what to do with all of those photos

I asked the question last week about what you did with all of your photos. In these digital days I would hazard a guess that a good deal of them are languishing on hard drives, some of them scrapped, and maybe some of them printed.

I decided to tackle my own photo issues and came up with my own solution. Not unique, not anything new, and not the cheapest option, but its working for me. The biggest hurdle or delay for me in this process is the selecting of photos to be printed.

So, this is what I am doing.

Found these 12x12 ring binder albums at my local "discount" store for around $16 each. Slip in a stack of divided page protectors (I have used WRMK and American Crafts in a variety of layouts), slip in my printed photos (more on this part below) leaving a pocket per double spread empty. Print some 4x6 Ali Edwards journaling blocks on cardstock, write on my notes, and done.

  In more depth, lets talk about PRINTING.  Because of digital, I tend to take LOTS and LOTS of photos of the one occasion (don't we all) I do delete the outright awful ones when uploading, but am still left with heaps of shots. So I very quickly select one or two, or more if it was a big day, of the set, without too much thought, and send to my print folder. No double guessing, I just want an overview. If its something I know I will scrap about, I will select some extras, or particularly good picture of the kids as well. I try to summarise and keep it simple. I set myself a task of sorting through a month at a time, and the more I do it the more streamlined the selection process.  Sure, I am still left with lots of photos on my hard drive, but the essence of our family life is printed and easily accessible for all to enjoy.

PAGE PROTECTORS:  After using WRMK and American Crafts, I will be purchasing the standard 6 per page in portrait style (and some landscape too) for maximum ease in putting the photos away (AC allow for sliding in photos from BOTH sides of the page, WRMK does not) and as you can see I take a LOT of my photos in portrait orientation.  I did dabble with some of these other AC page protectors, which I love, but the loss of storage capacity is  drawback.

I don't really care if some of the photos will be sideways in the pocket, at least they are IN a pocket to be seen! 

I do store the photos in chronological order (is there any other way that makes sense?!) and so far have fit 12 months of photos in this album, and slightly more in the next one. I anticipate fitting more as I get better and more ruthless in sending my selection to the print file (and let me share a secret....um...I've not printed any from 2010 OR 2011....two years behind seems to be standard for me! I've plans on uploading 3 monthly batches over the summer holidays!)

I chose to print out the cards and handwrite on them, as lets face it, I spend enough time in front of this screen as it is, and by handwriting I could sit myself down in front of the TV in the evenings and put photos away and write on the cards as I went. And the handwriting adds a personal touch to it too of course!

No long stories, just a few pertinent notes about the photos as one looks at a double page spread.

Sometimes the photos pretty much speak for themselves and not a lot of words are needed, just a general feel and importantly for me, DATE.

I was using this system beforehand, in cheap slip in albums which are slowly being wrecked by the kids looking at the photos. Now I am not going to go and swap them out, but from this point on will be using this system. I still have my "regular" scrapbooks which are apart from these, but should I ever not scrap properly again, the photos and the essence of our lives is still captured. 

So, I've got some sorting and selecting to do on hot summer afternoons, but don't plan on putting too much thought into it, just a quick drag and dump and be ruthless about it. No matter what I print, its better than being lost on the hard drive!

So, what are your thoughts? do you do something similar, or employ a Project Life approach?