Online or in print, there are some fun and easy ways to keep on top of your family’s photographs!
Tell me if this has happened to you: You’ve taken literally hundreds of photographs with your phone. Your trip down south, the last day of school, the concert where your son’s tuba playing was actually not bad at all. Then you drop your phone. In the toilet. Okay, maybe this hasn’t happened to you. But it could and if it did, there’s a good chance that all those awesome and precious photographs would be lost.
Here’s another scenario: you have pictures on your phone from when your last child was born. He’s now 6 years old. Do you ever look at the pictures? Probably not. Do you share them with family? Maybe, but there are so many great memories in those little digital boxes. Wouldn’t it be great to see them more often?
Sign up for our newsletter & get a free e-cookbook.
©vintage camera image via Shutterstock
I’m going to look at the steps you need to follow to get organized with your photographs, both in terms of preserving them and enjoying them.
How to Keep Your Photographs Organized
Preserving the Memories
This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.
One basic way to keep your photographs organized is to set get in the habit of backing them up. DropBox is a great tool to backup files and photographs from a variety of sources, including your phone, your camera, your DSLR’s SD card.
On your phone, you just open the app when you are in a WIFI zone and it will upload any new photographs and videos to your DropBox. Connect your SD card to your computer and it’s done! Accessing your photographs, downloading them and sharing them with friends and family couldn’t be easier! The sooner you get into the habit, whether it’s once a week or once a month, of backing up your images, the less likely that you’ll find yourself totally distressed when Janna’s epic 5th birthday party with the princess character are lost.
Enjoying the Memories
So you’ve backed up your pictures for the last year on to your computer or DropBox account. Now what? They’re not much use if you’re not able to see them.
Why not make a photobook? Or two? Not only do they make EXCELLENT grandparent gifts, but they’re nice to flip through once in awhile. They’re the modern equivalent of those albums with the sticky cello page covers we all had growing up! There are a variety of services that offer online apps to make your book. Just organize your photobook, add comments and other cute scrapbook style images, press PRINT and in a couple of weeks, it arrives: glossy and lovely. All from the comfort of your sofa. Here are a few photobook recommendations: Shutterfly, Tiny Prints and Blurb.
Have pictures printed! Photographer Jennifer Gilbert reminds us in one of her blog posts that decorating your home with your family’s photographs is a beautiful reminder of the love you have, even on days when you wish your whole family would just disappear! (And we’ve all had those, right?)
“Placing photographs on your walls is an act of love! It reinforces the feeling of belonging to a child when they see that their parents are proudly displaying their image in the most visited room of the house. It is a daily reminder of the joy and love that you have in your life. Photographs of your family, smiling at you, will warm your heart even on the coldest of days.”
Your favourite family photographer can tell you the best place to get some printed. If the resolution is good enough, you could even have some blown up or turned into giclee prints – these are photographs printed on a canvas so that they resemble paintings! Here some recommended sites that offer photo printing: CanvasPop and PosterJack.
Share the Memories
The innate beauty of digital photographs is the ability to share them. And it’s pretty much free to do, too! Of course, you have to be careful about what you post on social media – no matter how many security settings you put on, the Internet is not, nor ever will be, private. The ability to email pictures to family far away or share a DropBox folder of videos from Sally’s birthday party are perfect ways to stay connected to the ones you love, no matter where they live.
So take some time and go through your pictures. Be ruthless and delete the ones that you really don’t love, but find a way to treasure the ones that you do.
For more photography posts, check out my photography section. If organizing posts are your thing, be sure to look at my household tips!
How do you keep your photographs organized?
Jennifer Gilbert says
Thanks for the mention and link back to my website!
Lori Barnes says
I make albums with my photos but have several boxes waiting of the time in a day to find them homes
Janet M says
I do use albums but this coming winter I plan to really organize digital and print photos.
Elizabeth Matthiesen says
I used to print photos but found I seldom looked at the albums afterwards so I no longer print them. I must look into DropBox though, that sounds like a great idea for freeing up my phone from the hundreds of photos my kids send me of my grandkids etc etc.
K Yee says
I appreciate all this information. I grew up with film cameras. Moving into the digital age with pictures has proven to be a challenge for me.
Tammi L. says
A couple years ago my computer died and then 2 days later my external hard drive that everything was backed up on also died. I was devastated as I lost almost all of my daughters pictures from birth to age 10. Backing up to an online site is the single most important thing. I still cry when I think about it.
Tricia Carlton says
Thank you for your great organizing ideas!
Cynthia C says
I’m the world’s worst at this. I throw photos in a box. I really need to get them organized and like your ideas.
sabina edwards says
SUDDENLY 700+ photos on my phone and going onto the computer lol
LisaM says
I love the idea of photo books – I am going to use them to help cull out our JK art work. I figure I’ll take photos of them and make a book. He should love that and I won’t feel overrun by paper!