If you’re like most people, you have a lot of photos – a lot of photos that are all over the place. To most it’s a little overwhelming to organize your photos but once you have a system in place, the task becomes a habit that you can actually enjoy. The new year is the perfect time to finally put those photos in their place.
The best way to organize your photos is to just start (don’t fret about the past years yet – they will all fall into place). Gather the photos from your phone (use a usb cable to transfer onto your computer), your camera, your emails and any other device you use for picture taking. The goal is to get them all into one place for easy access and to archive.
Everyone has different ways of organizing but the best way is the way that works for you. For most people it works to organize by date, for others its events or subjects. Create one main folder on your computer titled Photos 2019. Then within that folder create your sub folders by month. Depending on your social activities for the month, you may need sub folders within the month. Some months may just be a random collection of memories. Copy your photos into the folders. Don’t rely on your SD card to preserve your memories – cards can fail.
Make one folder titled Prints. As you go through your photos, delete the truly bad ones and copy into the appropriate folders. Then from the sub folders, copy the ones that you want to print. If they’re copied into the print folder then you can delete them from that folder as you print and they’ll already be organized into your categories. After your current photos are organized, you can work backwards. The system will be in place making it easy for you to enjoy reliving the memories as you neatly put them in place.
This is the most photographed generation ever, yet there are so few prints ever made. Remember floppy disks? Do you know how to retrieve your photos from them? The only true way to archive your photos is to print them. Years from now, the photos will be gone from your phone and nobody will sit around a computer to look at photos, but if you pull out an album of prints you’ll have a book of memories. Make prints, frame them and enjoy them!
The last part of the organization is to back up your files. When your computer fails and it will at some point fail, a backup system will be in place. Diana Lang, owner of Diana P. Lang Photography, recommends using an external drive and a cloud based storage system. The drive will give you easy access if necessary and the cloud based system will protect you in case of a home disaster.
Photos are the keepsake of memories – make sure yours are protected and printed to enjoy!
