ORGANIZING PHOTOGRAPHS

So often I am asked how to organize photos. Many of my clients have boxes and boxes filled with old photos. Often they are not just awaiting organization but also scrapbooking. I am not a scrap booker but I admire those who do. The albums are always so much fun to look through. Whether you are a scrapper or not, if you have lots of photos that need organizing here are few things to keep in mind.

1. Don’t develop or print off any new photos until you have your old ones organized. You certainly don’t need any more pictures to add to the chaos. Keep them on your memory card or computer until you are ready to work with them.

2. If you have a lot of old photos you may feel overwhelmed by the task. Take baby steps. Get the kids or a friend to help. Start by sorting the photos by year. Keep lots of shoe boxes or small tubs close by and label them with the year. I have found clear plastic shoe boxes to be just the right size for sorting photos or you can buy boxes that are specially designed for Photo storage.

3. Then once they are sorted by year you can sort them by month or event. Depending on how many pictures you have this may take a while. Break it up in to small segments of time. Maybe you can plan to work on them for one hour each evening.

4. After the photos are sorted then you need to decide how you are going to store them. If your hope is to put them all in photo albums then you need to purchase those. I suggest you get all the same albums to keep your collection looking neat and esthetically pleasing on your book shelves. You may just be planning to keep your photos in boxes and if so you are almost done. Others may plan to scrapbook the photos. In that case you must gather your supplies and set up a place to work where you can leave your supplies out.

5. Regardless of how you are planning to store your photos the next step is start with the most recent photos you have printed. It will be easier to recall what took place and when. As the photos get older you may need help from another family member to recall the dates, events and people in the photos.

6. As you go through each month or event in each box take out any pictures that are blurry or dark or duplicates. Only keep the best of the best! Put the pictures from each event or month in a separate photo safe envelope and label the envelope with the date and event. If you plan to scrapbook include an envelope with journal entries and mementos from the event.

7. Continue on with this process until you have sorted through all of your photos. Depending on how many you have you may decide to keep most of them in the boxes and just album or scrap book the highlights from each year.
8. Most importantly, keep these processes going with any new photos that you develop or print. Organizing one month’s worth of photos will seem like a breeze!

9. With all the new photos websites you may decide to organize your new photos on line and then order photo books from each event. My favorite site for this isPicaboo This site has an endless supply of backgrounds and they even have scrapbooking pages divided into themes. Making the photo books is a breeze and then you can choose to share with others on line or post them to your website. If you decide to order the Photo Album that’s simple as well and they start as low as $9.99. When you factor in the price of photo albums and printing
your pictures, and the time it takes you to put them in albums the prices are very reasonable. Especially if you are planning to scrapbook given the price of supplies. Check out an album that I put together for you using a variety of backgrounds to give you an idea of what the site has to offer. Click on this link to see my album. http://preview.picaboo.com/Webview/CoverPage.aspx?user=000000000002E4AE2F&album=000000000002E9D34A

10. If you have just too many pictures and you can’t bring yourself to get started then check out this website and give their product a try.
Organize your photos!

Good luck and Happy Organizing!
Valerie