Costco photobooks : Ezra’s and my 52-week project (2010)

Remember how I had my 52-week project for 2009 printed into a book?  I’ve been meaning to get the same thing done for Ezra’s and my 52-week project for 2010, but I didn’t get the chance to do so until a few weeks ago.

Back then, I used MyPublisher to print my photos, but my dad convinced me to try Costco Photo Center this time.  It’s much cheaper compared to MyPublisher and we’ve heard good things about it too.  The last time I had my 52-week project printed out, it cost me about $88 (plus tax), this time I only spent $44 for each book.  In terms of quality, the paper used in the MyPublisher book is a bit thicker but aside from that, there really isn’t that much of a difference.  Some of the colors in the Costco photobook looks a bit dull but that might be because I chose the Lustre print.  I’m not entirely sure if that’s the reason, but my dad had two photobooks printed out using Glossy and the colors came out really nice and vibrant.

The only thing I didn’t really like about Costco’s photobook is that it’s a bit difficult to arrange the pictures the way you want.  They do have a lot of layouts to choose from, but I didn’t really like most of them since they don’t give you that much freedom when it comes to arranging pictures and texts on the page.  To solve this, I did the layout for each individual page in Photoshop and uploaded those on the blank photobook pages.  It’s a bit tedious compared to MyPublisher, which is a lot easier to use.

One thing I like about having my photobook made in Costco is that you can choose to pick up the books yourself at your nearest Costco branch.  This way you get to save on shipping as well.  Pretty neat huh?  Of course we don’t have Costco here in the Philippines so we had my uncle pick our orders up for us.  He arrived here in the Philippines the other day for a short vacation and he bought our books with him 😀

 

I chose the largest photobook available (12×12 inches)

Costco now offers spine printing too 🙂

 

Inside my book:

Week 52/52 : There’s more to this brave adventure than you’d ever believe.

 

ANOTHER YEAR DONE, ANOTHER PROJECT COMPLETED 😀

Last year my family went to the States for the holidays, so my final SP showed me in Mt. Charleston, surrounded by snow.  This year our family went to the beach, so instead of snow, I’m surrounded by sand (and the sea) 🙂

This was a quick photo that Ezra took of me just before we left to go back home.  It was a bit awkward posing in the middle of so many people (I photoshopped them out), so I couldn’t do too many weird poses.

I know that it’s my last photo of the year, and people probably expected something more extravagant than this.  But just like last year, I really didn’t have time to go on a fancy shoot or execute some elaborate concept.  Besides, I kinda like this shot. It’s simple but for some reason it seems to symbolize hope and anticipation for the future.  Well, for me anyway XD

A lot of people have been asking me if I plan to do another round of 52 weeks for next year, and the answer is “of course”.  I enjoy 52 weeks so much, I can’t imagine not doing it for 2011.  Like I said before, it’s one of the few things I look forward to every week.  It may be a bit difficult sometimes to come up with a decent photo, especially when there’s so much stuff to be done for school, but I still enjoy every bit of it 🙂

Thank you to everyone who embarked on this 52-week journey with me.  Every bit of support was appreciated.  Thank you to all my Flickr contacts who gave me encouragement and shared their thoughts with me.  I know I’ve been a horrible contact this year (my studies have been keeping me busy), so I really appreciate everyone who has stuck with me despite this.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

(Title is from Owl City’s song called “To The Sky”)

(EZRA) 52/52 : Will it snow for Christmas?

CONGRATULATIONS TO MY SISTER FOR COMPLETING HERE FIRST ROUND OF 52-WEEKS 😀

Took this picture yesterday, the last day of 2010.  I had to cut up the snowflakes for her because it turns out she doesn’t know how to make paper snowflakes.

Her description:
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I know that Christmas was last week, but I really wanted a Christmas/winter SP.  Here the Philippines people celebrate Christmas until February. I think our country has the longest Christmas celebration.

Last Christmas vacation I saw snow for the first time since we visited America for the holidays.  I loved it! It obviously won’t snow for Christmas here in the Philippines that’s why I had to settle for paper snowflakes. My sister cut the snowflakes out for me because she said that the ones that I made were hideous, hehe.

Thanks a lot to my sister for taking my picture, editing it and cutting the paper snowflakes!
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Outtake:

(EZRA) 51/52 : The Cave of Wonders

 

Quick shot taken at the back of a church in Tanauan.  We’ve been showing our relatives around (who visited us for the holidays) so we haven’t had time to take proper SPs.

Her description:
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I was supposed to do a Christmas SP this week, but we’ve been really busy because our relatives from the States came back to the Philippines for Christmas.

I got the title from the Disney movie “Aladdin.” I think it’s the first movie I’ve ever watched in a movie theater. Thanks a lot to my sister for taking my picture and editing it!
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(the “cave” was actually a bit small, so I made it larger in photoshop.  You can kinda tell at the bottom.)

 

Colored version:

I like the colored version more but Ezra loves creepy stuff so I made the photo B&W

Week 51/52 : Don’t want Christmas to be over

 

Self portrait for last week (which I took this morning – I know, I cheated).

How was your Christmas?  (Or Hannukah/holidays if you guys don’t celebrate Christmas.)  I hope you guys had a great time and stuffed yourself with lots of food 😀

My aunts flew in from California to celebrate Christmas with us here in the Philippines.  Our schedule has been packed since last week.  We’ve been attending Christmas parties almost every other day and visiting friends and relatives like crazy.  We went to the beach earlier this week and just got back yesterday.  Now there’s another party going on at our house for my dad’s friends.  Busy busy busy~

I’ve been pigging out on Christmas goodies the past week.  I was too scared to weigh myself at first but I checked the scale this morning and was happy to see I haven’t gained that much weight.  I’ve been exercising every chance I get to avoid looking like a heifer when the holidays are over.  My mom told me to just enjoy myself and worry about losing weight after the New Year, but it might be too late by then.

As busy as I am right now, I’m pretty sure I’ll be even busier once classes resume 😦

Week 50/52 : Fairy lights

 

I’ve always wanted a shot like this.  I was planning to do one last December, but we spent the holidays at our relatives’ house in California.  They didn’t put up Christmas decorations so I wasn’t able to get my hands on fairy lights.

(Ezra said this shot reminds her of the people in Disneyland parades XD)

Thank you to my sister for taking the shot 🙂

 

Outtakes:

 

I actually like this one a lot, but it’s blurry 😦 (And I already have too many pictures of me touching my face)

(EZRA) 50/52 : Being small isn’t a bad thing

It’s a teeny tiny Ezra.  Even tinier than usual, haha.  I was planning to add wings to make her look like a fairy, but it looked too fake.

Her description:
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Ever since I was young I’ve always been the shortest in my class. I used to hate it, but now I don’t think it’s such a bad thing anymore.

This shot is actually my sister’s idea. I originally wanted to lie under the Christmas tree and pretend I was a present, but my sister wouldn’t let me (she said it looks terrible).

Thanks a lot to my sister for taking my picture, editing it and, lending me her clothes!
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(I’ve always been the shortest in class too)

(EZRA) 49/52 : The future is not a straight line. There are many different pathways. We must try to decide that future for ourselves

Forgot to post Ezra’s portrait again.  So much stuff to do before the holidays.

Shot this last Friday in our garden.  The brick wall was added in Photoshop.  I got it from here.

Her description:

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My sister and I have been really busy lately, but I’m so happy that it’s finally Christmas break! (But I have a lot of homework over the break 😦  I have 2 important deadlines this January.)

I got the title from the anime “Akira.” Thanks a lot to my sister for taking my picture and editing it!
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Week 49/52 : Roaming in between the worlds of sleep and awake

I haven’t been feeling well lately T__T  I hope I don’t get sick over Christmas break.  That would really suck.

The “fireball” were made using this brush set from deviantart.

Thanks to Ckloy for the dress.  (It’s actually a blouse, but it’s quite long and I’m pretty short so I can wear it as a dress too XD)

Title came from Steve Conte’s song “Living Inside the Shell”.

(EZRA) 48/52 : My Love Messenger

 

Ezra’s portrait for last week.
Her description:
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The heart with wings is actually a pen which they give out as a freebie in Etude House.  My sister and I buy most of our make-up from there so we have a lot of these pens.  My sister doesn’t like them for some reason.  I saw one of these pens in her room without any wings.  I think she hates them so much that she ripped out the wings (though she claims that they came off by themselves, hehe).

Thanks a lot to my sister for taking my picture and editing it!
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I don’t hate them!  I just don’t like them as much as the other freebies because they look a bit cheap (and tacky) compared to the ones we used to get. They used to give us folders and free make up samples at Etude House, but now all they give out are these pens.  A bit disappointing.  They don’t even write that well.   But I swear I didn’t rip the wings off, they really did fall out by themselves.