Sam F. is Shutterfly’s Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives, and an avid photo book maker. In this article, Sam tells us about himself, and shares his secrets on how to come up with creative photo book ideas and make them come to life. Today it’s all about the food.

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ABOUT SAM

I have been creating photo books for the last 2 years. The more I create and share them, the more questions I get about how others can do this. People think that I am brilliant, but the secret is that it’s really not that hard. I’ve provided project ideas and helpful tips to many people to get them started or to help them get to a better result more quickly. Rachel B. suggested I write an article to share it more publicly - and here I am!

SAM’S RECIPE BOOK IDEA

There is so much tradition and memory associated with the foods my family has made over the years. As family members pass away, where do these recipes go? I felt an obligation to gather these recipes and make a book. And as I made this book, I found that there was a story being told.

My father’s side of the family were primarily Italian and there was always plenty of amazing foods at Sunday dinners and at family holiday gatherings. My Great Grandma Mary, my Grandma Lucy, my Aunt Gladys and Aunt Trudy were some of the more prolific cooks.I can remember the smell of my Grandma’s Goodadoona (friend pizza dough) in the mornings at our summer beach house, the warmth her spinach and swiss chard pizza, the curiosity of how my Aunt Anita would get those Orangina into such perfectly round balls — and the pure joy of homemade cannoli for desert. These foods are such a part of growing up in a mostly Italian family in New Jersey.

The Project
At first, my vision was to gather up 1 or 2 classic recipes that each family member “made famous” and create an Italian cooking themed book. As I reached out to my family and got into the process, the story took a different turn. I realized that we had four generations of cooks contributing (all women by the way) and while largely Italian, other ethnic foods had made their way into our family tables. So, the book scope was broadened to be more inclusive and accommodating of our family melting pot of foods.

The Process
Formats - In working with family members of varying technical abilities, I was challenged to gather up the recipes in a consistent manner. I received the recipes in emails, word documents, PDF’s and handwritten by mail. Gathering up family photos of the family cooks presented a similar challenge.

Editing - I threw out the idea that the contributors would provide the typed recipes “ready to go”. I also realized that the recipes had some inherent challenges - to the cook, they made perfect sense, but to me, some were gibberish. I took on the task of ensuring that the recipes made sense - and I standardized the formatting of these into a list of ingredients - followed by the actual instructions.

Gathering - In typical family style, I had the early adopter or two who made great progress in providing the initial recipes. Then, I shared out the project and more recipes came in. As I neared the end of the project and sent out the final draft, a flood of late entries appeared. Lesson learned - nobody wants to be left out of the family history - even in the form of the family recipe book.

Tips
Recipe Typing - I used Word to type up all of the recipes and spellcheck them. Once satisfied, I pasted them into the photo book edit boxes.
Recipe Pictures - don’t try to take pictures of the recipes made. There’s no way you’ll have the time to make all of these dishes - and take pictures that look good. Instead, comb the web for images for key ingredients. Use a single ingredient image adjacent to each recipe.
People Pictures - I suggest using images of family gatherings - and a single portrait for each of your recipe contributors. You’ll probably find that your mix of pictures are old scanned images combined with new digital images. The colors and quality will probably vary. One idea is to make them all black and white to “normalize” them.
Blank Pages - don’t be afraid to use blank pages to give your book some breathing room.
Sample Table of Contents
Consider the following book sections
- Title page - state the title and show some image that represents the family
- Forward that states the book purpose
- Recipe Contributors - show the recipe contributors with portrait and name
- Recipe sections by cuisine - consider breaking into groups such as breakfast, appetizers, main courses and deserts
- Closing credits - show all of the book contributors at the end

See my final results here!