There are so many great things about being a father. My daughter, Liv, is about to turn 2, and I recently I had a chance to reflect on all of her “firsts” – first words, tooth, steps and more.

As the chief photographer in the family, I’ve seen them all through the lens of my camera. I’ve put together many photo albums and slideshows of Liv, sharing countless pictures with family and friends of her progress. But recently my wife Julie came to me and suggested I make a photo album of all of Liv’s firsts. Great idea, I said, and proceeded to work on it.

I started to go through the many folders I created on Hoorray, picking the best photos and adding them to the photo album workbench. Pretty soon, I noticed something – time was flying by, and I was still on just my second folder, Liv’s first outing in the park. I was reliving all those great moments we shared as a new family, savoring the memories, without even realizing it!

I decided to speed things up a bit by adding groups of photos to the photo album workbench, rather than trying to pick out a favorite photo from the folders. This way, I could see which photo would actually work best in the album as I placed the pictures. It also ensured that I told the whole story of Liv’s first two years.

Once I had all my photos selected, I decided on a “baby” theme for the album, and chose a pink cover. Then, I set about to pick a photo to show through the window on the cover of my album. This was an easy decision – I chose a photo of Liv’s first kiss from her mom. Things flowed pretty quickly after that, though I did linger on each photo as I placed it in the book. About halfway through, it finally dawned on me that I was creating something that Liv was likely to show her children – I was actually creating a gift not only for my wife, family and friends, but for my future grandchildren as well!

This truly gave me pause. What other gift can you give that will last for generations and generations? Photo albums really are timeless.

When I finished, I showed the preview to Julie. She loved it, but asked me to add a couple of photos that she thought were special. She also wanted a couple of different backgrounds on some of the pages. Those were all quick and easy changes.

Once we were both satisfied with the end result, we shared it with Liv’s grandparents via sharing at Hoorray, ordered printed copies and had them mailed to them.

I know they’re going to love seeing this book filled with their first granddaughter’s “firsts.” If my own experience is any indication, I’d say they’ll have a lot of fun looking at Liv’s firsts, and remembering what it was like when their children were young.

Just a quick note to let you know that you can still get a Free online Photo Album from Hoorray just for ordering 20 prints, 4 x 6 and just 10¢ each!

This is an exciting offer for anyone — whether you’re a current Hoorray user or a new friend! Wee want you to see for yourself just how easy it is to create a free online photo album at Hoorray.

But we know you’re busy. We know you don’t have a lot of time to build a online photo album. That’s ok — at Hoorray, you won’t need a lot of time. You see, you can use our exclusive Auto Fill feature. What make Auto Fill different? The most important thing is you don’t have to download any special software to use Auto-Fill. Many sites force you to download their software. Not Hoorray.

Of course, you can embellish your Photo Album any way you like. Add backgrounds, borders, personlized covers — it’s up to you.

It all starts with uploading just 20 photos, or selecting 20 photos from your current Hoorray photo folders. It’s that simple. So go ahead and start now — it takes very little time, not a lot of money, but you’ll get a lifetime of memories in one beautiful photo album!

We’ll even custom build your free online Photo Album for you!

We’ve got a great gift for you! As our way of saying “Thank You” to current customers and “Welcome” to new customers, we’re giving away a FREE Photo Album, custom built by Hoorray, to anyone who orders 20 of our 4 x 6 10¢ prints.

So many people love our photo Prints – they say the quality is better than elsewhere, and delivery is fast and reliable. And since our 4 x 6 Prints are 10¢ each every day, it’ll be hard to find a better bargain. Of course, you can order as many prints as you like – there’s no limit.

With this special FREE Photo Album offer, you’ll now be able to see your wonderful photos in a professionally printed and bound Album. It’s truly a delightful experience to turn the pages of a Photo Album and see your photos laid out in beautiful color, printed on high-quality paper. This is a $24.95 value — yours FREE, just pay a small charge for shipping.

Create a free online Photo Album with one click of the mouse

Hoorray will create your FREE online Photo Album for you with Auto-Fill, using the photos you upload or the photos you use from one of your folders on Hoorray.

With Hoorray’s Auto-Fill, you don’t have to download any special software. It makes no difference whether you’re on a Mac or a PC, whether your hard drive is already full, or whether you simply don’t want to be inconvenienced by another download. (Seems as if every web company out there now is trying to get you to download something.)

You’ll see how great our photo uploading is, compared to other photo sharing sites

You see, a lot of other photo sharing sites upload your photos at a lower resolution – a lower quality – than Hoorray. That’s great for them, but bad for you. What happens is that most people end up thinking their photos are safe and secure, so they delete them from their camera and hard drive. In reality, the original photo has not been preserved in its original state. What’s saved is a lesser quality photo – not the orignal! Also, a lot of photo sharing sites make you download special software to upload photos. Not Hoorray. We won’t clutter your desktop or hard drive with our software. In fact, we try to unclutter it by giving you an easy place to store your photos!

Our photo uploading process is fast and easy, but it may take just a bit longer than others since we upload your photos at the highest quality possible. They are, after all, your photos. It’s not up to us to tell you how to store them. It’s just up to us to keep your memories safe.

To create your FREE online Photo Album, start with as few as 20 photos, or use as many as 80. You can pick from a wide variety of page designs and layouts. If you want to create a Holiday book, we got lots of fun designs with a festive flair. Or, if there’s no special occasion and you just want to create a fun photo album, we’ve got designs for that too. Of course, you can simply have your Album printed on white paper, and let your wonderful photos be the star!

Claim your FREE Photo Album now! It’s easy, fast and fun to save and share all your precious memories at Hoorray!

If you’re wondering about a gift, try a online photo album

Still looking for the perfect gift? Still looking for any gift? Maybe you’ve checked off a bunch of names on your list, or maybe you’re still looking at a few days worth shopping – whatever the case, consider a photo gift for the people on your list.

Photo Gifts are a great way to show someone how much you care. You can start with just a handful of photos. Perhaps you shared fun summer days with a friend or family member, and you have photos from the event. Gather them up, upload them to Hoorray and create a digital Photo Album or digital Photo Calendar.

It only takes a few moments to create an Album using Auto Fill. Then, you can get as creative as you like with it. Calendars are easy to make too. For an Album, you just need 20 photos for a 20 page Album, or you can use as many as 80. Of course, with a Calendar you only need 12. But if you want to add more, Hoorray has a variety of layouts and arrangements you can use.

There’s still time to make a Photo Greeting Card for the Holidays. Rush delivery will ensure you get it before Christmas, if that’s important to you. If not, and you simply want to send a “Season’s Greetings,” then you will get your cards to send well before New Years. I personally have sent out cards after Christmas. It’s a great way to keep the Holiday cheer going through the whole season (remember the carol, “The 12 Days of Christmas”?).

Of course, you an customize your Cards any way you want, for whatever Holiday is important to you … Hanukah, Kwanza, it’s up to you and however you want to celebrate.

The important thing to remember is that this is the season to renew hope, see the light and spread joy. And there are few better ways to do that than with a Photo Gift. It will send a clear and bright message that you care, and that you see your relationship with that person as truly important.

The other advantage a Photo Gift has is affordability. In these trying economic times, it’s good to know you can send a gift with so much impact for so little money. You can even create a free online photo album to share over the Internet with many people.

Take a moment now to visit Hoorray. Upload a few photos, create a gift or two, and get a little Holiday shopping done from the comfort of your home. And rest assured knowing that you will touch someone in a memorable and exciting way!

Heather Hammond

Every Christmas, our family draws names out a hat for a gift exchange. A few years ago, I drew my sister-in-law Mari. She’s a really great person and I love her dearly, so I wanted to get her something special. I decided on somewhat expensive, custom-made jewelry – I definitely went “over budget” on her gift.

The only problem was I didn’t have a box to put it in. So, I found an inexpensive wooden box – under $20, but very nice. It was the kind of box that lets you slide a photo in on the top. I showed it to my husband and asked him what photo would be good to display on the box. He thought a minute, and then it was like a light bulb went off in his head. He ran to the attic where I could hear him moving boxes around and shuffling things around. A few minutes later he came down with a handful of faded, 30-year-old photos. He handed them to me – and there it was, the perfect photo. It showed Mari and her husband Jim trying to encourage their 6-month-old daughter Katie to crawl.

In the picture, Mari is sitting on the grass in a park, her arms outstretched in front of her, with Katie sitting about three feet away. Jim was kneeling behind Katie, supporting her back. It was a touching photo showing a young family enjoying a moment in the park, awaiting one of Katie’s first “big moments” – the day she crawled.

My husband said he’s the one who took the picture, and that it had basically sat in a box for the past 30 years (Katie is now married and has a great career as a lawyer).

I placed the photo into the slots on the top of the box, put the jewelry in the box and wrapped the gift.

On Christmas Eve, when we exchanged gifts, the mood was festive and bright. We all sat down to open our gifts. When Mari began opening hers, I waited with anticipation, wondering what she would think of the jewelry that I had picked out especially for her.
When she finally got the wrapping paper off and revealed the box and photo, she stopped and held it in her lap, looking down. I couldn’t tell her reaction because I couldn’t see her face, but I could see she wasn’t opening the box – she was looking at the photo. After a moment, she looked up at me and her eyes were completely welled up with tears and she said, “Thank you, I love this so much,” and she reached over to give me a big hug.

I had to tell her open the box to see her “real” gift. She did, and really liked the jewelry. But when she placed the jewelry back in the box, she continued to hold it tightly on her lap, looking at it and showing it to her husband, as well as everyone else in the room.

Two years later she hosted Thanksgiving at her house. I was happy to see the box and photo sitting prominently on her fireplace mantle, occupying a special place in her home.

She wore the jewelry often, of course, but I think I know which gift was the most valuable to her.

The answer is nobody, really. If you do, you’re either retired or independently wealthy and looking for a way to kill a lot of time.

However, if you don’t start getting your photos organized, you’ll fall into the same trap as many other people – you’ll have lots of photos that sit unseen forever, gathering either real dust or cyber dust.

Here’s the secret to the easiest way to start organizing your treasured photo memories, so you can enjoy them for decades to come

Recently, Oprah suggested people organize their photos into an online Album. Great idea. But it runs smack dab into reality, when you think about it enough.

I’m well aware of the importance of organizing photos, since I work at Hoorray.com. However, one thing I’ve learned since I started working here is that it’s not so important to be organized, as it is to simply capture a memory as quickly and easily as possible.

Nothing brings memories back to life like going through a boxful of photos, or digging into your computer’s hard drive to look at some of the pictures you have stored there. But nothing can take up so much of your valuable time, either.

The trick, I learned is to focus on a period in time, an event or even a moment.

Here are three examples …

A period in time. If you’re children are “big” – either teenagers or adults – you certainly have a lot of photos of them during different phases of their lives. Rather than trying to organize all your children’s photos all at once, pick a period to concentrate on such as when they first went off to school. This way, you can do a targeted search of your photos, whether they’re in digital format in prints in a box.

An event. Maybe it was your daughter being accepted into her school’s National Honor Society … or your son’s first football game … or you’re husband’s dream fishing trip off the coast of Alaska. Whatever the case may be, you can gather photos associated with this single event and put them into a lovely themed Album.

A moment. Imagine the first kiss you gave your newborn … or the moment you became engaged … or perhaps it’s the moment you first saw the sun set over the ocean. Whatever special moments you want to remember, you can use your photos to save and savor them forever. Simply gather the photos that relate to that moment. If it’s your engagement, gather photos of you and your fiancé. If it’s the first kiss you gave your baby, gather photos that show the deep love you have for your child.

The secret, I discovered, is to look for “hidden treasures” amongst the thousands of photos you have. It’s the best way to start – but I should warn you, once you do start, you won’t want to stop!

Remember, Hoorray is offering FREE Shipping on everything until Dec. 10, 2008!

Tips for enjoying the easiest photo sharing on the web!

What makes a photo sharing site easy? I’ve looked at a lot of them, and here are a few things I’ve come up with …

Fast, reliable uploads with no special software needed. Quite a few sites make you download special software to upload a lot of photos. Then, when you upload photos to their site, they reduce the resolution of your images, resulting in a poorer quality image.

No paid membership. What’s so easy about sending someone a payment every month? Easy for them maybe, but not for you.

Uncomplicated navigation. For a site to be easy, it really needs to make sense from a user’s perspective. When you click a button called “Share Photos,” it should let you share photos, not give you a bunch of  useless information or try to sell you something.

Easy Workbench for creating Photo Gifts. I don’t mind spending time creating a Photo Album because I know the result will be well worth the effort, but I also don’t want to be tripped up by a site that doesn’t have an easy-to-use Workbench.

One thing I’ve discovered while looking at and using all the different photo sharing sites is that Hoorray fits the bill on all of the above.  There’s no special software to download, your photos are saved at the highest resolution, there’s no paid membership, navigation is user friendly, and our Workbench is the best in the business.

Today, I’d like to show you just how easy Hoorray’s Workbench is to use. You’re sure to have a lot of fun creating your Photo Gifts.

Photo Albums
Once you start, you won’t want to stop!

Some people think creating a Photo Album will take too much time. At Hoorray, you can make a Photo Album almost instantly. Plus, there are options if you want to take more time and get really creative and inventive. In fact, Hoorray customers have mentioned that once they get started creating a Photo Album in the Workbench, they have a hard time stopping!

You can start your Photo Album with anywhere from 20 to 80 pictures. If you’re in a big hurry, you can create a 20-page Album using our “Auto-Fill” feature – you can finish Albums in less than 10 minutes using Auto-Fill. That’s great, but if you want more control over your Album, you can always just use our easy Workbench.

I’ve created a video showing you some tips on how to use Hoorray’s Workbench …

If you want to get even more creative, you can. It’s simple to change backgrounds, themes, cover materials and colors. You can really personalize your Album anyway you want. You can even add pages and include as many photos as you want.

Take a look at a Photo Album I made recently. It features a trip my husband and I took to see his relatives. It was great fun and the first time we saw everybody since our wedding. It took me less than a half hour to create using our Workbench!

Photo Greeting Cards
Say “hello” in a fun, personal way!

At Hoorray, you can create a Greeting Card in less than five minutes and have something you’d be proud to share, or you can take your time and really embellish it with lovely backgrounds and type faces.

Take a look at the video I created showing you how to use our Workbench to create your Greeting Cards …

If you want to place more than one photo on the cover of the Greeting Card, you can. Also, you can change type faces and colors however you want. Have fun! You’re sure to enjoy the compliments you get from family and friends on your wonderful Greeting Card creations!

Here’s a card I made recently …

Photo Calendars
Keep you memories alive all year long!

It’s so much fun to telling a story with a Hoorray Photo Calendar. You can use a couple dozen photos if you like, or just one photo per calendar page.
It’s up to you, and it allows you to share a story in a way a Greeting Card can’t. A Calendar is also a bit quicker to create than a Photo Album, but still allows you room for text and the ability to record special dates.

Watch the video below. You’ll see just how easy it is to create your own Photo Calendar.

Here’s a Photo Calendar I made recently …Whether you decide to create a Photo Album, Photo Greeting Cards, or Photo Calendar, you’re sure to love the results when you see you professionally printed photo creation! There’s little that’s more gratifying than seeing your very own photos displayed in a printed and bound collection, in full color and perfect for sharing!I love using Hoorray, and when I’ve suggested it to friends and family members, they’ve loved it too. It’s all about sharing however you want, and Hoorray helps you do that easier than ever!

Hoorray Offers FREE Shipping on Everything, Just in Time for Holiday Shopping

Hoorray.com, the easiest photo sharing site on the web, will offer customers FREE Shipping on everything in its Gift Shop, now through December 10, 2008.

There is no minimum order – customers can buy as much as they like, said Robin Zieme, Director of Marketing and New Ventures for Hoorray. They should use the Promotion Code “freeship” at checkout.

“All Photo Albums, Photo Greeting Cards, Photo Calendars and Prints will ship at no cost to our customers,” Zieme said. “People can order as much or as little as they like.”

Holiday shopping has begun, Zieme said, and Hoorray wanted to make sure its customers had the quickest, easiest and most affordable way to give meaningful photo gifts.

“In this tough economy, people are looking for ways to give the perfect gift, but save money at the same time,” Zieme said. “At Hoorray, you can create a beautiful Photo Album filled with precious memories almost instantly.

“Or, you can order your Holiday Photo Greeting Cards, a keepsake Calendar, or Prints in a variety of sizes.”

Zieme said Photo Gifts make a big impact because they are “given from the heart.”

“We created Hoorray to help people save and share their photos, but more importantly we wanted to give them a great way to connect with people in their lives” Zieme said. “When you give someone a gift filled with their most precious memories, they are immediately touched by your thoughtfulness.

“We really want people to have an inexpensive way to enjoy the Holidays this year, and FREE Shipping seemed like a great way to encourage people to take advantage of our beautiful products.”

Zieme also said the products at Hoorray are of the highest quality. “Customers have commented on how good their prints look,” he said. “It’s no surprise, since we use the best processing available.” Prints are always 10¢ each at Hoorray.

Photo Albums, Photo Greeting Cards and Photo Calendars are produced to the same high standards, Zieme said. “There’s nothing more thrilling that getting a professionally printed and bound gift featuring your favorite photos as a gift. It’s a true joy to watch someone open that kind of present, and it’s a joy to get such a gift.”

Hoorray offers a wide selection of Photo Albums in a variety of sizes and styles. Customers will also find many styles of Photo Greeting Cards and Photo Calendars.

What’s more, it’s easy to make a photo gift at Hoorray. For example, customers can use Auto-Fill to create a Photo Album almost instantly.

Hoorray, a part of International Masters Publishers, connects family and friends by providing the easiest photo sharing on the Internet. Members can save and share an unlimited number of photos while enjoying innovative features such as audio, uploads of up to 300 photos at one time, secure and easy photo sharing, and much more.

International Masters Publishers operates in 35 countries worldwide, marketing publications in card or book format, as well as new media. The company has offices in Europe, North America, Australia, Russia and Japan.

Just visit: http://www.hoorray.com/supportalz

New! Hoorray Exclusive!

Sharing photos online is now commonplace. Everyday, millions of photos are sent over the web. Sometimes they’re sent with written messages or stories. But to date, hardly any have been sent with spoken stories.

Why? Because there hasn’t been an easy way to attach your voice to your photos – until now. Hoorray’s easy-to-use Audio Photo Sharing feature lets you add your voice to photos! It adds a whole new dimension to photo sharing.

Bring your photos to life! Audio Photo Sharing captures what’s best about still photos – capturing forever a moment in time – and makes it even better by allowing you to talk about that moment in your own spoken words.

With Audio Photo Sharing, you can …

•    Snap a picture of your baby
•    Upload the photo to Hoorray
•    Record your baby speaking his or her earliest words
•    Send that photo with audio attached to grandma and grandpa.

It’s faster and easier than video, plus it gives you a chance to narrate any story you want and send it along with the photo. You can even add your voice when creating a photo slideshow.

Here’s how Audio Photo Sharing at Hoorray works …

Check your computer’s microphone. Nearly ever computer sold over the last few years comes with a microphone. Consult the documents that came with your computer or do a careful inspection to find your microphone.

If you find that you don’t have a mic, you can purchase one at any store that sells electronic equipment (Wal-Mart, Radio Shack, etc.). The cost only $10 or $20 and simply plug into your computer.

Upload photos to Hoorray. Start with just one to test it out. Or, if you want, you can upload as many as 300 all at once in a matter of moments, without needing any special software.

Click “View Photo” and choose “Add Audio Story.” Just say “yes” to a series of prompts and in just a few seconds you’ll be ready to record!

You might be saying, “Why not just use a video to share that has audio too?” The answer is simple: Who has time to sit through a video that lasts more than a few moments? With Audio Photo Sharing, you capture a moment in pictures and voice. Then, people can take time viewing the image and listening for as long or as short as they want. They have their own memories about the people in the photo, and they will appreciate being able to view the photo in their own time and not be influenced by the time limitations that video has. And when you add audio to a photo, it makes it an even richer, more emotional experience.

Parents love going back to photos again and again to relive the memories in their mind’s eye. Now, imagine if you add audio to those photos … and then share them with family and friends so they can add their own stories and comments!

A few Audio Photo Sharing tips …

* Recording story is as easy as recording your voice mail greeting.

* Just write down your thoughts about the picture. Tip: Put each thought on a separate line and don’t worry about how it flows.

* If you’re happy with what you’ve written down, then go ahead and record. Or, you may want to put what you’ve written down in a different order, or add more if you like.

* Take just a moment to review your notes, then start recording the audio story. It’s best if what you record doesn’t sound too rehearsed. A few mistakes are OK because it gives an authentic feel to your pictures with sound.

* If course, if you want to, you can just start telling your story and re-record it until you’re happy – that’s how easy Audio Photo Sharing is at Hoorray!