When it comes to organizing your photos, the first thing to understand is the importance of keeping up with the task — the benefits of tackling a trickle versus a torrent. "Forget about the past for a second and begin with the photos you have now," says Randy Bourne, president and founder of Exposures, a mail-order company devoted to simplifying memory management. "You can always go back later."
There's no better time to start than with this summer's vacation photos, which can actually be fun. Gather the family together to start sorting — and relive the moments, retelling the grandpa-stranded-on-the-sandbar story as you work.
Think of the process as a three-tiered system, with pictures landing in one of three spots based on their importance — the first option being the trash can. The second tier is storage. The third is mini-albums and any devices that allow you to share the snaps with friends. With this strategy, you only need to do as much as you have time for, which makes the whole thing less daunting. Here's some motivation for sound photo management: Pictures are about the only tangible thing you have to show for your travels, for example, that $5,000 month in Provence. Well, plus a few extra pounds, but those you'll want to keep to yourself.
1. Sort and Toss
The key to scaling down your photo stockpiles: edit, edit, edit. It's all right if every shot is not a winner — not even the pros bat 1,000 — but it's not all right to cling to every frame as if it were an Ansel Adams original.
As soon as you get your pictures back, immediately throw out any shots that are too dark, out of focus, or unflattering. Many photo labs allow you to inspect photos before you pay and to chuck any shots that have technical problems, with those prints deducted from the bill.
The harder task is to eliminate redundant shots. There you were, at Walt Disney World, when Junior had a close encounter with Mickey Mouse. You were at the ready with the camera and it was all so exciting that you couldn't help yourself — you shot half a roll. Now you have the pictures back and they all look basically the same: Junior grinning; Junior grinning and waving; Junior grinning and waving with eyes closed; Junior grinning and waving with Mickey's head cut off. Pick just a few that sum up the thrill of the moment. Toss the rest. You still have the negatives, if, at any point, you want to go back and view the moment-by-moment unfolding of the event.
While your memory is still fresh, it's a good idea to write a note on the back of the photo — at the bottom edge, and only using a photo-safe, nonacidic pen, such as a Sharpie — about where the picture was taken and what people were doing or saying at the time. "Maybe you have a picture of Aunt Mary and Uncle Harry, and it was on this trip that Uncle Harry dropped the cake," says Ronni Eisenberg, author of
Organize Your Home!: Simple Routines for Managing Your Household (Hyperion, $10). "Write that on the photo, because otherwise in 10 years you won't remember the story, and pictures are the story of your life."
2. File Them in Boxes
The simplest containment policy for pictures that have made it through the first cut is putting them into special photo cartons about the size of shoe boxes, only a little sturdier. Most of these come with envelopes for storing negatives and photos; or at the very least, you can leave them in the envelopes they come in from the lab. Always write the date and the event on the outside of the envelope, for quick retrieval. Most boxes come with dividers and tabs for all the pertinent information. If you're going tab-less, Eisenberg suggests numbering the envelopes as you put them in, so that if you need to take one out you know exactly where to put it back. These boxes, which normally store 1,000 photos, now come dressed up in leather or with wrapping-paper-pretty designs so they don't look shoddy. Exposures even sells a handsome cabinet, in which a five-foot-high stack of these boxes fits nicely. "If you can't get past this stage, at least they're all together and safe," says Bourne.
If you want photos to last a long time, make sure to store them correctly. Extreme temperatures and humidity can dramatically shorten the life span of your photos. "A good rule of thumb is if you're comfortable, your photos are comfortable," says Daniel Burge, an assistant scientist at the Image Permanence Institute at the Rochester Institute of Technology. That means forget about stashing them in the attic, basement, or garage. Burge also cautions against storing photos near the kitchen or bathroom, where humidity is high, or in closets that back up to pipes, which could leak.
3. Share Them in Albums
Now that your photos are tucked away in their boxes, you can pull only your favorites, maybe 10 or 20, to put in a mini-album for easy and repeated viewings. Consider making an album devoted only to one trip, using books slightly larger than the photos themselves; this will keep the project more manageable, and mini-albums are more portable for those eat-your-heart-out showings at the office. Sketchbooks with ring bindings, available at art-supply stores, make ideal mini-albums. Simply paste photos down with an acid-free glue stick and then remove any pages you haven't filled.
Mini-albums are great for showing off highlights of your trip, but that requires being in the same room with your important others. For those long-distance loved ones who won't believe you white-watered through the Grand Canyon until they see proof, other tactics must be employed. On the low-tech side is the frequent-flyer flyer. After returning from a trip to Japan with her husband and son, a friend of mine cut up some photos of them at different temples and sushi palaces, pasted them on paper with funny captions, and then created color-photocopy collages for her pals.
Next Steps
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