We all have emotional attachments to our photographs, and when the photos are of someone we have loved and lost, the attachments to their images, long-ago captured with the snap of a shutter, can grow that much stronger. Photographs can transport us to another place and time. They keep our memories alive.

Reading this post might require Kleenex. Consider yourself warned.

A Koloist named Colleen made this Kolo Noci photo album filled with photographs of her mother. It’s a Valentine’s gift for her dad, who lost his dear wife suddenly three years ago, one week after their 50th wedding anniversary. Though he is a man of few words, Colleen knows her father misses her mother terribly.

The next time I went home to visit my dad I saw the picture of my mom that he keeps taped to the outside of a cabinet door above his desk. The picture was wearing away, right where he kissed it daily.

Through 50 years, 5 children and 15 grandchildren, my parents’ photos have piled up. It is one of my many missions to organize these for my dad. In the meantime, I decided that a small, yet simple collection of pictures of my dad’s sweetheart would be a treasured gift for him to carry.

I found Kolo’s Noci brag book to be the perfect size and price, so I filled it with pictures of my mom that I had scanned. The pages have protector sleeves -- perfect for those random kisses. The best part is all I had to do was gather the images, upload them to MyKoloAlbum.com and select the album color. The printing was free and my completed album arrived in the mail within days. I can’t wait to give this to my dad.

It seems we have a cupidy theme going on this week. There’s more romantic email in the in-box.

This project and more at Ugo's Flickr page.