Jessops

The last month of my life has been spent glued to my computer working on a 50^th anniversary photobook for my parents. Actually, it started a bit earlier. I did LOTS of research before deciding what company to use. I wanted good software, MATT paper, and a high quality finish. Jessops came out quite high in all aspects but I still needed to be 100% sure. The one flaw in online services? You don’t know for sure what you’re getting til it arrives. But… Jessops had a shop in Edinburgh! Woohoo. So, a month ago we plugged Murrayfield Sainsbury’s into our GPS and ventured out into a section of Edinburgh we were unfamiliar with. Apparently, so was our GPS which wanted us to enter via the Gorgie road side, but (big tip here) the parking is on the Westfield Road side.
Jessops is a small unit within Sainsburys. They carry everything you need for your camera, have instant print stations (glossy paper only) and a full photo lab with more paper options and superior quality, but you have to wait. On our first visit, we just wanted to see samples of their photobooks and we weren’t disappointed. They had several different styles there so we could get a good idea of what the final product would look like. The staff were really helpful with letting us know all the options. If you just want to dump a bunch of pics (maybe all from one holiday) into a book — they have computers set up where you can make one on the spot. Or, you can use the comprehensive software that is free to download. My research informed me that the CEWE software Jessops uses is top notch. So, we liked the software, liked the matt paper options, liked the product and loved that we could collect the book in store and not worry about being away when it’s delivered.
One big decision made, now it was time to work on the book. The CEWE software was fairly easy to use. A few options were not easy to find, but thanks to the online help, I eventually managed to figure out how to do everything I wanted. There was also a separate download for a photo editing package — it is recommend to edit the pics before uploading to CEWE. I used my own software which I was more comfortable with. I used a lot of old photos and did my best to make them look as good as the up to date digital ones (without losing the vintage feel). It all looked ‘OK’ on my monitor, but wasn’t sure how it would print. I was also able to add cute little touches using clip art, frames, masks which could be downloaded from CEWE’s website — the selection was amazing. Well, a month later, practically blind from staring at the monitor, I pressed the submit button. Took an hour to upload! Now I had 7 to 10 days to wait. After paying online (when you submit) I went over to Jessops website to double check the delivery times. To my surprise, there was a 30% off voucher code! Oh no! I quickly emailed Jessops with my order number and they graciously applied the offer and refunded my credit card the difference.
In about 7 days I got an email to collect my book. I was nervous. I knew the pages would be matt but all the sample books had a glossy cover — would it be too shiny and cheap looking? Would the box I paid extra for be nice quality? Would my old, edited photos look nice? Well, Jessops outdid themselves on every aspect. The cover was MATT! and looked so classy. The photos that I scanned in printed out looking far better than the originals. The paper was gorgeous, the colours were true and natural. The box was black linen and had a magnetic clasp and hinged lid (I thought it was going to be a standard two part box). Now I want to turn all my photos into books! And I’m sure my parents are going to be blown away.