Do you have tubs of old photographs lying around? Or, maybe your photos are organized and labeled neatly inside albums? I have some of both. Our family also has shoe boxes filled with undeveloped film from the 80s and 90s {!!}. One of my Go Mighty goals is to get those photos out of boxes and albums and onto disc. It’s a good thing for so many reasons, two being: I feel so much better for their physical safety if they’re backed up on disc safe from fire, flooding, tornadoes {multiple discs in multiple locations}. And, two: I can preserve the images before deterioration begins.
Over the weekend I began the process. I started with a scrapbook filled with pictures of my dad that my grandmother handed down to me before she passed. It happens that my grandma was excellent at recording years, names, places, and events. It’s made the starting of this goal a lot easier. Also, it happened to be Father’s Day weekend and I was feeling especially fond of good ole dad!
I have a couple different projects in mind for these pictures so I took some extra steps in scanning. First, I removed each page from the scrapbook and scanned the whole thing. Secondly, I scanned each individual photo. Lastly, I named each photo according to year, event, and person {if other people were included in the photo}. I find that this system is easier for me to go back and look up certain events.
I loved how this image looked in the scrapbook so when I scanned I selected the areas surrounding the picture itself. I love that it includes my grandmother’s handwriting and the tape and staple marks she used to secure the photo. That, mixed with the colors of the photo and scrapbook page color and my handsome dad, this image screams at me to look at it. I love it {have I mentioned that already?}.
For this project, starting with the year as the photo name makes sense since the other projects I have planned involve organizing photos chronologically. For photos I’m taking myself on a daily basis I generally assign one folder per month for a calendar year.
At the end of the year I like to burn off a couple discs for the year’s photos and wipe them off my computer-but, um, I’m a little behind this year 🙂
I’m feeling so good about having started this finally. I’ve been keeping up the momentum even on work days by just scanning one or two pictures a night.
So, tell me! Have you done anything like this before? What has worked best for you? I’m open to suggestions to keep from being overwhelmed!
Will you PLUEEEEEEZZZZEEEEE come do this for me! I just get overwhelmed when I start to sift through them all. I did a decent job with my daughter until she graduated from high school. It's been totally downhill since. Thanks for the tips:)
I just separate mine by the date.. I label my folders "trans month.day.year" and put all the pictures in there when I transfer them… I delete all the bad ones when I transfer to disc (out of focus, slightly different pose, etc).. I try to write highlights on the disc (like pageant, reunion, etc) to make it easier to find. Im caught up to 2012 in transferring them to disc but I dont have any 2013 pics backed up.. I need o get on that.. I like this way of doing it and I used to do it by "people" but then if I had multiple people in one pic it made it difficult.
Oh yes, the year first. The YEAR first! Then the event. Those are important tips for me…usually that’s how my mind remembers things.
It was a revelation to me. I remember things by year first for some reason. I have a horrible memory so this is a conundrum. lol
This is so helpful! I have tubs and tubs of photos in the basement because apparently I am the keeper of all history-things in my family. I am ready to start tackling that pile and scanning. Thanks for the coding suggestions, Gina Girl.
It’s helped me organize SO much. Let me know if you give it a try. 🙂
I’m doing it! Just purchased a Doxie scanner from amazon and LOVING it! Thanks again!
Yay! I’m so glad you’re jumping in! Keep me posted. 😘