If you're like me, you'll have thousands of photos on your phone that you flick through from time to time. Phones are great in that we can take a half decent photo wherever we go, but it does mean that we probably take too many that we risk losing far too easily.
Once, I broke my phone and just had to suck up the fact that I lost all my precious photos from holidays or family gatherings from that year. Never again! It's so important to know how to keep on top of your photos in this digital age, and it can be overwhelming. I did a poll on my Instagram which asked "What puts your off printing your photos?". Most people chose the fact that it can be expensive. So, for those that felt this way, we come to my first suggestion:
Free Prints
Have you heard of this app? It's so easy to use. You pay around £3.99 for delivery of 45 4 x 6 prints per month. So that's 500 per year! You can customise the size of them too, sometimes that costs a little more, but it's not extortionate by any means. It's a good way of regularly printing the many photos we take throughout a month and not breaking the bank.
Pros:
It's cheap and affordable
It's easy to use
You get regular monthly reminders to print your photos
If you invite a friend, you get bonus prints
They also have a service where you can create photo books and wall art.
Cons:
Sometimes makes photos have a higher contrast and saturation compared to the original. This would most likely only bug a Tog like me!
Google Photos
I wasn't actually aware of Google Photos, not really, until I recently got an Android phone. I used to use iCloud for most of my backups and paid monthly to store all my images across my devices. However Google photos is free for 15GB of photos (around 5000 photos), which is really handy for those that don't make the cut for prints necessarily but that you want to keep.
Pros:
It's free up to 15GB
It backs up your digital files automatically
They also do photo prints and books, a bit like free prints
Categorises your photos by location, people, objects etc. so it makes them easy to find.
Cons:
Sometimes it compresses the resolution of your photos so ensure this is changed on your settings
If, like my wonderful Grandma you have boxes and boxes of prints and you have no idea where to even begin sorting them, I've got some ideas that I think you will like:
Photo Storage Boxes
This box can store 600 photo prints in, and makes it so easy to put away or get out when you want to look at your photos:
Pros:
Easy to use
Don't take up much space
Protects your prints
Not expensive
Cons:
Perhaps not as nice to flick through as an album
Photo Albums
Photo albums almost seem out of date now with photo books so easily created for us. But they are a really wonderful way to preserve your prints. I have a photo album from my Nanna which I got when she died, and each photo has her little story behind it written next to it. It's truly a beautiful keepsake.
Pros:
Beautiful to keep
More personal
Photos are protected from fading due to sunlight etc.
Cons:
More time consuming
Scrapbooks
Now, this is where it gets really arty farty. If you have time to do these they are just gorgeous and hold so much value. I have several of these where I keep cards, football tickets, concert tickets, rail tickets, photos and other significant things that go hand in hand with the photograph.
Pros:
A really creative hobby
Holds more than just your prints
Wonderful keepsake
Unique to you
Cons:
Takes more time to complete
Not as space saving
Hopefully this has helped you with some ideas of how to sort your photos. There are so many ways but these are the things I use. I also offer prints with all my photography packages to save you the time and effort of sorting them yourself after our shoot.
If you have previously had a shoot with me back when I didn't offer prints, please get in touch as I will be able to help remedy that for you.
Happy printing!
CP
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