about twenty minutes

Journal photo shoot

Six things, in this order. Your phone is all you need. Everything you take today goes straight onto the shop page and into the little film, so it is worth the twenty minutes.

Before you start

• Daylight, by a window, no overhead lights on. Morning or mid-afternoon is best.
• A plain surface: wooden table, a cream cloth, the sofa. Nothing else in shot except a mug or a pen.
• Wipe the phone lens first (thumb smudges make everything soft).
• Tap the screen on the journal before each shot so it is what stays sharp.
• Hold still for a second after tapping. Take more than you need; we choose.
• Send them as files, not compressed: WhatsApp "document", or a Google Drive folder, or AirDrop to David. WhatsApp photo mode squashes them.

The six

1. 1 Your hands on the open journal, pen in hand photos

   How: Journal open flat on a table at a page you like (the emotions wheel, or a write-in page). Phone straight above, pointing down. One hand resting on the page as if you are mid-thought, pen in the other. Take three, moving the pen a little each time.

   Why: This is the shot every journal that sells has: it proves it lies flat and shows the pages are real. It also shows the size of it against your hands.

2. 2 Open flat, no hands photos

   How: Same page, phone straight above, nothing on the page. One at the emotions wheel, one at a blank write-in page, one at the 5-4-3-2-1 page.

   Why: We use these as the "look inside" images, and we can label them with little notes later ("skills up front", "space to pour it out").

3. 3 Close up of the wire and the page edges photos

   How: Journal closed. Get the phone about a hand-width from the spiral wire, slightly from the side, so you can see the twin wire loops and the thickness of the pages. Two or three tries; tap the screen on the wire so it is sharp.

   Why: People cannot touch it online. This one shot tells them it is a proper wire-bound book with thick paper, not a flimsy pad.

4. 4 You, holding it, turned slightly away photos

   How: Someone else holds the phone, or prop it up. Hold the journal against you or in your lap so the cover is angled away from the camera or the back is showing. Natural, no posing, by a window. Three or four frames.

   Why: The page needs a real photo of you with your journal: it is your story, and it is the one thing we will never fake. We keep the cover turned away today because the copy you have is the first proof; the new cover is on its way.

5. 5 One short film: pick it up, open it, turn six pages, close it film

   How: Phone on its side (landscape), propped up or held by someone else, pointing at the table. Reach in, pick the journal up, open it, turn about six pages slowly, hold one spread still for a couple of seconds, close it. About 20 seconds. Do it twice. No need to talk.

   Why: A silent flip-through is the single most persuasive thing on a journal listing, and the shops all want one that is 5 to 15 seconds. We trim it.

6. 6 Optional: one where it lives photos

   How: The journal open on the sofa arm, the bedside table, or next to your tea, wherever you would actually use it. Cover away from camera or open. One or two frames.

   Why: A "this is what it looks like in a real home" picture, in your home, not a studio.

Two quick questions while you are at it

• Does the journal ship with anything else (a bookmark, a card, a sticker)? If not, that is fine; the "what you get" picture will list the journal itself.
• Are you happy for us to add a couple of computer-made scene pictures later in the gallery (the journal on a table, say), clearly labelled as illustrative? You yourself will never be computer-made in any picture: that is a firm line.

Send everything to David when you are done. Thank you 💚