Raise your hand if you have thousands of images on your phone? Just me? ✋I’m sure that your phone holds memories big and small for you, your family, and the loved ones you spend so much time with.
While having a device that so easily captures these memories is a huge privilege, what is your long term plan with those photos? Do you regularly go through them and reminisce or are they mostly taking up storage space? Do you wish you knew what to do with all of your digital images, or in the least, how to organize them?
As a professional photographer, I often encourage my clients to print a handful of the photos we produce during a shoot. It’s a big effort for you and your family to create them and they should be proudly displayed and made to be looked at often! But what about the hundreds of others you collect on a more regular basis?
I’ve talked to many fellow photographers and friends alike and the consensus to this question is that those more candid moments and little daily pictures also deserve to be preserved in some way. Those photos paint the story of your life and are a true treasure to hold onto for years to come!
So when it comes to the smaller, less staged digital images you have taking up precious space on your devices, let’s chat about what to do with them!
3 Ways to Preserve Your Digital Images
1. Print Your Top 10 Photos Per Month
Maybe you’re like me and you like to pull out your phone to snap a picture a few times a week. Even if you take less than that, perhaps you have important trips or events most months in the year that are worth documenting.
Regardless of your photo-taking habits, most of us take between 10-50 photos per month that could explain what we did or experienced in that range of time. My advice? Print those photos!! For a small fee (think Walgreens or Walmart Photo Centers), you can get 10 images for less than a few dollars and preserve a number of memories in hard copy. These hard copy photos are priceless when you think about the potential loss of phone files you could unfortunately suffer from (darn technology!)
After you print off approximately 10 photos per month, store them in an album or a labeled folder for future reference and even consider framing a few. You, your children, or your grandchildren would love sorting through the big and small happenings of your life as you go through it and you could swap out the framed photos every few months to ensure the variety of smiles in your home or work environment.
Even though so many things we do are digital these days, having hard copies of events or milestones in your life is priceless and extra special! Consider marking your calendar on the same day each month and taking the time to sort and send off a quick photo order. You won’t be sorry!
2. Make a Yearly Collage Book
Collage photo books are all the rage these days and for good reason! They are a great way to put together lots of images and leave detailed notes about the photo or experience. They are affordable, professional, and can be such a unique and precious gift!
Most print centers provide photo book services, but you can also find them online and have the books shipped right to your home. Some of my favorites include:
I always recommend working on photo books little by little. If you’re trying to make an entire book (and take advantage of a deal or promotion) it can be overwhelming to build an entire book. It often works best to start a photo book project well in advance and add to it slowly but surely.
Many families like to have a book that showcases a full year’s highlights (trips, events, birthdays, celebrations, and more). I love the idea of having a shelf full of multiple years of highlights. What a fun memory to flip through year after year!
3, Use the Day One App
Technology can sometimes be a distraction or a challenge, but this might be my favorite way to journal in this digital age. The Day One app prompts you to put one photo and one note per date into your specific profile. You can keep a record of things that occur in both photos and words. What a cool idea, right?
The Day One app has countless features, each one providing you with customization options and more. And the best part? You can export your journal at any time so that you aren’t tied to just the app. This is a GREAT way to store your digital files because if something were to happen to your phone, the app would still keep your images PLUS your journal entries, accessible anywhere with app download ability.
BONUS: Professional Photo Printing Services
I have to take a minute to recommend my two favorite professional photo printing services. Not only are both of these companies reputable and professional, their quality is amazing! I always recommend these two companies to my clients after we complete a photoshoot. You will love having a nice canvas print, framed photo, or even a fun calendar compilation of your gorgeous new photos!
I hope you take a minute to pick a few photos to print from your camera roll as a way to pay tribute to the beautiful blessing it is to be able to capture small and simple moments. Even in a digital age, printing photos is a great way to keep the memories alive, so go on! Get to printing!
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