Creating a Gymnastics Yearbook for Your Special Gymnast Using a Photobook

Getting the Pics

With a digital camera and a good plan you can create a Year Book for your gymnast to highlight the competition year. In order to provide this Year Book you’ll need to start planning it now to make sure that you get all the pictures that you’ll need. With this plan in hand you can be sure to capture some moments that you might not usually capture, but will be really nice to include in the Year Book.

Gymnastics is such a visual sport and pic opportunities occur throughout the year. Snapfish, Photoworks, Picaboo all offer photobooks that are affordable and fun to make. The pages of these books can also include text. It is easy to put a book together, but it is much nicer if you’ve a plan than just throwing a few photos on a page.

A good Year Book will have several candid shots and planned group pics. Since it is important to start getting the photos from the beginning of the year we will discuss what types of shots to get in this first part of the article. In months to come we will discuss how to make the book and which photo company will be the best fit for your book.

If you think back to your school days or extra curricular activities some of your best memories may not be the most obvious ones. That is why some of these pictures are included in the log. Your daughter spends a lot of their time with the whole team, so anything reflecting their year won’t be complete if it just shows pictures of your daughter at meets. Teammates, coaches, and practices are a massive part of their gymnastics life. Teammates may have left your gymnast’s life over the years and they will appreciate photos of them in years to come. In September you may not realize what will become important by Might, so begin now! Once you get started looking at the type of pics listed you’ll be sure to think of some of your own.

Log of Photos:

In gym photos

* Candid shot of your gymnast interacting with each teammate
* Practice photos
* Office staff
* Gym decorated for each season (if your gym does this)

Competition photos

* March-in
* Cover from each program
* Gymnasts standing during the national anthem – both long shot and one focusing on your gymnast. (Many teams link pinkies during the national anthem, and this makes for a nice shot.
* Coach talking to the gymnast before an event. This is great if you can get a good expression from either the coach or the gymnast.
* Girls hugging or congratulating each other after an event
* Flags at different gyms (US flag and any other interesting flags)
* Coach reacting to a good performance (by anyone)
* Dismount on bars and beam from each teammate
* Several scores as they’re flipped
* Judges scoring your daughter (especially if there’s a judge that they really like or dislike)
* Audiences at a meet
* Candid shot of your gymnast interacting with each teammate

Miscellaneous photos

* Gym bag
* Grips
* Good luck charms for all teammates who have them
* Snacks
* Special talents of anyone (my daughter could stick her stomach out so far that it was quite unusual)

Putting It All Together

If this is your first photobook you should look at a few photobook publisher’s websites (Snapfish, Photoworks, Picaboo, Shutterfly) and and begin a book (you do not actually need to order it) with any pictures you have just to see if you like a certain publisher and the layouts and backgrounds that they have. Also check out the sizes of books they offer to see which one has the size you like.

You will now have a lot of photos to review. It is easiest to make your photobook if you’ve an idea of the ‘story’ you will be telling on each page. When reviewing the photobook publisher sites you could also see how some of the layouts would fit some of the pages that you would like to have. It is easier to review your pictures before you upload them into the publisher’s software. Go through the pictures and remove any that are repetitive, out of focus, poorly lit. This will save you a lot of time.

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