A huge part of who I am is photos. I have made that abundantly clear. This topic seems to really strike a chord with just about everyone these days. Pretty much every person I know has a smart phone that they use to take photos. I see them snapping pictures or taking video just about the daily and some times hourly. I will periodically ask them what they do with their photos. Do they go back and look at them? Do they watch the video later? What happens next?
The strangest thing happens. They look at me like I am crazy. After a short pause or a few awkward phrases, they almost always say the same thing . . . Nothing. Nothing happens to them. Absolutely nothing. They just keep taking endless photos and videos with the notion that someday they will get around to doing something with them. Someday they will figure out how to watch them. Someday they will have the time to mess with it. In a day in age when we have the ability to capture just about every memory with both a photo and video, we have little to show for it.
People always want to know what I do, how I do it, and does it take much time. As long as I have my phone or iPad and access to the internet (or at home with no internet needed), I can find just about any picture or video I have taken at will. I can literally access every single photo and video since May 2000. I have a good amount of photos prior to 2000 scanned and available as well. I have many years of photo books printed out as well that visitors and my family love looking through. I don’t just take photos, I use and access these photos regularly and easily.
So, how does this happen? Does it require much time? How about skills? The short answer is that anyone is capable of doing the digital organizing of the photos you take with your phone with minimal effort. And once you set it up, you don’t have to think about it. And most people will easily be able to get all their past digital photos quickly and easily organized.
My process has grown to where it is today. I didn’t always do all of this. I learned it little by little and have tweaked it over the years. I’m not sure there is a one size fits all when it comes to photo management, organization, and documentation. But this is what I do and what works for me. I hope that by sharing this, you can find something that will spark something in you to find your system to not just take photos and videos, but really be able to enjoy them as well.
I am going to break it down step by step. But in general, I take photos, I bring them all to my iPhone, I back everything up, I journal daily, I make yearly photo books about our life, and also do photo books for big vacations. That is it.
On first look, this seems doable. I have a lot of information, tools, tips and tricks that I think can help you figure this all out. So, I am breaking this down in a series of articles detailing what I do. Here is a roadmap of where I am heading. I will come back here and link to each of these as I complete and release each section.
Moving Photos from place to place
Backing up on my iPhone
Backing up on my Mac
DayOne
DayOne Book Printing
Yearly Books
All my Tech
Organizing Current Photos
Organizing Projects or Past Photos
The Project Life App
Digital Supplies
Affinity Photo
Admittedly, I am not great with video at the moment in turns of output. I would love to do a yearly recap or something similar. I organize them right along side my photos and have easy access to them. I just currently don’t have a great output option. It is one of the things I plan to tackle. Maybe someday I will have a system in place to share with you.