Do you have boxes of pictures or a folder of downloaded photos on your computer that you keep meaning to organize or put in an album? As each special occasion is captured “on film” is the task of organizing them seeming more and more overwhelming? Don’t fear shutterbugs! Getting started is the hardest part – here are a few ideas that might help.
There are several common things that we all do that may actually do our pictures more harm than good. Here’s what NOT to do:
- Avoid cheap photo albums. They might contain products that can harm your pictures so make sure you buy albums that specify they are safe for photos e.g. acid free.
- Don’t store photographs in their original photo-developing envelopes. There is acid in the envelope which can discolour the photo.
- Avoid using a ball-point pen to write dates and information on the back of your photograph. Most ink contains acid which can eat away at and stain your photos over time. Use an acid-free photo marking pen or soft lead pencil instead.
- Do not use rubber bands to group photos together. Rubber bands contain sulfur which can cause your photos to deteriorate.
- Don’t store photos in manila envelopes, plastic baggies or unsafe photo boxes. These items may contain products that will deteriorate the pictures. Use PVC-free plastics and lignin free, acid free, un-buffered paper.
Now we know what not to do so let’s start talking about how to tackle this seemingly daunting task! We recommend sorting pictures by year. Create a folder on your computer for the current calendar year and save all your pictures to this folder. If you prefer to break it down further save them in subfolders by quarter – January to March, April to June, etc. Anything more than quarters will become too cumbersome to manage. If you prefer to have your pictures developed use a photo safe box to store them by year. Within the box you can use photo safe paper to divide the pictures by quarter.
It is fun to have albums of your favourite pictures to flip through but do we really need every single shot we take in the album? Not likely! Choose your favourites and create an album for each year. There are a number of great websites for creating these albums – our favourites are My Publisher or Kodak Gallery. The software is really easy to use and you get a professional, bound album delivered to your front door in a week. If you are up for a real challenge try scrapbooking to capture your family’s special times.
Long term storage of your pictures is also very important to consider. We all hope we never have a computer crash or worse, a flood or fire, but situations like these are made even more difficult if memories and keepsakes are lost forever. We recommend you have a back-up drive for your computer. Some of these drives can actually be programmed to back-up automatically so you don’t have to worry about remembering to do it! Environmental factors such as temperature, humidity and sunlight affect photographs more than any other factor – proper storage of printed pictures is very important. Basements or attics are not the best areas of the house as they are more prone to seasonal changes. Store the pictures in acid free photo storage boxes. To protect pictures from fire or flood we recommend purchasing a small home safe to store a CD or memory stick with pictures on it or one large enough to hold pictures.
When you are finally done and have photo albums that would make Annie Leibovitz proud grab a glass of wine, sit down with your family and enjoy a trip down memory lane!
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elizabeth says
Thanks for the tips ladies. Now if I could just find someone to do my scrapbooks for me. I bought great boxes from Creative Memories so now I hvae lots of boxes of photos but not motivated for the next steps yet.