Lush Albums Blog

Heard about these beautiful albums but not quite sure how to quickly design and order a Lush Album? You’re in luck! As part of our introduction of Lush Albums, we are excited to offer a free webinar featuring Tamara Lackey and Fundy, CEO of Fundy Software, on June 2 at 10:00am PDT/1:00pm EDT.  

Join Tamara and Fundy as they show you exactly how easy it is to design and order your very own Lush Album using Fundy Designer v6.

During the webinar, Tamara and Fundy will walk through every step of the process. They will show you how to download Fundy Designer v6, how easy it is to start a new project and layout and custom design the pages of your Lush Album. They will also step through how to choose your fabric, album size, or any additional options, like a custom hand-sewn bag or custom imprinting on the inside back cover.

Tamara and Fundy will also show off a number of beautiful album layouts, then talk through the tips and tricks of album design they have learned over the years so that you can use them to present your photos to your clients in the best possible ways.  Of course, they will also be answering any and all questions you have as well!

When you purchase a Lush Album, 10% of all proceeds go to support Beautiful Together and, during the webinar, Tamara will share more about BeautifulTogether.org, the non-profit that is near to her heart, working to support children waiting for families.

Click here to register for the live webinar on June 2nd! 

 

 

Photographers all know how the client experience is enhanced when high-quality images escape the screen and truly come to life in high-quality prints. Even the most high-end of screens cannot challenge the reward a client gets from seeing their family portrait printed on paper. The same, of course, is true for photo albums. That is why Lush Albums is excited to provide photographers the option the purchase studio sample albums that will allow your customers to see first-hand the high-quality look and feel of Lush Albums. Put a studio sample in your clients’ hands and let them experience a Lush Album!

There are two ways to purchase a studio sample Lush Album.  First, you can purchase a ready-made fully designed studio album with a variety of photographs by Tamara Lackey.  Photographs in the ready-made studio samples cover a range of sizes, as well as showing off both color and black and white giclée printing. Each ready-made studio sample is already priced at 33% off, and they come in two different size and fabric combinations:  8×12 Moss Green Velvety Suede Collection and 10x10 Charcoal Soft Linen Collection. 

 

 

Additionally, we have had many requests for custom studio samples, and we are happy to announce that that option is now available.  Custom design your own Lush Album with your own photos, using the incredibly fast and fun-to-use design software of Fundy Designer – and, remember, there is no need to purchase the software or pay any additional fees for it.  It’s simply included in the regular price of your Lush Album. (If you haven’t used this design tool yet, you’re in for a treat; you can create incredible-looking designs in just minutes.)  Of course you can select your sample album in any size and fabric combination you choose.  Just be sure to select the “sample album” box to receive your 25% discount when you complete your order!  Custom studio sample albums will be imprinted “studio sample” on the inside back cover, but otherwise they are the exact same as the Lush Albums your clients will receive.

And don’t forget to check out our hand-sewn Lush Bags, which pair beautifully with Lush Albums!

Actually enjoy the act of creating your album, show your clients lovely, high-quality samples with protected giclée printed pages, and know that all Lush Albums are completely eco-friendly, with thirteen different people working on your album from start to finish. 

Best of all, every single purchase of Lush Albums supports BeautifulTogether.org, in support of children without families.

 

 

I am thrilled to announce that Lush Albums, the fine art photo albums line that we’ve been developing since December of 2013, is officially up and running – and we are ready to receive orders! 

Lush Albums have been in the making for quite some time because it took that long to – well, basically, make it. We picked out all the custom fabrics, determined the paper type and printing options, built out the software, tested multiple versions, confirmed shipping details, built a website, set up a back end process and so so so much more – but it is finally live and ready to go.

Lush Albums is a partnership between Tamara Lackey Photography and Fundy Software, creator of some extraordinarily time-saving software products for the photography industry. We built this line from scratch and worked directly with Finao to craft these albums in the United States. The goal of Tamara Lackey’s Lush Albums was to develop a series of photo albums that are simple in concept but offer mix and match choices to suit every photographer. I am very, very proud of this album line for the following reasons.

What we cared about most when building this line from the ground up:

1. High-Quality, Fine Art: Our studio has been selling high-quality photo albums for years, and we decided to build Lush Albums to offer many unique advantages over our previous experiences, but we knew it had to start with a high-quality book, protected fine art paper that didn’t look protected, unique custom fabrics that were personally sourced, giclée printing, archival inks, attention-to-detail construction and completely handmade covers. When all is said and done, thirteen different people handle one Lush Album from start to finish. Here’s a lot more on the attention we paid to the quality of these books.

2. Eco-friendly: We wanted to use all eco-friendly products, as green as possible. This meant a lot of little shifts in terms of how we chose to put these albums together. For example, Lush Albums are assembled using pure-quality, all-natural, extraordinarily strong photo glue. Each page substrate is 100% plant-based cellulose. By using plant waste, such as corn stalks, cellulose becomes a repurposed material that is lignum-free with a neutral pH level. Pretty cool stuff.

3. Animal-friendly: It mattered that the fabrics and materials that made up this book were beautiful, soft to the touch, durable and striking – and that they all be sourced and assembled without using animal products. Our Zen Silk Collection, for instance, looks and feels just like silk. It just happens to be more durable and leaves the teeny little worms out of the process. And not using animal products also adds to the eco-friendliness of Lush Albums.

4. Fast Design: You can literally (and I actually mean literally) design a beautiful, very well-designed layout for your album in a matter of minutes. Even if you choose to customize multiple layouts repeatedly! You really have to try this to believe this – it blows any other design software I’ve ever used completely out of the water, making photo album design not only fast but also quite fun. This perk was brought to you courtesy of some pretty brilliant software design from Fundy Software.

5. Fast To Receive: I’ve worked with a variety of vendors over the years, and it can be pretty trying to wait and wait for your photo albums to arrive – especially if there’s any issue with the book once you receive it, and then you have to wait and wait again for a replacement. You can receive your Lush Album within a week and half or so, depending on your shipping preference, after designing it. And that’s including the fact that each print is required to dry for a minimum of three days before a protective surface coating is applied – and then they dry again for 24 more hours. (This assures you of the finest quality, longest-lasting prints as this process requires special handling.)  In order to ensure that you still receive your book quickly, though, these books start being produced within the first hour your album design is received. That makes a huge difference when it comes to timely delivery.

6. Happy Pricing: Working with high-quality products is a great thing – you offer your clients heirloom pieces that will last a lifetime and know you are standing behind your promise of delivering value. But when you can mitigate a bit of your expenses while still offering a fantastic product? That’s a smart, great thing. We are launching Lush Albums with happy pricing to get your attention and to see just how wonderfully these are received – so that you can truly fall in love with these books.

… and … drum roll here …

THE MOST IMPORTANT PART:  The ability to give in ways that make a measurable difference in the world.
For every single Lush Albums product sold, we are donating 10% of our profits directly to Beautiful Together, our non-profit organization that’s completely focused on improving the lives of children without families (whether they are in foster care or living in group homes, care centers, or orphanages) through specific, tangible and measurable projects – while we work to improve the adoption process for all involved.