Happy day-before Valentines Day!! In honor of the holiday of Love, I thought I’d post a different kind of Foto Friday.
Today’s message is a short and sweet reminder about preserving your photos. We take pictures of the people and things we love, right? And how would any of us feel if we were to lose those photos and special memories?
Let me tell you a short story. After my freshman year of college, I went on a study abroad to Mexico. It was the best summer of my life (I still don’t think I’ve had any that have beat that summer). I took tons of pictures and put them into a really cool scrapbook with all of the stories and memorabilia from my trip. I can still picture my adventures there because those photos and stories have kept them alive for me.
I’m the one on the extreme right of this photo, standing with white shorts, purple shirt, and very curly hair.
The following summer, my roommate and I headed back to Mexico. We had a great time. I felt adventurous and daring being in a foreign country with just one friend–no tour guide, no adults. Wait! We were adults! I took tons of pictures (at least by 35mm standard) and dropped my film off at the one hour photo as soon as I got home. Later, I ran to pick up my pictures, opened up the envelope, and found myself staring at someone else’s dog. I took the photos back to the lab and had them look for my envelope. Oops. Must have gotten mixed up! When they found my film, I was devastated. The entire roll of film–36 shots–was torn down the middle. There was no way to save the pictures. I had no photos to remember the trip–no physical memories to keep. Today, I can hardly remember the trip. I have little snippets of memories, but no vivid pictures in my mind. I blame it all on the lost film.
These days, it’s a lot easier to keep your photos safe with digital photography. It is so much easier now to find older pictures (as long as you have a general idea of when the photo was taken or if you have an excellent organizing system on your computer). Digital images also “keep” better than negatives, which can be damaged in storage. So we’re a lot better off now than we were several years ago, but we still need to safeguard our photos. Computers crash, kids accidentally hit delete, etc.
So are you ready for my photo storage tips? They’re simple.
~Keep your photos organized on your computer. I include the shot date on each of my photos as well as key words or tags that I can use to more easily find pictures when I want them.
~If you like to have hard copies of your photos, whether as 4×6 prints, wall prints, or for use in paper scrapbooks, my advice is to print regularly. As soon as I go through a series of photos, I star my favorites so that when I go back to select photos to print, I don’t have to spend much time. If I wait too long to print, it gets overwhelming. I’m sure I’m not alone in this. :)
I really LOVE online photobooks like the ones that you can get at Kodak Gallery because I can skip printing and simply upload and print the entire book. BUT, I really miss the stories that I include in my regular scrapbooks. I need more space to write! (I’m sure you haven’t noticed that I have a lot to say….) I was recently introduced to a new alternative–a photobook that focuses on the stories. Cherish Bound has even offered my readers a story starter and publishing account with a $29 credit towards a photobook. If you’re interested, click here to find out more about the giveaway and the company.
And the most important tip:
~Back up, Back up, Back up! Whether you back up your photos on a disk or an external drive or a free online storage service, it doesn’t matter. Just do it! You’ll never regret the back up, but you most certainly WILL regret not backing up your photos if somthing should happen to them on your computer. I recommend storing photos on an external drive plus online. A few sites I recommend are:
There are plenty of other easy, free photo storage sites out there, but these are the services I use the most.
Now I’d love to hear: How do YOU preserve your memories?
Happy Valentines Day! Hug the ones you love!
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