why i like digital

The first step I share with all my clients to organize their photos is to gather all of their boxes, drawers of negatives, CDs, and old shabby albums filled with photos and memorabilia from around their home. Your attic and basement are the worst places to store photos due to heat and humidity. Photos need moderate humidity and no direct sunlight to keep them in the best possible condition. The shelves in your living room are a good place, where you will probably look at your albums the most.

Designate a workplace. It can be a cabinet with a TV tray and chair, the dining room table, or a corner of the family room. Simply claim a space and set aside time each week to work on getting your photos in order. Consider throwing a sheet over the dining room table or desk in the corner of your room when you’re not working on your photos. Or you might want to leave it wide open as a friendly reminder to do so.

Rescue photos from harmful albums. To remove old photos from magnetic albums or other albums with PVC, a chemical that destroys photos, use dental floss to slip behind the photos.

Pitch blurry and dubious photos. If it doesn’t give you back the moment, throw it away. This will drastically reduce your stacks of images. I keep most of my dad’s photos because I can’t retake them, but the blurry ones that don’t represent him or the moment well, I don’t mind throwing away.

Take photos of large, bulky memorabilia that won’t fit in an album. Every summer, I take photos of my kids with all their school projects and artwork that won’t fit in albums. I frame some artwork and keep what fits in the albums. The rest we put in a special box for them or we throw it away once we have a photo.

Scan or copy newspaper articles. Newsprint will disintegrate over time due to the high lignin content found in the wood pulp it is made from. Do not laminate newspaper articles or any other souvenirs, as this hastens deterioration.

Finally, sort into categories that make sense to you: Mom, Dad, Grandparents, Vacations, Pets, Holidays, Sports. While classifying, please do not label with a pen which will bleed and damage your photos. Also, avoid using post-it notes because the sticky backing is harmful to photos. Use a pencil to label photos.

Okay, with all those steps, you can guess why I like digital! Delete all the steps. You can download all your photos to your computer, organize, tag, crop and enhance them, then design albums and print them from your computer. You may have worked with software that was already on your computer or with what came with your camera.

You’ll be amazed at how this new technology will make you a better photographer and keep your photos more organized and accessible for you to enjoy. Because no one takes photos thinking I’m going to put this in a box or drawer somewhere in my house or lose it among endless files on my computer. Now you can do something really cool with your photos like you always planned.