What is it about flowers that fascinates us? The colors? The petals? The shapes? Or their association with romance and beauty - vase of roses, Valentine’s day bouquet, European still-life? Whatever the reasons, flowers are among our favorite photographic subjects, and here on Gallery they have been celebrated in many beautiful ways.

Transformations are always exciting to watch, whatever the theme may be. It could be about remodeling a house, or planting a garden, or cleaning up a city park, or losing those 20 pounds, or changing from your jeans to your bridal dress. What’s inspiring is the change.

Since we’re staying local this summer - no 2-week vacations to far away places - our family is rediscovering the beauty of our home town via local nature walks. It’s so easy for me to forget that beautiful things are right around the corner, but taking a couple hours to find those green nooks and crannies completely changes my perspective. I realize that I live in a special place, and feel lucky that I have easy access to nature spots. And the great thing about finding these beautiful local places, is that you can easily invite your family and friends along for the journey.

Tracy B., Shutterfly’s Senior Director of Product Management, is an avid photographer and digital scrapbooker who loves to travel and create memories of her adventures. In this article, Tracy talks about her inspiring digital scrapbooking journey - from those trial-and-error beginnings to her discovery of PhotoShop Elements and layering techniques. This is a must-read for anyone interested in digital scrapbooking, especially those of us just beginning our own digiscrap journeys.

Vickie P. from our Shutterfly Gallery Guru team, tells us how she discovered the magical process of digital photo restoration, shares a couple of amazing before-and-after examples, and provides tips on how to get your own photos restored (at scancafe) without doing a spot of digital cleaning yourself.

I’d like to introduce you to our very own Ishantha L., Shutterfly’s Senior Director of User Experience. In his spare time, Ishantha is an accomplished abstract painter who utilizes Shutterfly photo books to help him tell the story behind his art. Here, Ishantha shares his journey through the photo book making process - from establishing his story goals and gathering his materials, to putting it all together with our easy-to-follow photo book making process.