Photo & Story Treasures: Easing Photo Overwhelm Using the "Film Photos Strategy"

When Notre Dame cathedral burned in 2019, I thought, "At least I have pictures of it." When I went back to look at my photos of that trip, I was shocked to find that I have a whole TWO photos of Notre Dame. I even turned the scrapbook pages back and forth to make sure I wasn't missing anything.

Nope. For real, I have two photos of my visit to Notre Dame in Paris. And here's why.

We visited it in 2003, and I had a film camera then. We got a digital camera gifted to us the year before, but the quality wasn't good at all. The photos were grainy. So, I stuck with my film camera. I took a roll of 24 photos at a time, and because I had to pay for every one of those 24 photos to get developed, whether they were blurry or had someone's eyes closed or not, I didn't take 20 pictures of one thing to just see which ones I liked best.

I remember I took one photo inside Notre Dame. The flash didn't do anything, and it was so dark in there. The famous rose window looked like a dark but somewhat colorful circle, nothing like it actually looked to my own eyes when looking at it. It didn't even make the scrapbook.

Lately, I have been scanning all the scrapbook pages from those pre-digital camera days. Those pages are the only copies I have of those photos, so scanning them gives me a backup (AND a way to access those photos digitally through my Forever app). I spend 10 minutes a day scanning, and have made amazing progress.

I recently came across photos from the previous year, 2002, when we went to Italy. It was a dream trip. We went to Florence, which I completely adored, and Pompeii, which was utterly fascinating. I am a weensy bit obsessed with Pompeii, actually. I looked through those pages as I scanned them, re-living memories from too long ago, and was again shocked to find that I took TWO pictures at Pompeii.

Two. Of a place I'd been dying to see.

What Has Changed

While I certainly wish I had taken just a few more photos of those amazing places, it also caused me to reflect on how I take photos today. It has especially caused me to reflect on what I hear so many clients (and potential clients) tell me: "I have so many photos that I can't do anything with them." I call it Photo Overwhelm.

How I take pictures now is SO different. I don't have to pay anything to see how my photos turned out. My phone is actually *amazing* at indoor/low-light photos. So I get photos like this:

interior of the Frieburg im Breisgau cathedral, 2022

interior of St. Mary's Cathedral; Kilkenny, Ireland; 2023

And so, as you might guess, I take a lot more pictures now.

I'm sure it's the same for you.

Why it Matters

Maybe you think, "What's the big deal? Yes, we take a lot more pictures now, and sometimes they're hard to find. We don't really look at them very often. Who cares?"

Actually, photos matter far more than we realize.

You might think of other reasons that photos matter, but these are the main ones I've learned about in 20+ years as a photo & memory-keeping guide, which are actually backed up by studies:

They create connections and can even be an antidote to the disconnect, loneliness, and self-esteem struggles caused by social media. (See the link above in blue for the details.)
They increase a sense of belonging and purpose while increasing empowerment.
They increase happiness by 11%, which is more than anything else we tend to try (like music or chocolate) to help our mood.
They increase relaxation by 22%.
They decrease stress.
They improve memory.
They can help in healing from grief.
They create perspective and foster gratitude (which is, by itself, a mental health benefit).

We need our photos desperately!

While there's a lot of focus on digitally preserving photos (like on a hard drive or in the cloud), and rightly so because digital versions are an important back-up and easily shareable, photo experts still list print as one of the most important ways to preserve photos. Plus, print never needs a battery.

What We Can Learn from My Film Photos

I hear so many people talk about Photo Overwhelm as the root cause for not preserving their photos (digitally or in print). And, yes, photo experts also recommend preserving photos in two ways digitally--this is the best digital photo storage option I've ever seen.

This throwback to my film camera days and the resulting scrapbooks made me think again of the wisdom of a method I heard about years ago, The Yearbook Method.

The Yearbook Method is simply choosing your favorite photos from each month to create a two-page spread, like this:

photo credit: Brooke Mehr

And, yes, maybe you took 50 photos that month. But that's sort of the point. Just choosing favorites gets you out of Overwhelm because it makes preserving them more doable.

You can certainly add 2 more pages for a given month if you want. I am super addicted to digital scrapbooking, and I have an impressive method of preserving my photos digitally, too, so I don't suffer from Photo Overwhelm. I personally feel free to preserve all the pictures I take in pages.

But if you are overwhelmed with your photos, I highly recommend The Yearbook Method. Whether you use the method or not, the mindset behind it, the Film Photos Strategy, can help you immensely.

How the Film Photos Strategy Can Ease Your Photo Overwhelm

The Film Photos Strategy is just thinking about your photos as if they were film. Do a little throwback to the film days, with the mindset that taking 20 photos of your day at the park costs a lot.

Because it does. It costs us our photos. It prevents us from accessing, enjoying, and sharing our memories as captured in photos, so we miss out on all those personal benefits I listed earlier.

So, yes, these days the Film Photos Strategy will probably consist of more than 2 photos of a special destination or special event, unlike my Pompeii and Notre Dame photos. However, thinking about your photos in terms of just the must-haves can ease your photo overwhelm.

You also need a photo-memory book that's high quality and easy to create. I recommend this one:

You can see how easy it is in the video, but also know that these books are printed on the highest quality materials and have a 100% satisfaction guarantee. They're also preserved in your account forever after they're printed, so you'll have a digital, easily shareable copy, too!

If you prefer more flexibility and creativity, like this

I recommend Artisan, my go-to digital scrapbooking love. Books are still printed with the same quality, the highest in the industry. You can see my whole "year in review" in 20 seconds!

My "year in review" is preserved both digitally and in print. It's not at the mercy of a social media site who may change their policies or remove my content or sell my data. My 2024 photos, videos, and memories are preserved at Forever using Artisan software, Forever Print (the highest quality in the industry), and Forever Permanent Cloud Storage!

NOTE: I am a Forever affiliate, called an Ambassador, because I love Forever so much! This means I make a commission from any purchases at my website, and as your Ambassador I'm here to help you, too.

Get the Photo Benefits by Getting Started

If you, by chance, have photos, and if you, by chance, need to lower your stress and create connections and increase your happiness and decrease your loneliness and better your perspective, you just need to spend time with your photos and memories.

You can actually accomplish a lot in just 10 or 15 minutes a day. Try my 10 Minutes Daily Plan and see what I mean. (I have done this myself and it really does make a huge difference.

Here are two ideas for that "high quality but easy to create" suggestion I made earlier.

This template is called Simple Pleasures, and you can create your own at this link.