(Click photo to enlarge.)
My husband, Joe, and I have had a digital camera since
2002. When we take photos, we immediately burn them to CDs,
which are stored in a CD organizer. We have one CD for
photos of our daughter, another for Family and Friends,
another for Vacations and so on. (Of course, I have backup
CDs stored at another location, just in case.)
I only print the photos that I really love, and I scrapbook them. I have many scrapbooks, all organized by theme. One of my scrapbooks is entitled 'Our House,' another is called 'Amanda's First Year,' a third is called 'Halloween,' and I have about seven more at this point. (One of my recent scrapbooking layouts can be seen above.)
As far as our older photos (which I may scrapbook later, or not), we have them stored in photo albums. Some of our photo albums contain all photos of a particular theme, such as an album of shots taken in Italy. Many of our other albums are simply chronological, meaning as we took our photos, they were inserted into our albums directly after our previous photo taking session. These older albums are stored on bookshelves.
One lady I know organizes all of her photos (taken with a 35mm camera) in photo boxes. She says this is a much easier method for her and one that she will definitely do. If she had to get the photos into albums, she said the task would never get done. She could easily find what she's looking for. Each photo box (which holds about 2000 photos) is divided by category cards, so it's very easy to jump to the photos she's looking for.
When she wants to scrapbook, she scans the printed photo and reprints a new copy for her scrapbook. This way, she doesn't chance the original photo getting ruined from an accidental cut while cropping.
A man I know, who uses a digital camera, stores all of his photos online. The service he uses gives him a fairly large amount of storage space for free, but then charges him a nominal amount if he goes over that limit. He likes the service because it doesn't require him to organize his own CDs or print each shot, plus it allows him to easily share photos with friends and family members who have Internet access.
All of these methods work beautifully, but I've also seen systems that are just atrocious.
For instance, one person tosses all her photos into old shoe boxes. The photos are torn, bent, ripped and turning yellow. Another person leaves all the photos in the envelopes the photo developer provided, and just throws them into a junk drawer. Yet, another person has an entire container full of undeveloped rolls of film--likely these photos will never be seen.
Of course, the system you use depends on your needs, personality, level of commitment and how sentimental you are. I consider my photos and my scrapbooks very precious. I want to ensure they can be enjoyed now, and that they're able to be seen by future generations.
If your photos are important to you, be sure they're 1) being preserved well, 2) organized in a fashion that allows you to easily find what you're looking for and 3) arranged to make it easy for you and your loved ones to browse and enjoy them.
My husband, Joe, and I have had a digital camera since
2002. When we take photos, we immediately burn them to CDs,
which are stored in a CD organizer. We have one CD for
photos of our daughter, another for Family and Friends,
another for Vacations and so on. (Of course, I have backup
CDs stored at another location, just in case.)I only print the photos that I really love, and I scrapbook them. I have many scrapbooks, all organized by theme. One of my scrapbooks is entitled 'Our House,' another is called 'Amanda's First Year,' a third is called 'Halloween,' and I have about seven more at this point. (One of my recent scrapbooking layouts can be seen above.)
As far as our older photos (which I may scrapbook later, or not), we have them stored in photo albums. Some of our photo albums contain all photos of a particular theme, such as an album of shots taken in Italy. Many of our other albums are simply chronological, meaning as we took our photos, they were inserted into our albums directly after our previous photo taking session. These older albums are stored on bookshelves.
One lady I know organizes all of her photos (taken with a 35mm camera) in photo boxes. She says this is a much easier method for her and one that she will definitely do. If she had to get the photos into albums, she said the task would never get done. She could easily find what she's looking for. Each photo box (which holds about 2000 photos) is divided by category cards, so it's very easy to jump to the photos she's looking for.
When she wants to scrapbook, she scans the printed photo and reprints a new copy for her scrapbook. This way, she doesn't chance the original photo getting ruined from an accidental cut while cropping.
A man I know, who uses a digital camera, stores all of his photos online. The service he uses gives him a fairly large amount of storage space for free, but then charges him a nominal amount if he goes over that limit. He likes the service because it doesn't require him to organize his own CDs or print each shot, plus it allows him to easily share photos with friends and family members who have Internet access.
All of these methods work beautifully, but I've also seen systems that are just atrocious.
For instance, one person tosses all her photos into old shoe boxes. The photos are torn, bent, ripped and turning yellow. Another person leaves all the photos in the envelopes the photo developer provided, and just throws them into a junk drawer. Yet, another person has an entire container full of undeveloped rolls of film--likely these photos will never be seen.
Of course, the system you use depends on your needs, personality, level of commitment and how sentimental you are. I consider my photos and my scrapbooks very precious. I want to ensure they can be enjoyed now, and that they're able to be seen by future generations.
If your photos are important to you, be sure they're 1) being preserved well, 2) organized in a fashion that allows you to easily find what you're looking for and 3) arranged to make it easy for you and your loved ones to browse and enjoy them.
I am like others, I have old 35mm pictures that I started scrapbooking was doing well until life got busy. Then I was storing them in photo boxes organized and all. Now I store them in an album you get at the discount stores, so that way when I make the time to scrapbook they are visible and there, plus if people want to look at the pictures in the meantime they can. As for my digital photos (last year got a digital camera), I catergized the pictures , stored them on a backup hard drive and burned them off onto a DVD-RW only because it hold more photos and is easily updated. I have a few choice photos saved online too. I don't plan to print off any new pictures yet but am working on creating photo DVD for family to enjoy, though it can be time consuming it is a lot more gratifying to see the pictures.
Posted by: Jennifer Mosttler | October 23, 2005 at 12:21 PM
If you are storing your photos in simple slot albums or even on cds take a few minutes to document what's there.
If you are using 4 x 6 photos, buy a pack of 4 x 6 index cards and pull the album out while you are watching tv or after dinner while you are still at the table with your family.
Take a moment to look at the photos and jot down -
who is in the pictures,
where were you,
when was this (don't be rigid - sometime after 1986 may be all you know)
and this is the most important...
How did we feel.
This is a great exercise to do at Thanksgiving when the family curmudgeon is sitting in a chair trapping people into uncomfortable conversations...
It's a great way for distant family members to get involved and even if you never scrapbook anything, your legacy is preserved. Just slip the card or cards into a slot that is close to the photos that are described and now this little album is meaningful. If you do want to scrapbook, your jounaling is ready to go.
Posted by: Sabrina Friend | October 23, 2005 at 01:08 PM
Hey Maria, now tell us how you organise your scrapbook supplies. Mine are taking over but I have a desk + table + shelves and still I need more space and organisation. How do you manage it?
Ruth
Posted by: Ruth | October 24, 2005 at 04:38 PM
You're a scrapbooker!:) We are a group that always needs help organizing all our embellishments, paper, tools, and stickers.
Posted by: Pip- Pea- lotta | October 30, 2005 at 02:12 AM
All of these are great ideas in terms of organizing. Don't forget about the future and disasters, though! If you recall news stories about those who suffered property damage from the recent storms down south this summer...you may remember that although people may have been able to recover their losses in terms of rebuilding and monetary damage, they could not save photos and memories. Storing on CD and online are both great for that. That way, not only would you appreciate being able to recover such irreplacable moments captured on film, but future generations will too, if something were to happen to your home or property.
Posted by: daylee | October 30, 2005 at 02:21 AM
Currently my photos are still in the original plastic folder inside the paper envelope they came in, with the envelope labeled. I wonder if I were to change to photo boxes, would I take them out of both the envelope and the folder? My concern is that they won't stay as clean.
_____________________________
NOTE FROM MARIA GRACIA
You could certainly keep these in the envelope and the folder if you choose, and then insert them into the photo box. But, I don't generally think this is necessary. Most photo boxes have lids to keep the dust out.
Posted by: Susan Adams | November 01, 2005 at 11:24 AM