A Legacy of Love: Celebrating Past, Present and Future
As Valentine’s day approaches, let’s take a minute to talk about how we keep our memories of loved ones and special events alive through photographs and memorabilia. You cared enough to take a picture, so now you should set goals to organize and preserve the past in the present so that you can share and celebrate your memories in the future.
The Past
A new year and new decade mean focusing on future goals and resolutions. The future is yet to be determined, but the past will always be a part of our life story. How do you honor your past while focusing on the future?
Photographs and memorabilia commemorate a specific time in life. Looking through photos enables us to relive the past. If your pictures are in a closet, box, computer or your phone, how often do you take the time to look through them? If you answered, rarely or never, consider making a new year’s resolution to organize and preserve this year. Here is how you can approach it depending on your level of comfort.
Does the thought of tackling your entire photo collection causes you anxiety? Remember that some progress is better than no progress. Start small with one thing – one album or bin. In honor of Valentine’s day, start with something that is precious – your wedding album or baby photos for example. As you go through them, you will be reminded of that special event in your life. Digitizing wedding photographs also makes a great gift. Consider turning a wedding album into a photo book and secure the memory for future generations.
Once you have digital images of your photographs, you can easily design customized, personal gifts. We can create a slideshow to share at your next family gathering or help you recreate your memories in a digital book. Want something on display all the time? Digital frames allow for multiple photos to be shown in your home or office without taking up a large amount of wall space. Some of our favorites are the Amazon Echo Show **, Google Nest Hub Max and Nixplay.
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Here is a list of some of our favorite places to get photo gifts.
The Present
There’s no time like the present to make sure that your photos are safe. Nobody wants to think about it, but when disaster strikes, possessions may be destroyed. Years of albums, framed pictures and photographs are hard to keep safe and sometimes impossible to grab during an evacuation. When your photos are digitized, you know they are safe and secure.
Hopefully you won’t ever have a disaster that physically destroys your home. A more common threat is having your phone or computer damaged or die without having the data backed up and secured. You can replace your cell phone, but unless you have taken the steps to secure the images, you risk losing the photos you took, but never downloaded. We recommend using a cloud based, back up service to store your photos. Plus storing images in the cloud means less space taken on your phone or computer. Amazon Photos, pCloud, Dropbox and SmugMug are some to consider.
There’s no time like the present and the time to begin organizing is now. Maybe you haven’t documented your past or organized your photos as well as you would have liked. Don’t let these shortcomings keep you from creating a system now that you can stick with from this point forward. For example, Hope organizing has many tips to help you organize your photos. Once you establish a system, your future will be smoother and more organized. With the time you save, you can revisit the past and organize all your photos. Check out some of our past blogs to help you get started today.
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Digital Photo Tip:
Change the file name from the name assigned by the camera, like img0086, to something more helpful. I recommend the following (year-month-day – event – place). An example of how this might look is: 2020-01-13 – Anderson 4th Birthday Party – Omaha.
The Future
The future is yet to be determined, but in the unknown, there is Hope. What is the Legacy you are leaving for future generations? Take a minute to think about how you want your future photos to represent your life and the all the adventures and events you will face in the next decade and beyond. What purpose are your photos going to serve? Which story do you want to share when you take photos at an event? Where do you plan to display the photos you shoot? Will you create an album or display images on your wall? Or, do you simply want to have an image to document the day? Determining your photo taking purpose before you begin clicking snapshots will help you focus on how best to tell a visual story. So, before a big event, make note of who or what you want to photograph. Use this as a blueprint to capture what is important. A plan also allows you to socialize and not worry about spending all your time taking pictures because you will be confident that you have it covered.
In addition to creating a plan, set a goal to learn more about the technology you use to document your life. There are so many great tools available on the market today, you will be glad that you invested the time to learn more about current technology. The added comfort with your camera equipment will help you take a great picture from the first click. The same goes for photo techniques in general. Learning about lighting and how to take quality photos will ensure that the legacy you leave for the next generation will be both well-thought and of great photo quality. Here are some recommendations to start learning more.
Learn more here:
There’s HOPE
Let’s do this! Hope Organizing can help you organize and digitize all your photos once and for all. We would love to take your entire collection, as it’s currently stored (albums, totes, bins, boxes, etc.). Once we have it, we will sort, organize and scan your photos. You can keep your photos in the original albums or have them returned in an archival quality box instead. Either way, you will receive a flash drive with a digital copy of every image.
Move Forward
Ready to move forward and with your photo organizing goals? Hope Organizing is here to help. Contact us today to find out more about how we can help you preserve the past, enjoy the present and plan your future. My name is Lisa and I look forward to meeting you and helping you get organized. Click to learn more or Book a free consultation. Here’s to a new you, a new decade and a new year of met resolutions!
