SD cards, flash drives, CD’s, hard drive, and photo websites.
I’ve got pictures EVERYWHERE. I AM somewhat organized. But not to the level I should be for the amount of photo’s I take.
I’d like to explain my camera obsession. See I have this fear… of loosing memories. My grandfather had Alzheimer's for the last 2 years of his life and it crushed me to think SO many things that he cherished, memories of childhood, my grandmother and his children, grandchildren, friends and life, thoughts and ideas… erased.
Not that having photos surrounding me when I’m 89 will save me from this horrible disease. But it’s my comfort. To pass on my memories, my stories, my thoughts. Maybe if I loose my mind too, I can look at my pictures and scrapbooks to see stories that are nice to read.
It’s obvious I document and take photos of the big moments. Birthdays, holidays, and family get together. But for me it’s the everyday that means the most to me.
The everyday back yard playing, the everyday art room adventure, the random walk to the park, just playing around, a moment that I think is something I want to save.
It’s the two of them playing Lego’s with a Star Wars Squinkie party in the park and some are eating in the cafe. A whole new meaning to the Cantina!
Buzz enjoying some pinwheels at the 3 French Hens Market.
My toes enjoying a fire on the deck.
It’s all the little things, pictures remind me of happy times, and tiny memories that will fade fast. I’ve taken pictures of me having a post partum meltdown. I’ve taken pictures of me fat, of me with good hair and make up.
I take pictures of my messy laundry piles to post on face book about what I am up too, and then my clean loft to remind me of how nice it looks all put away. I’m a big fan of before and after shots.
I also find it wonderful that little point and shoot cameras can capture video. I love to take candid videos. A trip to McD’s with the kids? I do an interview. Even when they are little. Just to hear their voice at that age, to see their actions. (this one is from 2 years ago)
And this also stems back to family. I take videos of the kids to remember their voice. When I was a kid my sister had a voice, just like everyone else… by 14 her voice was gone due to her muscle disorder Dystonia.
I have the few family videos taken, with her talking on them. I cherish them. And I never take for granted the voices my children have.
I remember when I was first blogging, and trying to figure the fastest way to get my photos from my camera to my computer. I didn’t have an SD drive on my old tower. So I had to take my SD cards to the store. Burn a CD of pictures, and upload them that way. (that was a bitch. I SO wanted to blog each day and share everyday. It’d take me a week sometimes to share!) I have 4 years of picture CD’s. All marked with the events on them, and in photo CD boxes by year.
I then came across this device it’s a USB converter drive. Holds an SD card in one end, and plugs right into the tower. NOW that was a faster way to share my pictures!
But since then I’ve gotten a laptop with an SD drive, I still use the converter because I often have two SD cards currently in use.
Oh and while I’m giving out my SD and Flash drive advice. You seriously should eject them properly. I know there is a funny saying on Pinterest about life is too short to eject USB correctly. I did that once, just pulled out the SD card with out going through the proper way of ejecting it… lost it all. Lucky me it was barely full and I had already transferred the pictures over to my photo site.
So the photo site that I RAVE about, that I threw a house party for. Yes I volunteered through their site to host a party and explain the site. Everyone who attended received a free tote bag, free cards, and a free book. Plus I had printed out tip and ideas from the site.
Note when I like a brand or company, I will back them and brag about them to the point you think I either work for them or have stock with them.
Shutterfly is who I use. Here’s what they’ve got to offer…
Securely store your images for a lifetime—at no cost. We never delete photos
Get guaranteed 100% customer satisfaction
Benefit from award-winning customer service
Store your pictures, just as they are, at full resolution
Pick up prints at Target, Walgreens, and CVS in as little as an hour
And if you join, 50 free 4x6’s from them. I LOVE their photo books, I make at least 4 a year, sometimes more. The more you make, they often give you free prints. Free cards too. Free shipping is almost always after $30 spent.
Now that you know where I store my pictures, and print my pictures, and share my pictures… oh yea. SUPER cute share pages, also free. Check out mine. You can have more then one share site (so one for family, one for sports teams, one for school…)
Here’s mine… Momarazzi McHale.
I share my YouTube video links as well on my share site. Super easy for family to see your pictures and what you’ve been up to!
Right so the thing I REALLY wanted to share with you is what I’m up to now. Organizing my pictures.
Yikes, I take a TON. And they were in folders marked with what events they were, but the computer alphabetizes them, thus throwing them all over and not in order… so I read this in a magazine and palm smack to forehead I don’t know why I didn’t think of doing this sooner.
Simple filing.
Make a file for each year.
So I’ve got files 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012 (I don’t have photos further back on this hard drive, and I go back that far because I have a few from when Buzz what a baby, so I need a year for that)
Open a year folder and inside that folder make 12 new folders. Label each one by month. Important label them with the number first. So 01 January, 02 February… it keeps them in number order, not alphabetical.
NOW I had to take all the folders I had. And put them where they belonged. So for example one titled Halloween 2010 goes to the file in 2010, and under the file 10 October. It’s tedious work. BUT since I’ve started this it’s SUPER easy to find shots I’m looking for.
I do have under each year some other folders. One for each of us. I often find a head shot of a family member, and keep them separate from the monthly files.
Pets have an annual file as well. Seeing that they don’t change much after the first year.
Having to do this in my Shutterfly account too. I had originally just made a lot of files, again titled for each event. Now making Year albums, and moving files to the year. A little at a time, I mean I’ve been at this for a month now. Working on and off when I get a few few moments. Again it’s not fun. But with all the shots I take… it’s important to keep it organized and I know I’ll be happy in the end.
I do this for myself, but I also do this for the kids. For future generations. I scrapbook as well, and my kids LOVE to pull their books I’ve done and flip through them enjoying their life story.
I have to call out some of my girlfriends I recently had dinner with. They both said I take SO many pictures, seeing that I share them all the time on Facebook. And they said neither of them take anywhere NEAR as many pictures of their kids and day to day life. For me it’s hard not to. I point, I shoot, I upload. Constantly.
But I’m not alone, I know I’ve talked to one of my fellow Momarazzi friends and we both agreed that we have a problem! We feel that if we didn’t take pictures of an outing or an event it didn’t happen.
Our lives are busy, our kids are growing so fast, we do so many fun things, I want to remember them ALL.
What do you do? Shutterbug junkie? Just for the big events? Do you own a camera, or do you rely on your cell phone?
JCat McGack
My kids and I enjoying the farmers market
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