Sunday 15 March 2009

Multi photo layout


It is true that most of my layouts only have a single picture, and I have been in the past told off because of that. But Scrapbooking has no rules. Whatever you like, whatever express yourself that is OK. Of course, that has nothing to do with what will get you into magazines, or into the in scrap crowd, who value design and creativity and rightly so. If it has no rules it means that the reason why you scrapbook can vary greatly: because you would like to record your children growing up, your travels, or for no reason whatsoever.

After all scrapbooking should be regarded as any other hobby. It is done for the joy that procures to the one who does it. That the scrapbook is a keepsake or a treasure for the rest of the family is a secondary thing. I know it sounds selfish, but we rarely second guess the men who enjoy golf on the weekends, and pay mass amounts for club memberships as well as all the gear to practice the sport. I think of it as fishing, which type of fisherman do enjoy it more: the ones that eat the caught fish or the ones who put back the fish into the pond or stream? Although I have never quite understood why you would fish for hours just to put the fish caught back into the waters, my lack of empathy doesn't diminish the enjoyment of the fisherman in question. And, honestly I do not think that one can say that one type of fisherman enjoys it more than the other. Likewise scrapbooking, it is a valid hobby weather you do it for posterity or just for the pure joy that it procures you in the exact moment that you are creating it.

For me, scrapbooking is about combining two passions: photos and paper. And most times I think the focus of my layouts should be the photos, that is my starting point and often just the one photo is all I need. I am design/creativity oriented, so for me the fun of the hobby is to create pages that incorporate my photos rather than to document my life -although that is a nice plus that I get as a sideline from it.

Many scrapbookers will say that is essential to have a title, some others will tell you that journaling is the most important thing. Words are not something that come easily to me, at least when I have to write them, so if I do write journaling I tend to hide it away from the casual browser of my albums. And, to be perfectly honest, I do not care for titles, specially those which do not give any information such as Wonder and Beautiful... Don't take me wrong, I have layouts with those words as titles but I think that it only makes sense if there is a story behind that Beautiful or Wonder. But I do like type, so uninformative titles will still be cool in my book if the lettering is good.

But I like to think that the no rules thing really applies to me when I am creating a layout. Like many, I do have my comfort zone, wether is certain colour schemes or secret journaling. However, sometimes I want to do something different creatively or my intention for the layout is actually document an event or memories. This layout is a good example of that: I wanted to capture the many places that my spoilt cat finds in our house. So, here enjoy a rare thing: a multi photo layout with journaling up there for everyone to see.

3 comments:

Paul B said...

So good to hear someone else say these things Paula :) I'm with you. There are no rules in creativity. I'll also add that as well as not needing to include journalling or titles, you don't have to be acid/lignen free or care about archival quality (unless you plan to sell what you create that is). Like you I favour the principles in design but also the freedom of art/creativity. Like you said in a prevvious post, why not try putting red with brown even if you've been taught not to. Do it for your own joy and you're immune to anything others may say. BTW love your LO and you've shown you are as talented at placing multi photos on a LO as you are with one. I can see you've used a grid of four, you've kept unity with the colours and stamps and you have a focal point with the larger landscape photo. You have a lot of talent to teach the scrapbook community. Px

Momiji said...

fabulous layout as ever! always so perfectly balanced and this one captures perfectly the personality of your beloved Wasabi...

Julia Dunnit said...

Couldn't agree more! In the same way as there are no rules, nor are there masterpieces or more skilled scrappers than others...as long as the creator of the LO likes it, it works.

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