Modern Ontario Wedding Photos – Unbound Albums
I have long been a lover of journals – 30 years of journals have a special space reserved for them on one of our bookshelves. I often find myself digging back through them to look up details from our travels so that I can make a suggestion for someone else, or just laughing at the woes I faced when I was 9. A trip to Venice in 2010 resulted in me finding a little hole-in-the-wall shop owned by a woman with darkly stained fingers wearing a smeared apron. The piles of leatherwork were all her craft. I was instantly enchanted, and ended up heading home to London with a hand-embossed leather journal featuring a Venetian tile pattern (pictured below). It’s the most money I’ve ever spent on a book. It took me two days to make sure that I really wanted it enough to make me go back and buy it (no easy feat, given the labyrinthine nature of Venice). The feeling I got from holding it, though, was so satisfying, that I knew it was a safe purchase. This was artwork that would grow old with me. That book has gone with me just about everywhere since; when I fill its pages, I simply cut out the old book and glue in a new one. Over time, the strap has ripped (three times), there are dents and divots and scratches all over the place. Character.
Just imagine my excitement when I saw a post from Dekora Album Co announcing a new leather photo satchel that has the exact same feel to it as my Venetian journal. It’s made of beautifully soft distressed leather that will age, darken, and show its own character as it gets handled.
Dekora is a wonderful Canadian album company and I’ve long been wanting to find a way to add their heirloom products to my offerings so that my clients are truly receiving the very best quality from me in a range of formats. As soon as I saw this product, I knew that I’d finally found the exact item that would enable me to start offering the perfect complement to my modern Ontario wedding photos: an unbound album.
The concept is very simple. You choose the photos from your collection, the same way you would if you were having an album printed, and then I deliver to you a leather-wrapped collection of prints that you can take out and handle individually, instead of holding them in a book. There are four different paper types available, the most exclusive being the hand-torn fine art giclée paper featured in some of these photos. The matte printing is going to make you feel like you could reach out and touch an actual human being in the prints. It’s absolutely incredible. The idea of one of these sitting on someone’s bookshelf and being carefully taken out and thumbed through over the next 10, 20, 50 years gives me goosebumps. Like my journal is doing with me, this is artwork that will grow old with you.
As adults, our worlds are so bereft of “treats” – of things that make us feel like we’re in on something truly special. We buy the things that we need for our children, for our homes, and maybe we buy ourselves a new top or spend a little extra at the grocery store to buy some nice ingredients. But we push our own thoughts of heirloom-quality luxuries aside. We forget what it’s like to open something and feel true joy.
There’s a sense of anticipation when you unwrap the satchel – and this coming from me, who already KNOWS what’s inside! When I put it together, I had already seen each print. I had touched them all, and marveled at each one. But unwrapping that smooth leather, unwinding that strap, peeling back the top layer of the leather and seeing the detail of the first impeccable print – it felt like that true joy I was just talking about.
In case you haven’t already guessed, I’m so excited to be offering this item to all couples, from 2017 onwards. Clients coming for consults and viewing sessions starting NOW will be able to look through my own unbound album and get a feel for the amazing print quality. I can’t wait to start answering your questions and discussing options about this stunning print option. Curious about what other printing option I offer for my wedding clients? Check out my beautiful, handcrafted wedding albums.
Ang Waterton works with couples from Cornwall and around the province, creating modern Ontario wedding photos that show her clients how they loved others on their wedding day. She believes passionately in the importance of print and would love to talk with you about printing options and ways to store or display your treasured family photographs. Explore more of www.momentusstudio.com to see other samples of her work or check out some of her albums right here.
