One More Reason You MUST Print Your Photos

This post was updated 2021.

If any article were to catch my eye, it would be one called "Photos Go Missing After [Computer] Upgrade." 

Guys, this is exactly what I'm talking about!!  This is exactly why I'm a photo pusher!  Digital photos can definitely be stored digitally, but it's a fickle choice.  This {article from the Seattle Times} is a Q & A.  The man asking the question about why all his photos disappeared from his hard drive has just "upgraded" his operating system.  Definitely worth the read.

You may remember {my experience a few years ago}:  after a similar "upgrade," my whole computer crashed!

Technology is always changing, and it's also fairly unstable since computers crash and files become unreadable without warning.  Remember floppy discs?  Remember beta videotapes?  The latest trend is computers without disc drives.  Does that mean all the photos I've saved on discs will be inaccessible 10 years from now?  Or will external disc drives be available?  Or will disc drives come back?  Or not?  We don't know!

And this is why I preach what I preach:  The best way to store your photos isn't digitally.  It's in print.  A printed photo can last about 200 years.  We just don't know how long digital photos last.  A printed photo has a place to write names, dates, memories, and other details that make the photo significant.  A printed photo gets {seen and loved and interacted with}.  It's the interaction that refreshes the memory.  It's the interaction that makes connections.  

Backing up your photos is obviously a good idea.  But never forget that {the backup is a backup}!  It's not the main attraction.  Digital photos are a great backup, like film was in the olden days.  But the real treasure is the actual photo, the printed version, complete with its stories and details and memories.

This is in large part why my chosen method of preserving photos includes both STORAGE and PRESERVATION.  I recommend these two companies, both of which offer me a way to preserve my photos in heirloom-quality printed books and other products.  For digital photo storage, both companies save my photos in full resolution with free download ability (not true with all cloud storage services), and they keep my photos private.  Again, not true with all cloud services.  Privacy is a big deal to me!  

However, between the two companies, Forever is the only one who triple-backs-up my photos and guarantees their privacy and security for my lifetime + 100 years.  (And they also include file migration, meaning if my current photo files, jpegs, some day become obsolete, Forever will change the files to a new format so they're always accessible and never become unreadable.)

Saved photos are an awesome back-up, but it's the printed photos that get seen and loved.  Printing my photos like this gives me two important benefits:  I have a high-quality way of printing my photos and telling their stories (either books or scrap pages), AND I have all those completed projects (books, scrap pages, etc.) saved in my account *forever.  That means everything to me! 

I get the interactive, tactile version of my photos and memories, plus some digital backups just in case.  And the digital ones are so easily shareable with friends and family right from my phone!  I love that I can store and share way more pictures & videos using my phone than my phone actually has storage space for!  Here's what I mean.

Don't be distracted by hard drives and external hard drives and flash drives and clouds.  {Printing photos is where it's at.}  Yup, it's kinda old fashioned.  

Another term for "old fashioned," though, is "tried and true."  

Print works.  Printed photos are what's real.  They're what get seen.  They're how you preserve the story that goes with the photos.  "IMG_3489" isn't a story.  It's not really even a photo.  It's a digital file.

The {benefits of memory-keeping don't happen with digital files}.  They happen with photos.  

#dontletyourbabiesgrowuptobejpegs  {Get started here.} 

Save and share this post by Pinning, Tweeting, Emailing, or Sharing on social media.

Hooray!  This post was a featured favorite here:

It's Not About Photo Storage: How to Organize, Print, and SEE Pictures

This post was updated in 2022.

Isn't that kind of the focus these days, though?  Photo storage?  People spend a lot of time and money making sure their photos are safely stored somewhere.  But guess what?

We're missing the entire point!

Have you put away your winter clothes?  Why?  Because you don't intend to use them for six months, right?  That's what storage IS.  It's putting something elsewhere that you don't intend to use or see or even look at right now.

That's great for winter clothes, but what about pictures?

Pictures aren't meant to be temporary.  In fact, we take pictures to hold onto and remember moments that are fleeting.  So pictures aren't meant to be stored.  The purpose of a picture is to SEE IT.

So let's get back to basics and not listen to the digital photo storage frenzy going on around us.  Now I'm not saying digital pictures shouldn't be backed up, because they should, but that should never be our final goal.  We shouldn't be satisfied that our precious photos are somewhere where we rarely if ever see them, somewhere where we can't actually write down a couple of sentences about what makes that photo worth taking and worth remembering.

Connecting with your photos and memories has tremendous power including self-esteem and increased happiness.  Read more benefits, including self-care and wellness, {at this list}.

These four blog posts will help you organize, print, and SEE your pictures!  Read these helps and start seeing your pictures again!

• {Decluttering and Organizing Photos}
• {How to Get Your Pictures Off Your Phone--and Why!}
• {How to Organize Both Printed and Digital Photos} HINT:  Organizing and preserving your photos are not the same thing!
• {How to Print Your Pictures}

Now when I talk about printing photos, there are lots of options, so here are three recommendations.  They're all highest-in-the-industry quality, so you really can't lose.  

Each of these three options is different, and I love that because there is truly something for everyone, from simple pre-designed templates to creative and flexible digital scrapbooking.  See which one is your favorite and would work well for you.  

Then get started right here--all the information you need is listed out for you, step by step.

Plus, if you're behind on preserving your photos, I have several suggestions (and a PLAN!) at the "how to catch up on your photos" tab along the top of this blog below the header.  Or find it {right here}.

When you're done reading whichever of those posts interests you most, or watching whichever video catches your fancy, come back and comment below to tell me which suggestions were the most helpful.  Which ones will get you SEEING and loving your memories in pictures, not just storing them?

Did you find this article helpful?  Pin this image to save and share on Pinterest,
or use the social media share buttons at the left.

Follow Photo & Story Treasures on social media here:

  

Solve Your Photo Problems Once and For All

Pretty much everyone I talk to is overwhelmed with their pictures.  

It's a crying shame because pictures are SO GOOD FOR YOU.  (Remember my post from January about {the self-care tradition of hygge and how to use your pictures and memories to hygge}?  

Pictures have been shown to {actually make us happier AND help us relax.}  In fact, if you read the article in that last link, you can see the studies that show this.  Viewing your photographs has been shown to lift mood and increase relaxation by 22%--which, incidentally, beats out other go-tos for relaxing like chocolate and wine.

So why aren't we seeing and loving our pictures more than we are?  Bad habits is all.  People often just take photos and then send them to the cloud, never to be seen again.  

Unfortunately, I think the cloud is quickly becoming the Junk Drawer of photos.

One way I love to help people out of Photo Overwhelm and help them actually ENJOY their photos instead of just dumping them is something I like to call Solve Your Photo Problems Once and For All.  Here's how it works.



STEP 1

The first step actually has two parts: choose a class and choose some friends.  Choose a class you're interested in, such as "How to Catch Up on Your Photos," "How to Stop Being Overwhelmed by Your Photos using Yearbooks," or "How to Transition from Paper Scrapbooking to Digital Scrapbooking." 

And guess what.  If you have an idea for a different spin on those main topics, I can actually create a class specifically for you and what you'd like to learn.  I'm cool like that.  

Once you have decided the class you'd like to take, choose a group of friends who would like to learn about it, too.  I always suggest choosing about 20 because about 1/4 respond, and you'd ideally like to have a group of at least 4-6.

The class is free!  Online classes are great because you can invite anyone you know. 

2021 UPDATE:  The best high-quality memory-keeping solution we recommend is called Forever, and Forever currently offers a $20 coupon to each person who opens a new account (which is free).  Each person with an account has their own referral link, and anyone who opens their accounts using the referral link gets that $20 coupon and so does the referrer.  What that means is that during your class, your friends can use your referral link and you could get some Forever products or services for free--$80 from 4 friends or $120 from 6 friends, etc.

STEP 2

After having learned strategies for conquering your mountains of photos (or whatever class you choose) and the highest quality ways to preserve your photos, step 2 is to just spend some quality time with friends working on photos and your individual projects.  

I will have given suggestions for high-quality memory-keeping methods during the class, so after the class we'll spend time actually making it happen!  We can start opening accounts, sorting pictures, uploading pictures (for digital methods), etc.  Let me know ahead of time if you'd like to talk about digital methods only at the class or digital and paper memory-keeping methods, too, because that will influence how we spend our work time.

These two steps--taking a free memory-keeping class with friends and getting started actually putting that knowledge to work--give you something WONDERFUL:  a tribe.  Yes, you get tips, directions, strategies, high-quality products, and solutions to make your goals reality.  But you also get a group of people you already know and love working towards the same goal.  

STEP 3

Now that you've got your tribe of friends with similar memory-keeping goals, you can set up regular times (I suggest monthly) to get together as friends so you continue to catch up and stay caught up preserving your photos and memories.  

If you'd really like to Solve Your Photo Problems Once and For All, give me a shout!  {contact me}

Looking forward to hearing from you soon so we can start solving your photo problems once and for all.

xo-

Jennifer

This is something just about everybody I know needs, so be sure to share this post via email or social media! 

Share this post on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest using the
social media share buttons at the left.

Follow Photo & Story Treasures on social media here:

  

Are You Too Busy to Be Productive?

This post was updated 2023.

It used to be that when you saw a friend and asked, "How are you doing?" the reply would be "Fine."  Maybe "Great." Things are different now.  A more common response to "How are you doing?" these days is:  "Busy."

I'm interested in this because one of the most common {memory-keeping myths} I find myself having to bust is: "I don't have time for my pictures and my memories.  I'm too busy."  

I have seen a big culture shift in the 14 years I've been a memory-keeping consultant.  Most people I meet seem to be busy and overwhelmed, and--oddly--they seem to hold onto it for dear life, as if being in high demand (or busy) makes them important.  

Sadly, over the past 14 years, I have seen an increase in general busyness, a change in priorities and attitudes, and a decrease in connections with loved ones and actually being in touch with our own hearts.

As I started looking into busyness, time management, productivity (and whatever other catch phrase you know of that fits) as a way to help my clients and potential clients out of the "I don't have time" hole, I came across a lot of insightful and helpful articles and ideas.  

I began collecting them, so to speak--and you can find them at the {"don't have time?" tab} at the top of this blog.

"BUSY IS THE NEW STUPID"

One of the first articles I came across was on LinkedIn, and it's called {"Busy is the New Stupid"}.  I was taken aback by the title, so of course I had to read it.  The author, Ed Baldwin, says that as a society we have come to glorify busyness, as if that makes us more valuable or important.  He proposes that most of us waste a lot of time, aren't engaged in anything fully because we try to multi-task, and have become more short-sighted.  Baldwin states that busyness increases careless mistakes and results in more missed opportunities.  He says we treat busy as if it's cool, but busy is actually stupid.  Then he shares a quote that hits most of us close to home:

"Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable."  -Sydney J. Harris

Baldwin recommends that instead of saying, "I'm too busy for ________," we change our verbiage to, "________ is not a priority for me."  That can apply to everything from "My pictures and memories are not a priority for me," to "I meant to call you, but it wasn't a priority for me."  Anything we're "too busy" for is really not a priority.  When it comes down to it, we make time for things that are important to us.  "Busy" parents at Christmastime find time to go shopping; they make it happen. It's not REALLY about being busy--it's about what is or isn't a priority to us.

"THE BADGE OF BUSYNESS"

One of the more recent fabulous articles I read about busyness is from Bree Weber where she actually conducted an experiment about busyness!  I'll tell you about it, but I also recommend the whole article to you: {The Badge of Busyness}.  She talks about how acceptable "busy" is and how easy it is to use it as an excuse to not even exchange pleasantries in passing or to avoid going to an event you don't want to go to.  Saying we're busy is easier than saying, "I'd rather not go."

We draw more and more inward when we can present as our face to the world a badge of busyness.  As an {introvert}, I'm totally cool with drawing inward, to be honest, but I also know it's not always good for me (or any of us).  

From not sharing our gifts with the world to spending too much time with Netflix or Facebook (which has been shown to {increase depression}), looking outward and making good use of our lives is vital to our well-being.

Bree's busyness experiment was two-fold.  The first part was to try different responses when asked "How are you doing?" by both colleagues and strangers during business and professional phone calls.  She would respond with either:

• "My week has been so great!  I went hiking with a friend on Saturday and had lunch with my mom yesterday.  I'm going out of town next weekend, and I'm really looking forward to it."
• "Oh, my week has been so crazy.  I have deadlines approaching and have been working nights.  I am so busy, and I have so much to get done."

Interestingly, both responses yielded almost the same result.  The first response yielded silence or else a quick return to a business topic that would lead to comments on being so busy.  The second response, Bree found, always yielded the same thing:  a one-upping statement about who was busier.

I was amazed at how little patience there was for any personal communication, how little time was allowed to actually listen to another person.

The second part of Bree's experiment was even sadder, I thought.  When people would reply with something busyness-related, Bree would respond with something like, "Wow, it sounds like you're so overwhelmed.  I'd love to help you.  I bet there are at least 3 things on your to-do list today that you could drop.  Tell me about what your to-do list is today."  

Bree found that every single person she talked to was very protective of their to-do list.  They wanted to keep all their action items (and in some cases became rather defensive of them) to prove how important they are to their work and all the things that make them busy.  Some, she said, used the fact that they were too busy to trim down their action items as proof that they are indeed crazy busy.  And, therefore, important.

TOO BUSY TO BE PRODUCTIVE

Something that both of these articles have in common is that they found that many people are too busy to be productive.  How is that possible?  Doesn't busy mean we are doing things?  Well, not necessarily.  Yes, doing things.  Not always useful, helpful, meaningful things.  Not always things that matter.

WHY WE CAN'T AFFORD TO BE TOO BUSY FOR OUR PHOTOS AND MEMORIES

I've talked to a couple of people lately about photos and memories who say, "Oh, I really need to get some memory-keeping done--my kids keep asking me for it."  

Memories and photos matter a great deal to kids.  

It helps them feel loved, and it gives them something happy to remember and look to when life is hard.  Kids need to know they are a priority.  They need to know that their life's experiences count for something.  Kids love looking at pictures of vacations and birthday parties and first days of school.  They enjoy reminiscing.  It helps them know they belong.  It validates them and makes their little hearts happy.

And guess what.  It's not any different for adults.  

Looking back at your life's experiences makes you the owner of them.  Reminiscing increases happiness!  It increases a sense of purpose and belonging.  Memory-keeping even reduces stress, so if you're "busy" and need something to relieve stress, look no further than your own camera. 

Yes, a massage or an hour of Netflix may cut down on stress, but why not do something that will be as meaningful to you next month and next year and ten years from now as it is today?  

Why not do something your kids or siblings or nieces and nephews will appreciate for years to come?  Why not do something stress-relieving that actually lasts?

DON'T MAKE IT HARDER THAN IT REALLY IS

Many people get tripped up on the idea that memory-keeping (preserving photos and memories in a tactile way) means scrapbooking--sitting down for hours and hours with stickers and scissors and paper and pens and pictures spread across three tables.  

For some people, this creative outlet is fun and meaningful, so it's their preferred memory-keeping method.  And it works!  But if that's not you, there are other options!  Don't make memory-keeping harder than it really is.  It doesn't have to be complicated, and it doesn't have to take a lot of time.  

Quality is my number one recommendation, though, so make sure your memory-keeping method isn't something that will fall apart 5 years from now.  I love recommending a variety of options so you can choose whatever method will work best for you!  You can {see my excellent recommendations at this link.}  

Here's one of my favorite ways to not make memory-keeping harder than it is.  In fact, this 5-minute video can change everything for you!

THE TWO-PART "BUSY" CHALLENGE

Did these perspectives on "busy" make you think of things a different way?  They did for me!  So I have a two-part challenge for you going forward:

1. Stop saying "Busy" as a response to "How are you?"  Look for positive things you're doing or looking forward to that you can say in your reply.  Make your responses upbeat instead of beaten down.  I've been doing this for several months, ever since I read Bree's article.  I think it makes me feel more positive and less overwhelmed.
2. Stop thinking you're too busy for your photos and memories and start making time for them.  You'll find yourself with a little more peace and a little less stress.  And you'll also have something tangible that will be meaningful to you and your family for years and years and years.  I'm a regular memory-keeper, so I actually enjoy all those benefits I listed above about why memory-keeping is good for adults, too.  It's REALLY good for me--I can tell.  If you need some help setting aside time to prioritize your pictures, join me for my online work sessions.  They're free!

Save and share this article by Pinning this image!  Or use the social
media share buttons at the left.

After implementing each of the two parts of the challenge, come back and let me know how things changed for you!  (by commenting below)  

I know you won't be too busy.

Follow Photo & Story Treasures on social media here:

  

How Do You Treat Your Pictures?

This article was updated 2022.

Have you ever thought about that?  I bet you've never asked yourself how you treat your pictures.  

Have you ever thought about why you take a picture in the first place?  Go look at the last 5 pictures on your phone or camera.  WHY did you take them?  What would happen if you lost them?  What would happen if you lost all the pictures on your phone?

Why We Take Pictures

I thought about this the other day as I was writing a blog post.  This is what came into my head:  "We take pictures because we want to remember.  And then we treat them like we want to forget."  Isn't that the truth?

And isn't it sad?  Think about it.  We take pictures BECAUSE we want to remember an event, a moment, a person, a sunrise.  And then what do we do with the picture?  Usually, nothing.  

It often stays on the phone or camera, or maybe if it's lucky you back it up on a computer or hard drive.  Usually, photos just live somewhere as a jpeg file, and they're never really seen or looked at again.  Why would we do that?  Why would we treat something we created to remember as if we actually didn't care about it and preferred to forget it?

I read a {great blog post} recently where the blogger asserted that pictures in today's society are seen as frivolous and even vain.  

But I love the conclusion she came to:  If the moment or the event makes you happy right now, why WOULDN'T you capture it so it can make you happy again later?  The ability to look back on a moment, or see a person again, is {good for the heart and the soul}.

One of the main purposes of this blog is to help our actions toward our pictures be more in line with their real value. My hashtag #dontletyourbabiesgrowuptobejpegs is a real goal here at LifeTales Books!

How to Make Your Photos into Something More than Files

There's something more.  Your pictures can be something more!  Rather than files to scroll through, back up, and possibly lose, your pictures can be seen and preserved in a high-quality way that will allow you to add meaning to the photos by writing details.  Let me give you an example.

This is a really special photo.  And you have no idea why.  You don't know who is in this photo, where it was taken, why it was taken, or what makes this photo special.  This is how someone else (maybe your kids, grandkids, spouse, friend) will look at your photos.  Over time, you may even look at your own photos the way you're looking at my photo here. 

If you're not careful, your photos will be as useless and meaningless to someone else as this one of mine is to you.  

But at least this is a photo.  Most of our "photos" today aren't even photos--they're just files.  

They need to be brought out of file form and into a tactile form that can be held and seen, even if the computer has crashed or the cell phone has been stolen.  (There are some astonishing statistics of the likelihood of these {at this link}.)

Two Photo-Memory Book Options (easy peasy vs. creative digital scrapbooking)

This blog has a lot of great resources for doing just that.  And everything recommended by Life Tales Books is the best print quality available--in inks, papers, and bindings. 

This is the one I always recommend to people who have so many photos that they don't even know what to do with them or where to start.  This video gives a fantastic solution, but it also goes over some strategies for getting a handle on many, many photos.

This is the method I personally use, and in the video I go over why I love it so much and how this method is responsible for allowing me to be consistently caught up preserving my photos and memories.  This method is sort of the extended version of the method above (yearbook).

What will you do today towards treating your pictures as treasures, treating like them as if you want to see them and remember the moments they have captured for you?

Get started preserving your photos and memories here. 

You'll be so glad you did.

Share this post by Pinning this image or using the social media
share buttons at the left!

       

Follow Photo & Story Treasures on social media here: