How Many Photos???
How many photos do you have laying around various places in your home, or all put away in boxes, or bins or bags in your spare room, or attic or your bedroom? How many years worth? Or are you one of those tidy, organized persons that puts them away in order in books, within in a week of them getting developed? Are there a lot of you out there that are neat like that, or are there more of you out there like me, with 3 - 10 - 20 or 40 years worth of photos that need to be organized or put in some semblance of order. How many of you dream of making photo books to to give to your children when they are grown, have you done it yet...or are your children 25, 28 and 37, and you're still trying to find the time to put them "together" or at least in "some sort of " order? Confess now, which one are you? Let me know, please comment and let me know that I'm not the only one with bins full of photos sitting in a spare room just "waiting for organization". Make me feel better, I'm sure I must not be alone!
The project I talked about in my post above is "PHOTOS". I have been talking about organizing my photos for the last 3 winters....was to be my "winter project"...what a laugh... do you think I might make it happen in '08? Well this weekend, I have made a valiant attempt at starting ...
I feel really compelled to get them in some sort of order, I'd like to then narrow them down and put them onto discs, maybe even onto DVD's or something like that. I would like to make either books or discs for each of the children and grandchildren. I am very nostalgic, and I love photos, I love to remember things and look back on old photos. But, I realize that not everyone in my family is like I am, so I am really afraid that IF something happened to me before I accomplished this project, that the pictures would all get thrown out...(even though I have warned family members that they better not do that)... I know it's a possiblity. That's why I feel COMPELLED to accomplish this project! And, the first step to accomplishing, is to get a START!
So - I spent a lot of time this weekend sorting through photographs, and organizing them. Of course, I haven't begun to make a dent... I mainly got through just the ones I had downstairs from the last few years. I have blue Rubbermaid storage bins full, upstairs to organize! But, at least it's a start. I spent most of today doing that. The last time I really organized pictures was when I was pregant with Rob (28 now)!! So, you can see, I have a BIG project ahead of me. Two years ago over the Christmas break, our Grandson was visiting, and he was going to help me ... we took tons of photos out, and started sorting, well guess what happened... we spent so much time looking at them, especially the old ones that he had never seen, he enjoyed asking me about them all...that we never made much progress. Later that winter, when I didn't get back to the project, they all got shoved back into the bins and stored away again! My friend told me that I should forget trying to do it now, she said "Linda, this is a retirement project"! Well, Sharon, retirement is a long way off for me, and I keep taking photos, and they keep piling up! So, I keep saying I must get to this NOW! I simply must! So, this was a start. Now, if I can just keep at it!
posted by Linda at 6:27 PM
3 Comments:
I thought I would let you know what I do with my pictures.
I have scanned them all. Old ones clear back as well as new ones.
The old ones that are changing color and falling a part...problem solved.
I have a digital camera so the new ones come that way.
I name all the pictures with a name and date. I have sub files by who the pictures are. That way when people look at the pictures they see just who they want to see. My Grandkids love this because they can just see their Daddy when he was a kid or when Granddad was little.
I then make copies of all the pictures on to CD's and give them to family members. That way if the originals were lost I would have off site backups in several different locations.
It's a lot of work but it turned out great.
I have taken a picture a day since January 1, 2000. I wanted to document the first year of the new century for my 2 girls and it kind of got out of control. It's now just a habit. I also have pictures on disks, but since 2003 I have also posted them to my website, so they are also on a webserver in St. Paul as a backup. They are filed by date.
And since 2000, I have printed 2 copies of each print and put them in old fashioned albums for both girls. Growing up they both would periodically pull out the albums and reminisce. I moved this summer and since each year requires 2 albums, I had 8 years x 2 x 2 = 32 albums! Yikes. There is a certain comfort in just looking through books, as opposed to looking at images on a screen. Just make sure you have CD backups!
To Anonymous - thank you- that is exactly what I had in mind to do, scan them all, but I have so many that it seems like an enormous job, so I think I must caterorize them and decide which ones to scan, as I don't have a scanner at home. I started a few years ago ordering CD's when I develop the photos, so do have the last few years on CD..
To Diane - thank you too...wow, a photo a day...but you sound organized! I would like to have them on CD's and also some in albums for the kids.
I probably need to invest in a digital camera and a scanner for home! Thanks to both of you for your comments! - Linda
Post a Comment
<< Home