I have this tradition where, for every close friend of mine who gets married, I make them a handmade album with pictures I’ve taken with my instant camera. It started when I realized so many of my close friends are international, and I wanted to leave behind a memento of the time we shared together.
We usually get together as a group a few days before the wedding. What began as me taking pictures on my own has grown into something more collaborative — throughout the trip, my friends and I coordinate to take as many pictures as we can, then sit down together in the evenings to design, draw, and build the layouts as the trip is still happening in real time.
The way we work together—our artistic styles standing apart yet somehow blending into one—becomes a living essence of the time we spent together.
I hear the same thing from every friend who’s gotten one: “I look back at this album far more than the professional photographer’s album I paid thousands of dollars for.”