How to Create a Found-Numbers Photo Book

Make It a Game Whether you’re embarking on the project alone or with a group of friends, it can be fun—even a lighthearted competition—to find the most obscure or surprising examples of your chosen number and snap a photograph. It’s amazing how quickly you can become giddy with excitement upon finding a good one.

Frame Shots Artfully Resist the urge to center your lens on the number every time. Play around with composition by placing your numeric subject at the fringe of the frame or even snapping a slightly blurry or partially obscured shot. Consider shooting through windows, screens or other natural scrims for an ethereal effect. It can also be a challenge for the person flipping through your photo book to find a number that’s been hidden within the picture.

Create a Series Make it a tradition to create found number photo books for every number in a series, or every birthday or anniversary. Whether you’re on vacation or tooling around your hometown, it can be a fun project to always have a number to find. Use the same Mixbook trim size and format so the volumes can sit in a neat collection. Your eye for seeing beauty in the everyday will move anyone who flips through your found-number photo books.