Once upon a time – in 2006, to be exact – there was an organized woman named Hilary who decided she needed to label every single photo she owned – and put them all in photo albums. She accomplished her lofty goal while sitting through one season of American Idol. Her sense of accomplishment was glorious. She even continued the habit of labeling and putting her photos in albums for two whole years.
Then she had a baby.
After that, this tale has absolutely nothing to do with happily ever afters. In fact, it turns pretty frightening. Because for five years after that magical time of photo organization, Hilary did NOTHING with the photos she took. With two children and thousands upon thousands of photos, she didn’t even print a fraction of them. The prints she does have are piled in a box. Unlabeled. Jumbled in a non-chronological mess.
Image courtesy of KROMKRATHOG/FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Is it just me?
Believe me when I tell you that this story is my real life. As much of a burden I feel with my photos, though, I can’t believe I’m alone in my photographic agony. While I hesitate making photos the focus of this week’s challenge (because I’ll actually have to do something about it!) I know it’s necessary.
I do have some questions for you: What do you do with your photos? With the advent of digital photography when you can own hundreds of thousands of photos, how do you best like to archive them? Because my current system is absolutely horrid, I desperately need to change.
This week’s Reduce, Reuse & Recycle Challenge
This week’s challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to sort your photos. Gather all of your prints and organize them in whatever way you would like. Reduce your collection by getting rid of blurry photos or doubles. And pitch whatever negatives you still have. (Younger readers, if you have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about, you won’t need to worry about this step.)
Talk back
Once you’ve completed the challenge, please share your experience on Facebook. What happened with your photos?
Today, I’m linking up with:
Latest posts by Hilary Kimes Bernstein (see all)
- The Day I Realized Healthy Choices Don’t Guarantee Health - July 21, 2015
- Avoid Synthetic Bug Sprays with All-Natural Repellents - July 16, 2015
- The Day I Learned I Could Cook Real Food - July 13, 2015
I like the challenge you have set out here Hilary, I have a similar issue but with cards…
Birthday cards, Christmas cards, other special event cards, they all end up in a shoe box stored in the attic.
I’m quite the sentimentalist and tend to keep them just in-case I want to read through them in years to come, although saying that, I haven’t sorted through them for years.
Your photo challenge has certainly lead me to sifting through the boxes and re-organizing my card collection.
You may be interested in reading a previous challenge with greeting cards: http://accidentallygreen.com/the-reduce-reuse-recycle-card-clutter-challenge/ I’ve kept most of my cards, too!