This topic is near and dear to my heart.
Photographs.
Ever since I was a little kid, I loved photographs. I had one of those Fischer Price blue cameras and I took photos of my stuffed animals and food. (true story!) As I have gotten older, I have appreciated them even more. I have photos of places that are no longer there; photos of friends and family members that are no longer with us; photos of vacations, special moments and every day moments. Some of them are blurry and out of focus, some caught candid moments that don't make sense without context; some sweet moments that make you want to jump back in to that moment. The common theme with all these photos is wanting to savor the moment forever and to cherish your time with your friends and family.
I find it interesting to find out how people organize their photos. Do they throw them all in a box and shove it in the closet? Do they meticulously catalog them and keep them in chronological order? Do they put them in photo albums in any order? Do they display these albums or are they locked in a closet forever?
In this two part series, I am going to be sharing how I organize my photos- physically and digitally.
This week, I am sharing how I organize my photos physically.
I generally keep my photos in albums stored in a bookcase in my room. The amount of photo albums I have acquired over the years surprise me. I pulled all of them out and I was shocked to see 22 albums or all sizes and shapes. I have also created 4 photo books over years.
Two of the photobooks were my 'Photo of the Day' Photos from August 2011 to August 2013. (These are the thin spined white books in photo) My intention was to make photobooks for each year but that didn't always happen. I have organized the photos digitally (I will talk more about that next week) for the next almost 10 years.
The one photobook I created was a professionally binded book. I wrote all about it in the post "My Coffee Table Book" I love this book and I cannot wait to make another. The company I used was great; their software was easy to use and the turnaround was super quick.
The last book I made was a chatbook- remember those? It was from the early days of Instagram and they printed out the first 20 or so photos from your Instagram page for free. Those were the days.
When I was younger, like high school years, I used to keep my photos in a shoe box, specifically a converse shoe box. I don't know why I favored that, probably because it was long and skinny and it fit the photos perfectly. We were still taking photos with disposable cameras and getting them developed at a drug store. I can't tell you how many photo envelopes I used to have stuffed everywhere. Then we all got digital cameras and SD memory cards were taken to the drug store to get the photos printed out.
I have a few albums filled with high school photos and I am instantly transported back to those moments. We all look so young and youthful and we all have no idea what is going to happen in the future.
College years, we had digital cameras and then it wasn't until 2011, is when I got a smartphone. From there, I rarely carried a digital camera anymore. I recently found my digital camera and while I have thought about using it, I always will default to my phone.
Those college photos again, I am instantly transported back to those times. Most of the people in those photos, I haven't seen in 15 years yet I still remember every single persons name. These memories will never fade because of the photos I have.
I have a ton of photos hence all the photo albums. I have made it my mission to gather all the photos in my house and place them in albums to keep them safe and sound; this past summer I think, I have completed that mission. There are probably some stragglers hiding in random places, but I am happy that all the photos I have found are safe and sound.
With my albums, most of them are thrown together with whatever photos I had on hand. I like have these mixed-up albums filled with Christmas, Halloween, everyday moments and old family parties. When I was gathering up the photos this summer, I made sure I separate the photos into holidays, me growing up, birthdays, etc. There is currently a shoe box in my closet full of photos from what I gather is two separate Disney World trips. We took a lot of photos of the shows and parades, I found.
Separating these photos into categories, made it easy for me to now find certain photos I am looking for. I was thinking of taking out the photos of my older albums and sorting them and putting like photos together, but I actually like the fact these older photos are messy with no rhyme or reason.
Having all these photos in one spot, bring me immense joy. They currently live on a bookshelf in my room, and I see them every single day.
Let me know in the comments below.
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