Getting ready for week in the life

5.5.16


Week in the life is happening in a few days (you can read all about this project here)! Ali is starting on Monday may 9th, but I'll begin on Sunday because I go on holiday next Sunday and I wanted to document a week I'll spend at home. 

As this is my first time doing WITL I thought I'd prepare a little in advance and set my intentions so I can fully enjoy my week and not worry too much about the kind of photos I take and the amount of stories I might record. 

Getting ready for week in the life involves the four following steps for me:

1) Gather supplies


At first, I gather the supplies I intend to use for my album. I bought Ali's kit and my plan is to use it mostly as it came with everything I needed for my album plus the colours work perfectly together. Usually, I'm more a black/blue & white (plus gold or kraft accents) kind of project lifer, but I just love the combination of light green, shades of pink and soft orange.


For the album, I chose the grey stories album. In addition, I'll rely on my essentials: tape runner, jet black stazon inkdymo embossing label makertiny attacherpaper trimmerblack sharpie (for writing on photos), black pilot pen (for journaling).

2) Find inspiration

#weekinthelifememories. I love to browse other people's past week in the life albums for ideas I want to try and for general inspiration. Favourites: Azzari, Andrea, Ali (this or that).

3) Set my intentions

My intention is simple: it's about capturing a week in May 2016. In order to avoid getting overwhelmed or to feel the pressure that comes with comparison to other people's approaches, it's helpful for me to think about the following questions:
What am I good at in terms of photography? Taking photos of flowers, coffee, my feet, my home and of what I eat.
What am I not good at in terms of photography? Taking photos of me, of social interactions, of me in other places. Let's be realistic, I'll never place my camera on the floor in a supermarket at set the timer, but nevertheless, I'll try to get out of my comfort zone.
What am I good at in terms of words/writing? Making "currently" lists and describing what my day looks like, what I do, where I go etc.
What am I not good at in terms of word/writing? Telling stories of the everyday that show more generally how life looks like at the moment. I'll try to get some of those stories told, too.

4) Prepare my album

Today, I did a little preparation of my album and arranged the page protectors, the daily dividers and the days of the week cards. I don't decide much in advance, but I like to know how many photos I can use in my album every day. With the current arrangement, I would start with the daily divider followed by a 3x8 page protector. One page protector with two 4x6 follows, where I put the day of the week card. After that, I placed one with four 3x4 slots (my favourite) and one full page protector. As a result, every day I could include up to two 6x8 photos, two 4x6 photos, two 3x8 photos and more or less four 3x4 photos (leaving some space for the lovely filler and journaling cards that came with the kit). 10 photos per day? I can totally do that! On two days I'm using a 2x2 page protector to include more details.  






Another reason why I prepare my album is because it inspires me and (hopefully) keeps me motivated throughout the week. Just look at those beautiful colours!




What are your keys to success for week in the life? I would love to read about your experiences in the comments!

Kathi

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5 comments

  1. I really enjoyed your post. Lots of good ideas especially about setting intentions and knowing your strengths in terms of photos and stories.

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    1. Thank you! This approach helps me to see what I can do and worry less about why my album doesn't look like the one by someone else..

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  2. I really enjoyed your post. Lots of good ideas especially about setting intentions and knowing your strengths in terms of photos and stories.

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  3. Anonymous8.5.16

    Really looking forward to seeing your WITL album progress, Kathi! I did minimal set up like you with just arranging dividers and pages. :)

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    1. Well I hope I'll find some time soon to start on the album. Yes isn't that the most fun? I so enjoyed arranging the basics into my album...

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