Have you been wondering where I am? My blog posts have been fewer and farther apart and I have a reason: in my very little free time, I’ve been doing things other than blogging. I know. I miss you too.
My one-year anniversary of leaving Japan is almost here, and the knowledge of that has lit a fire under me to work on my photobook. Have you seen those yet? Photobooks are hardbound, full-colour, glossy books that contain your vacation photos. Or wedding photos. Or birthday party photos. Whatever you like. The software accepts as much text as you like, so you can narrate the photos. (You know I can’t resist talking about my photos.) Send all the edited software to the company on a disc, and they mail you a book in less than a week. It’s amazing.
Anyway, I did my very first photobook after our trip to Egypt, and I loved it so much I decided to do another for Japan. I started the next book while I was still in Japan, and worked diligently when I got back, around a year ago next week. I sorted and edited photos, designed and narrated page after page. I had completed about 50 pages when my computer died.
Like, totally and completely fried. I lost, not only all my photobook work, but all my photos since the last backup, which had been in July. In other words, I lost a little over two months’ worth of photos from Japan, during one of the most amazing adventures of my whole life. Can you believe the rotten luck?
I was so devastated, it took me a loooong time to mentally recover.
But I’m getting my spark back, and I have the heart to begin again, and sort through Japan photos, and edit, and begin designing pages once more. I even have a few of the photos I lost, since for some crazy reason, those are some of the only photos I decided to share on facebook.
I have not been posting much in September because I have been working on my Japan photobook. I’m up to 60 pages already! (Just the photos, not the words, which will take a long time I am sure) In case you’re thinking that 60 pages sounds like enough, well, it isn’t. I took over 2,000 photos in Japan. It’s going to take a lot more pages crammed with photos to get to all of it, even though I’m discarding most of them. (Considering this, should I be grateful that so many photos were lost then? ah, nope.)
Today I worked on my Fuji climb. You can read my blog post here if you’re interested, but if you aren’t, I’ve decided to post a couple of the photos that will go into the book.
Conscious Engagement 
I can not believe you lost everything! Devastating! After any tragedy, you always hear folks talk about the loss of photos.
Glad you have found the heart to begin again.
Love that first photo 🙂
It truly WAS a tragedy. Ah well, I spent months and months in Japan. What the heck am I whining about?
Terrific! That does seem to be quite a lot of work, but I am sure it helps cement the memory of each detail as you re-live your travels. I’m going to have to catch up on you and your travels.
Oh, you are so right about re-living the experience. It’s like a gift, really, to have the trip a second time, as I go through these photos. And incredible as it was, there are still parts that have faded.
There always are.