We recently interviewed a member of our production team, Liz. Liz specializes in Collages.net's Albums and Gallery Wraps and is also a member of our design team.

Tell me about your background in photography.
I fell in love with photography when I was a kid. I inherited my dad’s Canon AT-1 at an early age and taught myself how to shoot. In high school, I took classes in photography and then went to the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, where I earned my BFA in photography. After school, I started my career at Berry & Homer in Philadelphia, where I worked for about three years.

How long have you been on the Collages.net team?
I have been with Collages.net for almost three years. When I first started working at Collages.net, I was in the customer service department where I was responsible for a lot of product research and development. At that time, Collages.net was just starting up our product line. My first project was to help create the gallery wrap product line. Design was my ultimate goal and passion. I love the $1 an image album design and from the feedback I get from studios, photographers and their clients love it, too.

What do you love most about your job?
Every day, I get to use my creativity; I love the creative freedom I have at Collages.net. My favorite projects are level three designs, where I use flourishes and other design elements to make a truly personalized album or book. I also love my teammates. I work with a terrific bunch of talented women. We learn a lot from one another.

What is your favorite Collages.net product and why?
Do I have to pick one? I would say the high gloss finish books and albums are my favorite. High gloss finish books are excellent in quality and price. I love the paper stock we use for these books because they remind me of the glossy children’s books I would read as a kid. Albums are another favorite product of mine. The print quality is amazing and the Premium leather choices are absolutely yummy. Plus, we offer a wide variety of hot colors! I may be a little biased because the album line is my baby. It’s the primary line that I work in.

What would you pick for your sample album cover?
Green Premium leather albums are my absolute favorite.

How would you describe your design style?
For my work at Collages.net, I like to keep a very clean and modern design style. For my personal work, I have a grungy style and love adding textures to my images.

Where do you find design inspiration?
Inspiration comes from the images. I wasn’t at the event, so I rely on the images and the photographers’ descriptions to create a design that is perfect for the clients.

What question do photographers ask you the most?
Since I work with gallery wraps, customers always ask me how to set up bleed for their gallery wrap orders. A lot of our photographers also have questions about our album trim lines. We've actually created several templates that display our trim lines, which makes it easy for photographers to review their spreads in Photoshop to ensure they will be printed correctly.