Organize your photos.

Another week of organizing tips!

As I've said before, I'm a girl with many hobbies.  I don't want to spend all my time on any single one of them.  I enjoy keeping scrapbooks -- for my kids and for me.  I try to keep my photos organized as I go along, so I can enjoy them before they're scrapped and so I can enjoy my scrapbooking time more (more scrapbooking, less confusion). 

Where and how often you get prints made is a whole other story.  So let's just assume you have a stack of prints in hand.  What next?

I keep two 2-up photo albums for storing my photos.  One is for everyday photos and one is for travel photos.  I throw a card in the first 4x6 slot as a title page.  Again, neatness is not the goal here!  (The flip side of that card says 2005/2006 everyday photos....)  As I get photos printed, I put them in the album.  I try to group things together -- all F'sbirthday photos together, all the Easter photos together.  If I think I'll be adding a few more photos to a subject later, I might leave a blank page or two.  (For example, I take photos a few times a year at my kids' schools -- a few of the room, a few of friends, a few of my child with his/her teacher.  They're taken at different times of the year, but I like to keep them together anyway.)  Most are just random photos, everyday life.  Sometimes I run out of room & have to add holiday photos to the back of the travel photo album!

There are two things I really like about this approach:  first, I don't feel compelled to put the photos into a scrapbook immediately.  They're already in a place that's accessible if we want to see them. Second, I like to scrapbook the real moments of our lives, not just events.  By having my photos in an album, I usually make connections I might have missed:  a photo of F in a sleeper at age 18 months reminded me of a photo of J in the very same sleeper at almost the very same age.  I might have missed it if I hadn't let the photos linger in the photo album for awhile.

A few photos don't make it into the regular photo albums.  I have another little accordion file where I store photos for special future projects:

I have tabs for many different potential future projects (emphasis on potential).  The house next door to us has been more or less vacant for the last six years.  It was purchased last spring and the new owners are working on an addition and some amazing landscaping.  So there I am with my camera taking "before" photos, so that when they finally finish the project, I can give them a before/after type gift.  I also have tabs for my kids' oldest friends.  (Lisa, spoiler alert:  stop reading here.)  Someday I will make a retrospective album of their relationships (awesome gift for confirmation or graduation).  I even have a tab for photos of my daughter sleeping -- you never know when that will come in handy!

Tomorrow:  what to do with all those leftover photos.  Thank you so much for your sweet comments and encouragement everyone.  Kristan, I will keep my fingers crossed for you!

Comments

[Katherine O'Halloran]

OH MY GOSH....you are amazing and very inspiring...I have never been so excited about getting organized...keep the ideas coming. You make it sound so easy. I love your blog!!
VERY IMPRESSIVE DEAR FRIEND
Katherine