Tiffany is mother to baby Brayden, a graphic designer, and an avid photographer and photo book maker. She’s also member of our Shutterfly Gallery Guru team, dedicated to supporting your photo book and storytelling creativity. You’ve probably seen Tiffany’s helpful comments throughout the Gallery - maybe even on your own photo book.

In this interview, Tiffany tells us about how creativity keeps her life in balance, how her son Brayden is a source of inspiration (along with cats, scenery, inanimate objects, and more), and also imparts some sage advice for us fellow storytellers - don’t be scared, photo books are friendly and fun

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My name is Tiffany, secret identity: braydensmom. I was born and raised in beautiful Michigan. My husband and I have a lot of friends and family and are very social - we’re always on the go! I am a new mom to a wonderfully awesome baby boy that I adore. I am also a working mother and have an abundance of things I do for a creative outlet to keep my sanity. Picture taking is one of them! I instantly became addicted to Shutterfly after I purchased my first digital camera. I shopped around for digital printing sites and decided Shutterfly rocked and it’s been a great relationship since!

What got you interested in making photo books?
A friend of mine, who is an avid “paper scrapper”, started tinkering with digital scrapbooking so I was helping her out since I have some graphic design background and together we started digital scrapbooking and she found the photobooks! The rest is history! 

What are your favorite images to capture and why?
I can not say that I have a favorite! It really depends on my day and my mood! I take a lot of pictures… my son, the cat, odd things, funny things, inanimate things, scenery/nature, vacations, family, friends, functions, etc!
I’m in a phase at the moment (probably because of all the “everyday” photobooks) where I take photos of things I look at every day but never really pay attention to… things that seem uninteresting to everybody else, but I know will be very interesting to me later in life. Remember the pictures you look at and think “man, our kitchen in our old house is ugly”? I love those pictures.  

Who inspires you?
I frequent a few personal photography and digital scrapbook blogs which is always planting the seed for some crazy project idea! And some days I feel like the smallest, silliest and strangest things can get me inspired.
There is the new little guy in my life too… he is an enormous inspiration day to day! If you ask my husband, he would say that Brayden being born has channeled psycho Martha Stewart in our house. All of a sudden I’m a mom, a photographer, a knitter and crocheter, a baker and cake decorator, a digital scrapbooker, and the list goes on and on with a lot of crafty things.
The photobook gallery is definitely inspiration in itself. It just amazes me that people have so many cool and unique ideas!

What kind of stories do you like to tell in your photo books?
Honestly, I am a bad story teller. I am awful at journaling and lack creativity in that department. At this point, I let my pictures tell the story. I hope to change that in the future!

What advice would you give your fellow photo book storytellers?
Don’t be scared! Photobooks are friendly and fun! I have quite a few family members and friends that are intimidated by the books. They don’t think they are computer savvy enough to make something so fancy and cool. However, I got my mother started and she made her own book and LOVED doing it. If she can make one, anybody can! But, you have to learn to upload pictures first! :o)

What’s your next photo book project?
There is a list. Currently, I have two digital scrapbooks in the works (our last vacation and the baby’s first year), an updated album for Brayden’s recent pictures and one for his nine month photo shoot. I also started a book of my own doodles and art work through my lengthy on-again-off-again graphic college career through the years.
Future projects include an everyday book of things in my life and I would love to do a family tree album of both sides of the family… but that’s a ton of organizing and scanning so we’ll see when I can make time for that.

What are some of your favorite Gallery photo books and why?
There are so many awesome books and creative ideas that it’s not possible for me to pick any absolute favorite! Everyday I’m amazed by something else I see in the gallery!

Check out Tiffany’s photo books on her Gallery profile page.