Thankfully we live in an age of digital photography- cameras, phones - we have all kinds of ways to take photos. The problem is what we do with the thousands of photos once we take them. I, personally, feel like I'm OVER the TOP when it comes to photos. You most certainly can never have too many. {Maybe because I felt like there weren't enough of me from growing up and I'm overcompensating now?! Or maybe because I want our kids to have a record of every last thing they did - because we all need to know every last detail of our existence 🤷♀️. Who knows...}
What I do know is that I have struggled with managing the millions of digital photos we do have which makes me think I can't possibly be the only one that needs a better system in place. We've also had several computers since the age of digital photos so saving photos on a computer alone has not been an option {nor is it safe, if the computer goes down - there go your photos}. I've transferred photos from computer to computer when I finally decided it may be more logical to save them to CDs and label them by year. {The CDs are then stored in a fireproof safe}.
BUT remember.... prior to saving your photos, PURGE duplicates or photos that may have not turned out well {or are otherwise junk}. Like with everything, don't take up space storing things that don't need to be kept.
While saving the photos to discs worked great for the photos on my computer... there are still all the photos on my phone. I am horrible 🙈 at deleting or saving any of those photos. About once a year I would connect my phone to my computer and do a huge dump into a folder called "Phone Photos" followed by the year. Again this is like digital photo keeping 101... this is NOT saving by month or activity, etc. I would then save those photos to a disc.
As for saving photos now - they are not only burned to a disc but also saved to a Dropbox folder so that I have access to them whenever, wherever. The BEST part about Dropbox- I can access it from my phone - so not only can I save photos directly from my phone to Dropbox but I can also lookup past photos saved there. {this is also great for those who LOVE to scroll through old photos on their phone but don't want to use their phone as the actual storage device}
Downloading an app like Snapfish to your phone will also make ordering prints or other items with photos from your phone SUPER EASY. There are ALWAYS great offers {July was 100 free 4x6 prints} too which make it even more enticing to do something with all those photos! I actually just took advantage of the free 4x6 offer to have photos printed instead of holding them hostage in digital photo land. Although I have recently purged a number of the photo frames around our house - I have a few that really do need photos in them.
There was a time when I was ALL about photos and scrapbooking - sadly that was like 10 years ago 🙊. Our kids LOVE going through them with us and chatting up the days of their infancy & toddlerhood {is that even a word 🤔}. And then nothing...
My goal {starting now} is to make family yearbooks starting with 2018 photos {and working my way backward while continuing to add the new ones with each passing year}. This is a great way to have photos printed without frames everywhere or boxes and boxes of photos lying around. Just remember: The family yearbook DOES not have to include every last photo of the year - think highlights from special moments, events & trips.
Does this sound all too familiar to you? Does the thought of getting a system in place overwhelm you? Need help in setting up a digital storage system for yourself? Give me a call {585.749.3493} or send an email {orderlybydanica@gmail.com}- Let's chat. {Sessions can be booked both in person or virtually} And give yourself a break... if you are just starting this process - think BABY steps, this doesn't need to be completed all in a day, week or even month.