One Parade
18
Nov
2011

How To Store Your Photos

categories: Do It Yourself, Organization

Photo Albums

A few years ago I started going completely digital with my photos. When I need one for a frame I usually just print it out myself and settle for a framed paper version. No one notices! However, lately I’ve been thinking about my mom’s photo albums and how happy it makes me to look through them.

This summer I was packing my things to get ready for the long road trip from Florida to California. I found myself going into my mom’s photo albums one more time before I left. I found a photo or two I wanted to keep and smuggled them in one of my books. A few weeks ago I stumbled across them and they made me so happy, though a little homesick as well.

Lately I’ve been looking at my camera and wanting to make more use of it. I think maybe I’m at the start of my life where I want to start documenting what’s going on, so my kids will one day be able to look at my photos and appreciate them the way I appreciate my mom’s. Josh and I are getting married in March 2013, and planning for the big day has opened my eyes to why pictures are so important. And this is coming from a girl who only had about 5 photos of her and her fiancé together before the engagement photo shoot!

So I’m exploring the possibilities and taking more pictures with my camera. Here are some possibilities of how to store your photos.

Virtual Photo Storage

  • Computer: I’ve been storing all of my photos on my computer only. I still think this is the best option, because it allows you to keep every photo and only develop the ones you’d like to share.
  • Hard Drive: I know some people who have a hard drive used only for photos and backing them up. This way they’re always available, can be transferred to any computer, and there is a back up just in case your computer photos are deleted.
  • Flash Disc: If you don’t take many pictures, I can see a flash disc being a cheaper alternative to a hard drive.

Traditional Photo Storage

  • Scrapbook Album: My mom frequently used old style albums that required each photo to be stuck on using corner adhesives. These will take some time but allow you to scrapbook and get creative with your picture collection.
  • Protective Album: Most photo albums these days come in the style of using clear protective covers as pages. These are a faster way to create an album and there are some nice options out there.
  • Printable Album: I’m seeing this trend a lot lately, and I have to admit I love it. You can send your photos to places like Shutterfly and they will mail you a printed and bound album using the design and photos you chose online. It’s like mixing the first option with the second! This is also great for creating albums with themes like wedding, summer vacation, 24th birthday, etc.

Photo Album Ideas

  • Add text: Throw in a text card to create a collage feel on every page of your clear album inserts.
  • Do it yourself: Make a DIY accordion album. This would be a cute gift!
  • Notecard rings: Use metallic notecard rings and punch holes in your photos.
  • Photo a day: Take one photo every day for a year and create an album for the adventure.
  • Go retro: Get old fashioned and purchase a polaroid camera to create a more vintage feel album.
How do you store your photos?

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  • http://royal-hours.net Jinny

    I still love traditional photos! I go to the photo lab about once a year with alllllll the pictures I took during the year and print them in bulk haha. I haven't got an album for them yet, they're just sitting in a stack in my drawer. I keep forgetting to get an album.

    I love the idea of a photo book! I never heard of that before, thanks for introducing me to it! I might just try it out one of these days!!
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    • http://one-parade.com Marjorie

      I never do that because I'm way too lazy to get them developed… Isn't the photo book cool? Plus it gets sent right to your home. Super easy for lazy people like me. hahaha
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  • http://riyuu.org Jenny

    I love flipping through photo albums and looking at photos that way! There's something about actually holding the album in your hand and being able to flip through the pages that really appeals to me (which is why I can never get into e-books). I feel like I actually take LESS pictures now that it's gone digital :(
    The photo a day idea sounds great! I might try that to get into taking pictures again. Thanks for sharing!
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    • http://one-parade.com Marjorie

      Yes, I agree. Especially when I sit down with my mom's albums! So I'm now inspired to make my own.

      As far as ebooks, I found that the comfort of holding the tablet and using the finger flipping to turn the page gives you the same "comfort" feeling over time. I used the think the same way, but I've come to love curling up with my iPad to read. :)

      Thanks for the comment!
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  • Alix

    I love this post so much! As the daughter of 2 photographers, I've grown up with photo albums all around me chronicling the better part of my youth. I love looking through them and it makes me kind of sad that I haven't taken the time to keep up the habit of making albums. I think it's part of the double edge sword of the digital photography age: on one hand it's so easy to take many pictures of every moment but on the flip side, those photos are often uploaded into a computer and left there. One of my goals in 2012 is to make the effort of selecting my favourite photos and putting them into albums and frames. There's this great TEDx talk that talks about our digital legacy in a digital photography context that I think you'd might enjoy watching: http://tedxconcordia.com/talks/adele-mcalear/

    • http://one-parade.com Marjorie

      Exactly, I upload pictures and there lost somewhere within the hundreds of folders I have! I need to start developing more. Like you, I'm going to make it my goal next year to take more pictures and actually do things with them. Thank you so much for sharing that link, will check it out!!
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