I have been debating for some time about how best to arrange my photographs. I have about 1500 prints in albums, a shoebox full of prints, hundreds in digital format on my computer and the prospect of this number continuing to increase.
As it stands, we rarely look at the albums, never sift through the shoebox and occasionally look at the ones on the computer. We mostly look at the holiday ones which are actually sorted and categorised which makes it easy to select what we want to view.
So my project for 2012 is to have all of my photos sorted and filed. I have started by scanning the photos in the albums. The first 650 are done and I hope to have the 5 albums scanned by the time I go back to work after the long weekend.
I have had fun looking at some of them as I go along. Here is one you might like. Note the boxes stashed under the change table. That was one of my storage solutions for my ‘stuff’.
I plan to keep a full set on the computer as well as a couple of USB sticks kept in different locations as well as uploaded to the web. Hopefully this will minimise the chance of them all being wiped out by a disaster.
Our current television is networked with the computer so it is easy to view the photos directly on the screen in the lounge room.
I will also be able to put together a selection of relevant photos on DVD for Missy and Belle so that they have a record for themselves.
So, what am I hoping to achieve?
1 The photos in a sensible order and easy to access format so that we can view and enjoy them rather than having them stashed away gathering dust.
2 Not leave an uncatalogued jumble for someone else to sort out when I am gone.
3 Declutter the albums from the bookshelves.
This will all take time but I am pleased that I have made the decision to do it and I am clear in what I want to achieve and how I will do it.
Alongside working on my photos I will be continuing to streamline and simplify both my home and my life.
I have just downloaded a new book to my Kindle. It is Simplify by Joshua Becker. I found it on his blog, Becoming Minimalist. I am off to read it shortly and will let you know what I think. It is good to see as many perspectives as possible on a subject and minimalism is no exception.
Do you have any big goals for 2012? I would love to hear what you have planned.
NOTE: Friday Favourites is on holidays but will be back next week ready for 2012.
organised castle 
I have started scanning all of our old photos too and will put them all in different relevant folders and hopefully will be able to find what I am looking for instead of going through albums and boxes.
Good luck with the photo scanning. It certainly is a big job and one that I had put off for quite a while.
Ooh, I’m looking forward to hearing about this project! I like the idea of getting rid of all the albums on the bookshelves. You’ve also given me an idea about photos for the kids when they leave home. I wondered whether to keep separate albums for the kids as they grow up, but decided early on to keep all photos together, but over the last twelve months I’ve not had time to even print out photos for the albums, instead just filing them on the computer. When they leave home, I can give them a CD of photos, so thank you for this wonderful solution!
Also looking forward to hearing your thoughts on Joshua’s book.
I have discussed the idea of getting rid of the albums with The Duke and he is in agreement. It won’t happen for a while because they will help with putting things in chronological order and also some of the captions. I want to have all of the photos in order and safely stored electronically in several locations before the albums go but it is good to know that it will happen eventually.
I have finished the book and will review it in a separate post.