My camera got quite a workout these past two weekends. The first weekend my children and I went away to Lancaster, PA to celebrate my birthday. This past Saturday my daughter graduated from university. Then, on Sunday I celebrated Mother’s Day with my sisters. My cell phone and camera were on overdrive.
It used to be that once pictures were taken and the film was developed, they would either stay in the photo envelope or they were placed into photo albums. Occasionally, a few pictures would make it into frames for display. Other times the photos and negatives were dumped into a drawer or box and forgotten. Eventually, slides and home movies appeared and required additional storage. Now, with digital pictures, a new problem has arisen. Not only has the quantity of pictures exponentially increased; but, how do we keep all of those pictures organized? How can we enjoy them when they are stored in the computer or in the cloud?
In my case, I have made organizing my pictures a top priority and have started taking action. When I downsized I knew I would not have enough room to store my photo albums. Consequently, I took all my pictures, which I had painstakingly organized and put into albums, out of the albums and stored them in photo-safe containers. Eventually, I will have them digitized. Next I took all the loose photos, sorted them, kept the ones that were meaningful and tossed the rest. These and all the family photographs that would not fit into albums are being digitized. Recently, I have started to digitizing home movies from my youth. As far as my digital pictures are concerned, I upload them into my computer and copy them to an external drive.
However, I still want to be able to view my pictures, but not just on the computer. I will need to make time to create photo books, which I will print and put out for perusal. In them I will identify all mysterious family members and friends, so my children will know who is who. I also plan to buy a digital photo frame and display it where I can see the slide show.
Family history is important to me. With time and dedication, I hope to leave my children a well-organized family photo history.