How to Get Started on Your ABC Photobook

By Jessica Sprague

An ABC photobook is a classic album format, because it provides a great structure you can use to record your memories. By concentrating on a single photo of your life or your recipient’s life per letter of the alphabet, your photobook will be easy to gather photos for and easy to put together (and with just 26 letters, you have an easy stopping point!). Best of all, the ABC format is surprisingly flexible: you can create an photobook around a certain theme, or about the life of a certain special person. Whether you record memories from a single event, or create a photobook to help your child learn the alphabet using photos they can relate to, your ABC photobook will become a treasured keepsake.

I designed the photobook with fun but neutral colors that work equally well for any theme—girl or boy, child or adult. The whimsical touches and light distressing add warmth and depth to your stories. You’ll need just one photo per letter of the alphabet, along with a quick caption and the name of the item or event. If you like, you can further customize the photobook by adding in additional pages for extra photos.

Photobook Ideas

The ABC format is versatile enough to work for an adult or a child, and while it works great as a teaching tool for a preschooler, there are other great options as well. Here are some ideas for your ABC photobook.

• A record of places you’ve been with a significant other or as a family
• A bedtime story that’s filled with faces of loved ones
• A teaching tool for a preschooler, using photos of them surrounded by everyday objects or special foods
• A gift for a new parent with more general photos such as household objects, food, or places around town
• A gift for a faraway child (niece or nephew, or grandchild) that features you and your daily routine
• A unique twist on a wedding album
• A keepsake featuring highlights of your last family vacation
• A toddler’s tale that records favorite foods, special objects, and places and faces of their daily life

Getting Started

Here’s how you can get started with your own ABC photobook:

1. Decide Your Approach: Who will this photobook be for? For example, will you include pictures from a single event (such as a wedding or vacation), or will this photobook be to help a preschooler with their alphabet? Will you record places you’ve been with a significant other, or familiar faces for a toddler to remember?
2. Gather Your Photos: Often, you’ll discover that you need to take a few more photos to fill in the less common letters. That’s ok! Unless you have an uncle Xavier, you might be missing a few, so go ahead and gather up the photos you need.

Stuck on a letter? Try this:

• People: Ask for photos of faraway folks such as grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Or think of creative ways to feature your child in each photo (next to a loved toy, or eating a special food, for example). If your photobook is a gift about you, set up your tripod and use your camera’s timer to get some shots of you doing your favorite activities.
• Places: Preschoolers love recognizing places around town—you can use this as an opportunity to familiarize them with the places you go. Or compile a record of all the stops on your last family vacation.
• Things: Think toys and favorite foods for kids, favorite games, music, games, or activities for young people. If your photobook is for an adult, think of favorite restaurants, hobbies, or objects they use each day.
• Activities: Does your recipient have a hobby? Record photos of them immersed in their favorite activities, and don’t forget to snap photos of all the accessories involved: balls, uniforms, game controllers, measuring cups, scissors—anything they use in their hobby.
3. Create your photobook: Upload your photos and add your own captions to create a cherished keepsake.

Jessica has created two instructional pieces to help you get started:

• a planner page to help plan which photos you would like to take
• 5-page idea booklet that contains several hundred words divided by the letters of the alphabet

Have Fun. Get Started by Clicking here.