How to Organize Your Printed Photos
One of the most common projects people agonize over is how to organize all of their photographs. Why does the thought of organizing printed photos strike fear in the hearts of so many? There are several reasons people are overwhelmed by the thought of this project. First, many people who see the importance of passing down family history (and pictures play a big role in documenting that history) don’t think they can successfully sort and store them for future generations to enjoy. Second, people usually have photos stored all over their home in all sorts of containers and albums so it’s a monumental task just to gather them all together. Third, it takes lots of dedicated time and effort to sort them and put them in order.
We found an excellent article on the LifeStorage blog, called “Need to Organize Your Photos? Get Started Here”.
This article does a great job of outlining the steps you need to take:
- Decide your goal (is this organizing ALL of the photos you possess, or just doing a graduation scrapbook for your child?)
- Gather ALL of your pictures together (they are probably all over your house, so be sure to check every room).
- Gather your tools (acid free storage boxes are a good way to start sorting chronologically).
- Sort your photographs (dedicate some time to sorting them by year, and then by months or events within each year).
- Scan your prints (you can scan old prints yourself, but there are lots of resources available now – see below).
- Enjoy your photographs again (be sure to frame some of your favorites to display in your home, and you can also easily make some photo books for family members to enjoy).
There are many services out there to help people make digital copies of their old family photos. If you have stacks and stacks of prints that you would like to make digital copies of, we have come across a handy online service. You can ship your photos to ScanCafe and they will scan them, let you review them, and ship the originals back to you along with the digital copies. Read more about their process here.
If the thought of this task is still overwhelming to you, reach out to us here at Styled & Organized for help.
