In the age of digital photography, photographs are mainly kept electronic until copies. However, everyone has photographs of family members, heritage photos and photos that have been given to us. In order to have all our photographs organized, we will need to develop a system of filing and storing both hardcopy and electronic media photographs and videos.

Let’s begin by getting our beverage ready to keep us hydrated.  Tea, lemonade, ice water, or juice, let’s let that now.

Gather all your photos together. I suggest even gathering the ones in frames so that we can organize the collection as a whole.  Categorize all the photos by subject or person. Here are some suggestions for categories:

• Immediate Family
• Extended Family
• Friends
• Pets
• Vacations
• Pictures of Beauty
• Inventory of items
• Items of Interest
• Miscellaneous

Now that you have them categorized, you can begin to determine how you want to store them. Photographs need special care as to not fade with time, so choose acid free paper and storage containers. There are many devices for storing photos so check on-line or shop around until you find one that meets your needs.

Check your framed photographs and heritage photos. Are there any here that you would like or need to copy? Other family members might be interested in having copies of relatives or extended family. You can scan these and send them to others so that they may enjoy them as well. You can also create a family tree with some of the photos as a project for your family or to give as a gift.

Scrapbooking is another way to keep photos for future enjoyment. The great feature of scrapbooking is that you capture much more information regarding the context of the photo. The serves as a time capsule for your family and friends and provides a rich texture to the meaning of the photo. Scrapbooking could be a great family activity and could be conducted on your family fun day or creative day. There are so many inexpensive scrapbooking supplies readily available to make it easy and affordable to keep your photos and their stories in a keepsake album.

If you have empty frames around your house, fill them with pictures of loved ones. Sort through your collection of photos and determine any themes that might unite some of the photos into a vignette or small collection. For example, we have photos of the children with a family pet. These all can be displayed as an interesting collection with a common theme that bind them together. Suggestions for themes:

• Colors in the photos
• Location
• Time of Season
• Age
• Profile
• Portrait
• Sports
• Outdoors
• Landscape

Your decor will be enhanced when you artistically display your photos. In addition, you will find that the visual connection with the content in the photos is mentally and emotionally stimulating.

I had an interesting result when I finished organizing my photos. I found that I had a collection of antique artistic nude/semi nude photos taken in the 1930’s. I had put these away but as a collection, they were quite stunning. I framed the entire collection in beautiful frames and hung them all in my bedroom. The old photography feel that the collection exuded, inspired me to redecorate my bedroom in sepia tone colors with an old photographer vibe. I found old cameras at yard sales and thrift store and then looked through my collection of books and pulled all the books on photography, or subject matter for photography as in landscapes and beautiful, serene portraits. I displayed these books as a collection and the room now looks cohesive and interesting. My bedroom is now a relaxing  boudoir which captures my interests and collections. I might add that my husband is not complaining either. The room is masculine as well as feminine and he is just fine with the subject matter. Perhaps you can find some interesting photos to decorate your home with. You will definitely be happier with a home full of beautiful photos of people and places you love.

Now on to the electronic documents. Is it time to refill the beverage?

Many people store photos on their computers and phones. This is great until the “crash.” Then the photos are difficult to recover or lost. To remedy this, you can either use an external storage device or an online photo storage and sharing site. I prefer the external hard drive, but they too crash. Choose which is best suited for your needs and either get the hard drive or  sign up for the online storage site.

Gather all your digital media storage devices. Start categorizing your electronic photos just like you did the hard copies. Group them into folders and move each photo to the appropriate folder. If you find photos that you want to print, you can sent them electronically to a photo store, or printer or you can make an electronic copy and put on a thumb drive to take to a photo printing service.

Once you have all the photos organized, upload them to your storage site or download them to youpr external hard drive. Label all the folders by category to be able to find the photos easier.

Remember your beauty routine!!!

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