We have established that we take A LOT of photos these days - it's so easy - why not. But, having a huge volume of photos to process, edit, name, tag, organize, backup, archive, print, display etc can be more than overwhelming. So - let me offer a few ways to lighten your load, simplify your photo collection.
1. TOSS - Did you know you can throw away photos? Yes, you can. Back in the film-develop-print days we often printed doubles. But because we couldn't see a photo until we got the film developed, we took LOTS of photos of the same thing to assure that we captured a perfect moment. And then we took our rolls of film in for development and got doubles. It's okay to throw away some or many of those photos... I mean if you really don't want to that's okay too - but right here and now I give you permission to put a photo in the trash... Likewise, with digital cameras, we don't have to worry about using up film so again, we take a ton of photos to guarantee success. Throwing a digital photo in the trash requires a delete button - on photo apps it often looks like a little trash can. It's there for a reason - you are allowed to use it.
2. A-Quality photos. I do a lot (I mean a whole lot) of scanning for people. Meaning, I take their print photos that are their ONLY copy of a photo and I run it through a scanner to make a duplicate or digital copy of that photo. That way, if something happens to the original, there is another copy - and it can be used to create a new print copy of the photo as well. The digital copy can be duplicated and stored in several places to assure its safety. So, the question always arises before I begin a scanning job for a client - what do you want me to scan? Usually, a client chooses either their A-Photos only - or the A&B photos.
A - stands for Album. The very best of your photos. The ones you'd want to print or include in an album. A-one, top quality. Sometimes clients can't afford to have me scan every photo they own. This is where designating A-quality photos is important. We opt to scan only the best ones.
Again, in the digital world, photo organizing packages often allow you to rate your photos - assign them a grade or enable you to indicate your favorites. Many of my clients - especially ones who pay for their backup storage spaces - put only their A-quality photos up in their permanent cloud storage. I do. I don't want my family to have to dredge through all the photos to find the best ones, I put the very best ones in my most permanent and secure location.
B - stands for Box. A photo that you don't want to delete but it's not your very best might just get to stay in your photo box but you don't want to pay someone to scan it and you don't want to pay for it to be stored in the cloud. These are B photos. Some clients like me to scan all the A photos and all the B photos - it's your choice - but just know it's a choice.
3. Time. Consider how much time you have to organize and backup and name and tag and use your photos. Fewer photos means it takes you less time.
All of this adds up to simplification. Simplify your photos - simplify your life - simplify the time and energy it takes to manage your photo collection. The more you simplify, the more time you have to spend time on the photos that matter the most - not to mention the time it allows you to spend living your life rather than organizing your photos.
I spend a lot of time helping clients to SIMPLIFY their photo collections - I can help you too!
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