A photo diary is two objects joined together: a short printed book, and a blank one.
The printed part is yours. The blank part is theirs, and it is most of the object — a 60-sheet diary is 120 pages, and the printed spreads are a small fraction at the front.
The mistake is filling it
The instinct is to use every printed page available, because photographs are the part you can control.
It is the wrong instinct. A diary crammed with printed spreads is a book with lined paper tacked on at the back, and the recipient reads it once and then does not write in it, because the object already looks finished.
Leave it obviously unfinished. That is what invites the pen.
What the printed front should be
| Include | Why |
|---|---|
| Where they are now | The starting point. One spread |
| The people | So the blank pages have a cast |
| A few good photographs, large | Not a survey. Six or eight images |
| One page of writing from you | The instruction, effectively — it shows what the object is for |
| A blank first line | Deliberately. Somebody has to go first, and it should be you |
What not to include: a retrospective. In a Photo Diary, an opening of ten years of history is a memorial, and it points backwards at an object whose whole purpose is forwards. If looking back is genuinely the point, that is the other diary — see below.
How many photographs
Fewer than you think. The printed section wants to be a prologue rather than a first act.
Ten to fifteen photographs is what the diary is designed around, the cover included, and that holds at every length. The rest of the object is not yours.
What you actually send us
Five things, and the list is short on purpose.
| Send | Notes |
|---|---|
| The cover photograph | It is printed on the hard cover with their name. One clear face or one place reads well; a crowded group shot does not |
| The name, spelled exactly | The way they write it themselves, not the way the family says it |
| The rest of the ten to fifteen | Chosen for the job each one does, from the table above |
| Your page of writing, as text | Typed straight into WhatsApp is fine. Or ask for that page left blank, for your own hand |
| Any dates to mark | Usually none. The pages come undated unless you ask |
Send the photographs on WhatsApp as documents rather than as photos, so they arrive at full size instead of compressed. How to send photos without losing quality →
The page of writing
The single highest-value thing in a photo diary, and the part most people skip.
One page, at the front, in your own words: what this is, why you are giving it, what you hope they put in it. That page is what converts a nice object into one that gets used, because it tells them there is a job.
What to write in a photo diary →
Checking the preview
Nothing prints until you have seen a digital preview of the design. Four things are worth checking, in this order:
- The name on the cover, letter by letter. It is the one line that is printed on the outside and seen every day.
- Your page of writing, read aloud. A sentence that looked fine typed on a phone can read stiffly once it is set on a page.
- Which spread comes first. The first photograph they see when they open it should be the one you most want seen.
- No dates where you wanted none. An undated diary is the right default; make sure nothing crept in.
Photo Diary or Persona Diary
Everything above is about the Photo Diary, where the printed front is a prologue and the object is mostly writing pages.
The Persona Diary is built the other way round: roughly half of it is a designed archive of memories, and the other half is blank pages for what comes next. In that one, looking back is the brief rather than the mistake.
| Photo Diary | Persona Diary | |
|---|---|---|
| The front | Photo spreads, a short prologue | Roughly half the diary, a designed archive |
| The rest | Lined writing pages, most of the object | Blank pages, roughly the other half |
| Right when | They will write, and you want to start them off | You want to hand them a past and leave room to continue it |
| A retrospective | Leave it out | That is what the first half is for |
| Sizes and prices | 60 to 120 sheets, ₹699 to ₹1,299 | The same sheets at the same prices |
Three fronts, worked through
A friend starting her first job in another city. Photo Diary, 60 sheets. The cover is her on the last day of college, alone and clearly lit. Inside: the hostel room before it was emptied, the four of you at the canteen table, her parents at the station, the new city’s skyline from the first week — eleven photographs, and nothing older than two years.
A father who has just retired. Photo Diary, 100 sheets, because he has written the day’s accounts in a register for thirty years and the habit already exists. The front is the office on his last day, the send-off, the grandchildren, the scooter he still refuses to sell. The larger size is right here for the reason it is wrong almost everywhere else: he will fill it.
A grandmother, for the family’s stories. Persona Diary, 60 sheets. The archive half carries her wedding photograph, the old house, her children as children. The blank half is for what she has never written down — the recipes, the names of the people in the oldest photographs, the story of the move. Here the looking back is what starts her writing.
What it costs
| Size | Pages | Price |
|---|---|---|
| 60 sheets | 120 | ₹699 |
| 80 sheets | 160 | ₹899 |
| 100 sheets | 200 | ₹1,099 |
| 120 sheets | 240 | ₹1,299 |
Flat ₹70 delivery anywhere in India. It lies flat when open, which is why it is writable rather than just displayable. Photo Diary →
Frequently asked
How many photos should go in a photo diary? Ten to fifteen. The printed section is a prologue; most of the object is blank on purpose.
Should the printed part be at the front? Yes. It sets up the blank pages, and a diary that is printed throughout stops being a diary.
Can I include writing as well as photographs? Yes, and one page of it from you is the most valuable thing in the object — it tells the recipient what the diary is for.
Should it be a retrospective? Not a Photo Diary, which is a beginning; a retrospective there points backwards and stops the pen. If the past is the point, the Persona Diary gives it roughly half the book.
How long is a photo diary? 60 to 120 sheets, which is 120 to 240 pages, at ₹699 to ₹1,299.
Part of our guide to photo diaries and card decks. See also: photo diary sizes and page counts and who a photo diary suits.
Start one: Photo Diary from ₹699 · All 12 keepsakes