Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Patty Hopp. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Patty, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Over the past 21 years, we have worked on many meaningful projects. We created photo books for a family who wanted to tell their parent’s love story using their wedding photos, telegrams, and love letters to each other. These items had been sitting in boxes, untouched, in a basement for years and were fading away until we created photo books for the family to enjoy. For a retired professional athlete, we received several heavy boxes of photos, magazines, and newspaper articles spanning over 20 years and turned those into a priceless legacy photo book that their entire family now treasurers. Another family contacted us to tell the story of their 80-year-old mother using boxes of photos, years of genealogy research, and many personal stories. We designed a legacy book to tell her story for a special upcoming birthday celebration. This beautiful lady passed away last year and her book is something her family will cherish forever. Last year we were asked to create an elegant wedding book for a young couple who were married several years ago. They hired a photographer to take photos throughout their special day and put all the photos on a flash drive. Years later, they found the flash drive sitting in a drawer untouched and wanted a way to enjoy those photos again. We designed a beautiful photo book for them that they now share with their children. Currently, we are working on a Legacy Book to tell the story of a 38-year-old Major in the Army, a devoted husband, and a father of two beautiful little girls. His story will show how his interests as a child evolved into his adult career in the Army. People want to know that their life has meaning, that the things we do and say impact others in a positive way. Our Legacy Photo Books allow us to continue contributing in future years, helping generations implement the beautiful life lessons we gain along the way.

Patty, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

When I was growing up, my family took very few pictures. It just was not something we did. So, when my children were born, I took tons of pictures of them. I even changed my kids clothes several times throughout the day just to get pictures of them in different outfits. My lack of photos as a child motivated me to do better for my kids. Before long, I started creating family scrapbooks with all the photos I was taking. I showed the scrapbooks to other parents and they asked me to create scrapbooks for them. Changes took place over the years and I converted from “traditional” scrapbooks to beautiful digital Legacy Photo Books. These became very popular because we could design one book and were able to order multiple copies for each family member. I quickly learned too that families want to tell their stories and started adding the stories to go with the photos. This is truly what brings our books to life. At that time, I also saw a trend of families not wanting to leave a big photo mess for their children and our Legacy Photo Books became more popular. It was a way for us to take huge boxes of photos, trophies, awards, and untold stories and create a beautiful Legacy Photo Book that will be cherished forever.
Twenty-one years later, my kids are grown, my business has expanded, and my passion to help others tell their stories has increased. We now serve numerous clients each year throughout the United States helping them preserve their past, tell their stories, and leave a legacy for future generations.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Over the past 21 years, my business has evolved in many ways. I started out serving the DIY market by selling traditional scrapbook projects like albums, stickers, and paper. Several years after that, I noticed a trend and a need to offer services to create scrapbooks for people who wanted beautiful books for their family, but did not have the time to sit for hours and create their own. At that time technology was improving in the photo world and digital scrapbooking started becoming popular. The first digital scrapbooks were not what they are today and were not printed on nice photo paper and made with durable attractive covers. It took some time, but the (digital) photo books now are beautiful, printed on high quality photo paper, and are available with many cover options. It did not take long for the new digital photo books to become popular and a new way to preserve family photos was now available. Today, clients want more stories in their books. A photo of a beautiful bride is nice, but to know that the bride is wearing a gown made by her grandmother who is now 87 years old brings that beautiful photo to life even more. Through the years, time restraints and technology have offered many opportunities for me to change the clients I now serve.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

“I wish I had what I give to my clients.”

My business allows me to work with families who have lots of photos and rich stories that go with each photo. Hearing these stories is absolutely my favorite part of what I do. When I was growing up, my family took very few photos. We also had a flood in my parent’s home when I was a teenage and lost several of those photos from my childhood. My mother passed at 52 and my father at 72 so the only stories I have growing up were the ones that were told often and the ones that I’ve now gotten from aunts and cousins. I wish I had what I give to my clients, a beautiful photo book filled with photos and stories capturing the highlights of my life.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://pattyspicturesofyou.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pattyhopp/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pattyspicturesofyou
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/69183001/admin/feed/posts/