Organize and Store Your Photos
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!In previous blog posts, I’ve said to sort your photos into piles that tell stories and make sense to you. Sort them by event, chronologically, or by person; there is no right or wrong way. But what do you do with them once they are sorted but you’re not ready to scrapbook with them yet. Or you aren’t going to put them in a scrapbook but need to preserve them. Here are a few tips to get you thinking about how to store them safely, for you to consider.
Digital and Hard Copy Photos
I will venture to guess that most of us use our cell phone to take and store our photographs. So they are already organized in chronological order. Typically, you can see the date of the digital photo and possibly the location of where it was taken, which are really great features. If you don’t have these features, you can also synch your phone with Google drive to have them automatically time stamped and organized chronologically.
There are websites and apps that you can use to create “albums” as digital scrapbooks. Some of them allow captioning that can aid in your story telling. But I like to use printouts of my digital photos to make albums to physically flip through. I just personally find them more satisfying. But why not use both methods?
I use several methods for printing photos from my cell phone. I just print as I go and store the rest of the photographs on my cell phone. (However, I grew up in a time of cameras before cell phones and I have lots of photos stored). I keep a small supply of photo paper from an office supply store and print them on my personal printer. My printer isn’t the best so sometimes they are not as sharp as I would like. Other alternatives that I use are chain stores that have photo printing stations that I find very convenient. For a minimal cost, the photographs can be uploaded and printed by physically going to the store and plugging your cell phone into the printing station. Or you can upload them onto the store’s app to be printed and you can pick them up at your convenience. And other options are online stores, like Shutterfly, where you can upload your photos to print and receive them by mail. I have used all these options with great success.
Photo Containers
We’ve all flipped through photo albums of our family members with dingy, yellowed, and browned photos, faded with age. Technology and preservation tools have certainly advanced since then. That’s good news because preserving memories for future generations is why we scrapbook. So, preserving photos must be the priority.
I’ve seen photos thrown into old shoe boxes. That is fine for a very short-term solution. The problem is that short-term can turn into long-term and photos can be affected by the acids found in the paper from which the shoe box is constructed. A better solution is to store the photos from the beginning in containers that are made from materials that don’t contain chemicals harmful to the photographs. You can find many kinds of containers with a simple internet search. My personal preference is clear plastic bins that have labels on the top and/or front of the bins. You can buy small bins for each photo grouping, or shoebox-sized containers and use dividers to separate photo groupings. You can purchase dividers, but index cards can work just as well.
I have several 12×12 plastic cases that have smaller plastic containers inside. When I need a photo group, I just open the case and pick out the container I need. Also, I live in a hurricane prone area so, if threatened by a hurricane, I can simply grab the plastic case and go – they are very portable.
Photo Storage
You also must consider the environment where you’ll place your containers of photographs. Make sure you store them in a relatively cool, dry, and stable environment. And they should be kept away from sunlight. In other words, avoid attics and basements where there can be great fluctuations in temperature and humidity. Don’t store them near fireplaces and radiators or where they could be subject to water contamination.
Labeling Photo Groups
Labels are a must. The labels of the photo groupings you’ve sorted should reflect what photos are included. The label may reflect the year, or vacation location, or family member, or event, etc. depending on how they were sorted. That way, when you are ready to create the scrapbook with a group of photos, they’ll be at your fingertips.
You probably won’t need each photograph from the photo group you are scrapbooking with to tell your story. Since you’ve already organized your photos, it’s easy to just slip the ones you’re not using back into their labeled space for safe keeping.
Final Words
You are keeping photographs for a reason, and besides, they are the most important part of your scrapbook. So it is very important to think about how you organize and store them. Finding all your photos, sorting, organizing, and storing them takes effort. But getting your system in place can save you time in the long run. Make time; you won’t regret it. Happy Scrapbooking!