asked the team who would be interested in buying a team memory book if I created one…everyone jumped on the band wagon (again with much enthusiasm and did I notice some sighs of relief??!!)

I spent the entire summer creating this book – it was definitely a labor of love, but I could not have asked for a better end product, if I may say so myself. The 60-page book told the story of the team’s season and included pictures of the line-up, the first practice, the first game, subsequent games, the team trip to Indiana, the team award ceremony and the end of season party (and more). I even included pictures of the sibling “super fans” who were out there all summer cheering on our boys and never complaining (well, almost never). I included quotes I had gathered from the boys about what they liked best about the season and I also listed the season schedule with final scores. Lastly, I personalized each boy’s book by placing their picture on the back cover of their book. It was comprehensive to say the least. I loved it, my son loved it and the team loved it. Some comments I received after delivering the books include, but are not limited to:

“..I think you nailed it! The book captures how much fun the boys had and what a memorable experience that was. Great job!”

“The book turned out fantastic! I love all the details- I had never seen the pictures in the background (that was great) and loved the way the scores and trip to Indiana were displayed.
What a keepsake for the kids!”

 “Thank you for dropping our book off this afternoon and for your efforts in putting them together. They look great…What a terrific keepsake!”

“We LOVE the book. It was so well done. I especially like the way you included those faded background pictures. Very creative. “E” can’t stop looking at the book and has a smile plastered on his face when he’s going through it.”

 “…I went through it very quickly so far, but will do so in detail more with “A”! He will love it! Thanks for personalizing it on the back – very nice! Also, my favorite current photo of him is the closeup one from The Rex Game – I loved seeing that as the background on a page. And the back shots in number order are awesome! Great idea there. I love the Super Fans page too – I remember taking some of those photos and thinking siblings sure are putting in a lot of time with this team! Thanks for including the sibs in the book!”

And my favorite…

“Thank you so much, the book is amazing. We all love it. “E” is telling everyone who will listen that its like a book you can get from the library – its a real book!”

While the emails I received certainly made my day (who doesn’t love a pat on the back now and then – or ten), I was lucky enough to see a couple of the boys open their book for the first time and the look on their faces made all the hours (and hours) spent trying to determine which player was which (not an easy task when they are all in uniform and not directly facing the camera) well worth the effort.

Got a baseball team? Or any team for that matter. Got pictures? How about thinking OUTSIDE the BOX??!!

– J