logo
  • About
    • About Suzanne
    • FAQs
  • Photography
    • For Business
    • Day in the Life
  • Photo Books
  • Workshops
  • Blog
  • Work With Me
search-icon2

Suzanne O'Brien Studio

organize and enjoy your memories

May 26, 2017

Travel Series, Switzerland

Document Your Travels | Switzerland Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com

Final stop in this month’s travel series is the idyllic country of Switzerland.

Document Your Travels | Switzerland Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com

I count myself extremely lucky that my parents and my husband’s parents genuinely like each other and we all enjoy traveling together. Last summer we all travelled to Switzerland in honor of both couples 50th wedding anniversaries. Rather than throwing a big party, they preferred spending time as a family and we were happy to oblige!

Document Your Travels | Switzerland Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com

Although this book was printed by the same company as my Patagonia & Sweden/Norway books, I mixed up the design just a bit. Daily intro text was flipped to the left page and I took out the 4 images at the bottom for a cleaner look.

Document Your Travels | Switzerland Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com

Our itinerary included visiting six different towns (Zurich, Lucerne, Bern, Murren, Zermatt, Lausanne) in ten days, all accessed via public transportation, so we were on the go quite a bit. When people ask me what my favorite part of the trip was I find myself answering it was all of the in between moments, such as playing telephone and other games on the train, that I cherish the most. The chance for us all to connect and be present with each other.

Document Your Travels | Switzerland Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com

Beautiful hotels will always earn a layout or two or three in my books…

Document Your Travels | Switzerland Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com
Document Your Travels | Switzerland Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com

Someone asked me how I choose the image for my daily intro layout and the answer is that I like a strong representative image that will remind me of the big picture of that day. It is not always the first thing we did that day. Sometimes it is an “only” image, i.e. one that does not have other complementary images that would tell a compelling story in a double page spread.  It usually is an image that makes me happy.

Document Your Travels | Switzerland Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com
Document Your Travels | Switzerland Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com
Document Your Travels | Switzerland Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com

Speaking of things that make me happy, these Swiss cows with their sweet jangling bells will forever have my heart.

Document Your Travels | Switzerland Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com

As will solo sunrise photo walks that allow me to capture the beauty and quiet of a place at my own pace…

Document Your Travels | Switzerland Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com
Document Your Travels | Switzerland Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com

Last week I mentioned my kids know I like to take a picture of a hotel room right when we arrive, before it is full of bags and messy beds. On this trip they made my day when they told me they had resisted eating the delightful snack left for them upon arrival at our final hotel because they knew I would want to take a picture of it 🙂

Document Your Travels | Switzerland Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com

Our final afternoon of vacation was spent exploring Lake Geneva – this is also the name of my hometown in Wisconsin so it was a special outing on many levels.  The time we spent on this little boat reminded me so much of my favorite marketing campaign and after taking a few representative photos I put away my camera and made the most of this precious time with these most precious people in my life.

Document Your Travels | Switzerland Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com

This book was made for the four grandparents as Christmas gifts so I ended it with a love note to them all.

Document Your Travels | Switzerland Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com

Thanks for following along with our family travel stories this month!

share:


FILED UNDER: Photo Books, Photo Books - Travel
TAGGED WITH: Switzerland, Travel

May 19, 2017

Travel Series, Sweden & Norway

On Documenting Your Travels | A Blog Post by Suzanne O'Brien | Sweden & Norway Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com

Document Your Travels | Sweden & Norway Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com

This week we are traveling to Europe, lingering for a while in Sweden & Norway.

When friends were about to leave their expat post in Stockholm, we knew it was time to make our way over for a visit.

Document Your Travels | Sweden & Norway Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com

Since we stayed in multiple locations during our travels, this page highlighting our different hotels along the way serves as a quick visual timeline of our trip.

Document Your Travels | Sweden & Norway Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com

This iconic landscape harbor shot of Stockholm was under consideration for the book cover – ultimately I’m very happy I picked the less traditional choice of the fun clogs!

Document Your Travels | Sweden & Norway Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com

You may notice this book follows a similar design pattern to the Patagonia book I made just before this one.  If something is working for me, I have no problem repeating a design to keep things simple.

Document Your Travels | Sweden & Norway Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com
On Documenting Your Travels | A Blog Post by Suzanne O'Brien | Sweden & Norway Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com

Keeping the text for each day consolidated on one page, versus adding a bit on each page, reduces the amount of moving parts in the layout design and that is always a good thing.

Document Your Travels | Sweden & Norway Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com

This is one of my favorite layouts from the book as it immediately takes me back to the few hours I wandered around Stockholm by myself capturing the happy colors and people of the city.

Document Your Travels | Sweden & Norway Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com

Lots of favorite pages from our time spent on the small picturesque island of Sandhamn in the Stockholm archipelago…

Document Your Travels | Sweden & Norway Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com
Document Your Travels | Sweden & Norway Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com
On Documenting Your Travels | A Blog Post by Suzanne O'Brien | Sweden & Norway Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com

Oh, the bread. It was always served with the most amazing butter and salt flakes, as if this was of course the only way to enjoy this treat.

Document Your Travels | Sweden & Norway Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com
Document Your Travels | Sweden & Norway Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com

Our quick jaunt over to Norway for a classic fjord tour included all of the majestic beauty you would imagine. We left eager to return and explore the countryside by car someday.

Document Your Travels | Sweden & Norway Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com
Document Your Travels | Sweden & Norway Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com

Although my son thought this hotel room was like a “grandma’s house”, I appreciated the charm and story behind the iconic old hotel. My kids are now pretty well-conditioned to let me take a shot of the room when we first arrive before it is full of our belongings…

Document Your Travels | Sweden & Norway Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com

I love how this layout includes my favorite storytelling 3 C’s (context, characters, close-ups) in just two photos. One look at that picture on the right and I’m immediately back at that amazing breakfast buffet, justifying one more trip up to enjoy the homemade rhubarb marmalade…

Document Your Travels | Sweden & Norway Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com

This story was brought to a close with this scene from our final night and a hope that opening this book in the future will be like returning to these destinations all over again…

Document Your Travels | Sweden & Norway Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com
Document Your Travels | Sweden & Norway Vacation Photo Book | www.suzanneobrienstudio.com

Please click here to enjoy additional travel book inspiration!

share:


FILED UNDER: Photo Books, Photo Books - Travel
TAGGED WITH: Norway, Sweden, Travel

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • …
  • 175
  • Next Page »

The Blog

I am a photographer, designer and modern memory keeper.

popular posts

Personalized Travel Catalog

If You Love Coffee…

Dear New York,

search past posts

categories

1.  Business Photography

2.  Photo Books

3.  Day in the Life

4.  Memory Keeping

5.  Workshops

6.  Lifestyle Photography

7.  Personal

stay in Touch

Subscribe to receive
updates and inspiration!

Thanks! Keep an eye on your inbox for updates.

follow

workshops

Learn at your own pace –
check out the classes & workshops

BROWSE
POPUP-LINE

oh, hello there!

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR VISITING

subscribe to the newsletter to receive updates and inspiration

Thanks! Keep an eye on your inbox for updates.

© 2026 SUZANNE O’BRIEN STUDIO. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Copyright © 2026 · Suzanne OBrien Studio Child Theme On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in