Project 2010- Organizing your photos.
Designed to help you:
Create Memories,
Share your Memories,
Preserve Your Memories.
If you have any questions, feel free to come into Photo Express - we have solutions for you and the supplies you need!
Getting Out of the (Shoe) Box: Easy Ways to Organize, Store and Enjoy Your Photos
Reprinted with permission from Aby Garvey, Simplify 101
Summertime is loaded
with photos ops like vacations, shots of your backyard get-togethers,
trips to the zoo, and Fourth of July fireworks, to name just a few. But
if you’re already surrounded by heaps of disorganized photos, you may
hesitate to take even more photos, since that would cause you to get
even further behind in your photo organization. But don’t be
discouraged! While the summer is a great time to take photos, it’s also
a terrific time to sort and organize your photos. When things get too
hot outside, take refuge inside with a cool drink and a simple plan to organize your photographs.
CREATE GOALS FOR YOUR PHOTOS
To determine the best organizing system for your pictures, you need to
figure out what your goal is. Start with a few simple questions:
-
In what ways would you like to enjoy your photos? Looking at them
hanging in your home? By browsing through them in books?
- Where do you see yourself looking at and enjoying your pictures?
-
Is your goal simply to get your photos organized into a single system,
so they’re safe, protected, and can be enjoyed by future generations?
- Do you envision showcasing your photos and documenting your memories with written stories?
- Is the perfect solution for you somewhere between a box and a scrapbook?
DECIDE ON A SORTING SCHEME
Chronological organizing is a natural choice for sorting your photos.
Photos are taken in chronological order and come back from the printer
that way as well. However, when faced with a mountainous backlog,
recreating accurate chronologies can be a daunting task. Here are some
excellent alternatives:
Loose chronological categories.
Instead of sorting your photos in very specific order by day or week or
month, use loose categories such as decades, seasons, or categorize
chronologically by an individual’s baby years, childhood, teen years,
college years, early married years, and so on.
Events and celebrations.
Consider sorting by significant events such as weddings, Christmas
(with all years grouped together), or you can group photos from
favorite travel destinations or your summer home (again, sorted by
specific destinations as opposed to single specific trips).
People.
Decide if you’d like to share some of your photos with friends and
family members, and then sort accordingly. Giving photos to friends and
loved ones can help you pare down years of backlog, and make your
project less overwhelming. Decide who you’ll be sharing with, and then
make the following piles:
- Photos for me
- Photos for others (as many piles as people you’ll be giving to)
- Photos to pitch
If you’re hesitant to sort using a non-chronological scheme, consider this: you don’t remember
chronologically, either. Memories come to you randomly, and yet your
memories are meaningful regardless of how they’re sandwiched between
your other thoughts. Give yourself the same freedom when sorting your
photos. Do what makes sense given your photo backlog and the amount of
time you have.
STORE YOUR PHOTOS
The next step is to decide how you would like to store your photos
going forward. Keep in mind this doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing
proposition. If the thought of doing something with all
of your photos feels overwhelming, then start with a small, doable
project. For example, instead of feeling like you have to scrapbook all of your photos, decide to create a single scrapbook for a particular event. You can then decide where to go from there.
For each solution there is a trade-off between the time you invest, and your ability to retrieve or enjoy your photos.
Random, bulk storage
Consider storing photos randomly in a large container. If your photos
are stashed in various rooms, drawers, shelves and containers around
your home, or if they’re stored in a harsh climate (basement or attic),
then corralling them all into an archival safe box and storing the box
in an environmentally friendly room is a huge step forward. If that’s
all you have time and energy for, that step alone is well worth the
effort.
the trade-off
This solution takes little time, but your photos won’t be much easier
to enjoy afterward than they were before you started. They are
protected, however, and you can always implement other storage
solutions later.
Photo boxes
No longer reminiscent of plain brown shoeboxes, today’s photo boxes
come in an array of colors, materials and sizes, ensuring there’s at
least one out there to fit your taste and storage needs. Tabbed index
cards help you label and categorize what’s inside. Photo boxes can be
used as a temporary holding place for photos waiting to be put in
frames or albums, or they can be your long-term storage solution.
the trade-off
While photo boxes make it relatively easy to organize and retrieve your
photos, they don’t display your pictures or make them easy to look at.
You’re less likely to riffle through a box of photos, than you are to
pull down a photo album from a shelf, flip through it, and enjoy your
photos. Boxes are a terrific option for photos you simply want to store
long-term—perhaps to give to your children when they move out, or for
photos in queue for an album or photo frame.
Photo albums
Traditional style photo albums get your pictures out of the box and
into a book, making it simple to flip through the pages any time you’d
like to take a stroll down memory lane. Photos are easy to insert into
photo pockets, and labeling is a cinch.
the trade-off
It will take more time to get your photos into an album, and photos
stored in albums take up more space than photos stored in boxes.
However, this step makes your photos easy to look at and enjoy, and
keeps them safe from fingerprints and smudges.
Scrapbooks
Scrapbooking allows you to combine your photos with written words and
creative embellishments—if you chose. You can store your photos along
with memorabilia such as ticket stubs, programs, and even children’s
artwork. Including journaling or stories about your photos gives you
the chance to add even more meaning and memories than photos alone can
capture. If you’re intimidated by scrapbooking, remember it doesn’t
have to be an all-or-nothing proposition. You can scrapbook your
wedding photos, but feel free to pass on your boss’ daughter’s wedding.
You can scrapbook your vacation to Disney, without having to chronicle
every trip to your local playground.
the trade-off
Scrapbooks require a larger investment of time and money (for supplies
like paper, scissors, stickers, and other embellishments). As with
photo albums, a finished scrapbook is a breeze (and a treat!) to flip
through and enjoy, and helps protect your photos over the long haul.
Photo frames
Don’t forget to display some photos where you can really enjoy them—in
frames that you can exhibit on a shelf, a dresser, or hang on the wall.
While this solution isn’t practical for every single photo in your
collection, displaying some of your favorites allows you to enjoy your
photos every day.
the trade-off
Displaying your photos in frames can take time—selecting the photos
(and frames!), getting enlargements made if necessary, and arranging
frames on the wall. But you get to enjoy your photos all of the time
(and that’s better than sneezing your way through a dusty shoebox any
day of the week).
TAKE ACTION!
Let’s face it, your
photos are important—probably among your most
prized possessions. Yet many of us keep photos trapped in cardboard
boxes in remote storage areas in our homes. Take some time this summer
to get your photos out of the shoebox and into a safe storage system,
so you can easily enjoy them for years to come. Tackle this project one
simple step at a time, and by summer’s end, you can be sitting back
with a tall glass of lemonade, flipping through a photo album, and
reminiscing about the good old days.