I have a specific process for keeping my photos (and videos) organized, easy to find, and preserved in each of the 3 ways photo experts recommend. All without breaking the bank or losing my mind.
The whole process is really fun, but it also gives me such peace of mind! I worry much less about fire, water leaks, natural disasters, etc.
Everyone’s preferences are a little different, so not everything I do is automatically the way everyone would love doing it, but there is a lot to be said for learning a proven process and then using it yourself.
So I have decided to share my own process for preserving my photos and videos using FOREVER since it’s permanent, private, and the best quality I’ve ever seen in 20+ years as a memory-keeping guide.
The step-by-step pieces of my process are here, but I also made a video where I show you (around minute 15) the nuts and bolts of what my process looks like. I take a selfie and walk that photo all the way through the process in 11 minutes!
If you feel like your photos are getting the best of you and you can't quite keep up, the document above and the video below can help! I include the two blocks of time I use (one daily, one weekly) and their purposes so that I am always on top of my photos. Maybe they'll work for you, too!
Whether you do exactly what I do or just take a few nuggets with you, I hope it makes a huge difference in your photo preservation. Because this is what's waiting:
What was your biggest takeaway from seeing my process? I'd love to know in the comments.
NOTE: I am a Forever affiliate called an Ambassador (a decision I made because I love it so much), so you will find affiliate links in this post. I earn a commission from anything purchased at my website, and being your Ambassador means I'm here to help you with questions, too.
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I know it works for other people because they've told me, but to be honest with you, I had never tried it myself because I'm so consistent at saving my photos to the cloud and to my computer (2 digital versions like photo experts recommend) as well as saving them in print (as photo experts also recommend) due to my, well, addiction to digital scrapbooking with Artisan by FOREVER.
When I came up with my 10 Minutes Daily Plan in late 2023, I knew it was a good idea, for all the reasons I mention in the plan, but I didn't realize that it would also work for me!
Here's My Story
My photo preservation habits were only lacking one thing when I met FOREVER in 2021: a trustworthy cloud backup that could serve as a digital legacy (something I could pass down).
But I will never forget the day that I finished backing up my photos onto the external hard drive and placed it in the basket where it goes. Right next to my computer monitor.
And I realized: If something happens to THIS ROOM (water leak, fire, anything), all my digital photos are gone. GONE.
If something happens to my house (since that's where my scrapbooks are), ALL my photos in any form are gone. COMPLETELY GONE.
It's a much longer story, but let's just say I'm incredibly thankful to have met Forever Cloud Storage through a friend.
Since then, I back up all the photos on my computer to Forever Cloud instead of an external hard drive. Photo experts recommend that the 2 ways you store digital photos (and videos) are onsite (at your house) and offsite (in the cloud). So NOW I can really check that box.
How I Used the 10 Minutes Daily Plan
But what about photos from 1997 and from my parents' wedding and my baby pictures?
From when I was a teenager in the 1980s until about 2007, I only took photos with a film camera. I put them in paper-and-scissors scrapbook pages. They were the only copies of them anywhere in existence. No backup. Except those awful negatives.
So I set out to take my own advice and try my own plan! I chose 7:00-7:10am every day (which I did almost every day). I used my home scanner in my office and got to work scanning these beauties.
NOTE: I am a Forever affiliate called an Ambassador (a decision I made because I love it so much), so you will find affiliate links in this post. I earn a commission from anything purchased at my website, and being your Ambassador means I'm here to help you with questions, too. If you're new to Forever and open your free account here to give it a try, you'll get a $20 welcome coupon towards anything mentioned in this post.
I had been dragging my feet a little about starting all that scanning because I thought it was such a huge project. Dread kept me from starting.
But it was the most delightful and enjoyable project! I looked forward to it every day. I saw little faces I haven't seen for 20 years (because they're older now), remembered special moments, re-lived and re-loved the memories of my life.
And one day while doing my scanning, I realized that it didn't feel like a big project any more.
Part of that feeling came, I'm sure, from the fact that I was only spending 10 minutes a day on it instead of reserving a whole weekend or something. But I know, too, that part of that feeling came from how much fun I was having. It didn't seem like a big deal because it was so fun.
Just Do It! Please.
Whatever your photo project is, just do it. Please. 🙏 You will be so happy that you did! It will MATTER. It will make a difference.
Get started by following the steps here, or come back next month on the first Friday for a new blog post with a comprehensive tutorial video that will help you with whatever photo project has been patiently waiting for you to make time for it.
Just start with one thing. And see if that project isn't as big as you think!
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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?"
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. And if you are a new Forever user, be sure you validate your email so you'll receive the $20 coupon to use on whatever you're going to order! It's good for 60 days.
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.
page examples from the Simple Pleasures template--there are lots to choose from
There are lots of others to choose from, too! I like the Color Blocked Yearbook myself.
You can see all the possible pages and start yours here.
Get started right away! And then share this post with someone you know who needs the same things.
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You may already know from your visits here before that I'm typically not more than a month or two "behind" in my scrapbooking. (I don't really count a month or two as "behind!") I know that's in large part to the happiness and relaxation and grounding I get when I spend Me Time with my photos and memories, and also in large part due to the fact that I use a scrapbooking system that I love (which makes an enormous difference).
I realized recently that there's one more thing I do that really makes my scrapbooking easy and quick. So, I definitely want to tell you my secret!
Take 'Em With a Phone, Preserve 'Em in the Cloud
First, I take photos almost exclusively with my phone these days. I can't remember the last time I took my digital camera anywhere.
Second, at the end of the day, I back up those phone photos in the cloud. (See my 10 Minutes Daily Plan for ideas on developing that habit.) The cloud I choose is Forever Storage because:
It's not a true sync. (A true sync means that I couldn't delete anything off my phone without also deleting it from the cloud. Most cloud services, including iCloud, are a direct sync.)
Metadata stays with it. (Any tags or descriptions you add to your photo is called IPTC metadata. Most metadata only stays with the format you create it in. For example, if you add some details to a photo in Google Photos, you can't download it or send it to your sister without losing everything you added. Same goes for Apple products--Apple calls itself "non-IPTC compliant.")
I don't pay monthly fees for it. (I buy it, so I permanently own it.)
It's private. My photos are guaranteed private, and my information and photos will never be sold.(That's extremely rare, believe it or not!)
It's guaranteed to keep my photos and videos safe for my lifetime plus 100 years. (That's not found anywhere else.)
Photo experts recommend preserving photos in print, digitally in the cloud, and digitally onsite (like on your computer, phone, external hard drive, etc.). By putting my photos in the cloud, I've got them in two digital places, AND I'm ready to put them in print.
I thought metadata was over my head until I learned the basics. Metadata isn't scary after all. It's SO helpful, so learn a little here.
I put my photos (and videos) in Forever Storage using the app, which is so convenient! And it's where my secret for making scrapbooking faster and easier comes into play.
My Secret: Descriptions
Once my photos (and videos) are in my Forever app, I add descriptions to them. I do it same-day (or maybe the next day if I've taken a lot of photos) because my memories are still fresh. That makes it easy.
Here's what that looks like from my app:
Those two screenshots above just give you an idea of how I've organized my photos in Forever Cloud Storage. On the left you see my 2024 Album, (I organize chronologically, but you don't have to), and all the Nested Albums inside it. On the right, I've scrolled through to December 2024 and clicked the Nested Album inside THAT to get to all my photos I've put there.
These two screenshots below show how I add details to the photo--descriptions of what's going on in the photo and, basically, why I took it. On the left, you can see that I've tapped the photo so I can do something with it. I can send it to someone using the arrow in the box at the bottom left, but to see and/or add information to the digital file itself, I click the "i" in the circle ("information") that I've circled in red. From there, all the information you see at the right pops up, and it's all editable. (LOVE!) So, I can type in a description about whatever I want--there's no character limit!
Once I'm home from the vacation or the holiday is over or the celebration is in the rearview mirror, I'll sit down with Artisan, my favorite digital scrapbooking software, because I love how creative I can be with it. (Create & Print is my recommendation if you want it done faster!)
To clarify, both of these are created digitally using a computer (or a phone, if you're using Create & Print), but are PRINTED, satisfying the photo expert recommendation to preserve photos in print. There are lots of benefits to a printed book that you don't get if you just keep it digital, though you do have a digital copy that's easily shareable saved in your Forever account.
Why Descriptions Make My Scrapbooking So Easy and Fast
Copy and paste, my friends. Copy. And. Paste!
That's all I have to do.
If I sit down to put photos and memories in pages a month or two after the fact, I don't have to think about what to write. I don't have to try to remember the details. I don't have to work to get in the groove of whatever that moment was.
I already wrote it when it happened. So I make a page, then I go to my photos in Forever Storage, open the descriptions of the photos on my scrapbook page, and copy & paste the descriptions.
It makes everything SO FAST. It really helps me stay caught up on my scrapbooking, and it makes it feel so easy! Faster still would be to use Create & Print instead of this Artisan program I love so much, I know, but I *bask* in the creative me-time it gives me as much as someone else might bask in the get-it-done-but-make-it-pretty-for-me they get with Create & Print.
My Final Step
The last step here doesn't have anything to do with making scrapbooking faster and easier--I already did that with that secret I told you about above--but it does complete every recommendation photo experts give for preserving photos.
Remember I mentioned two digital ways and one way in print? I technically have two digital ways, the Forever Cloud and my phone, but I'm always so nervous about dropping my phone over a waterfall or just losing it (which is so common).
Plus, I'd like to free up space on my phone. That stuff gets expensive!!!
So, I open my Forever Cloud Storage on my computer and download photos, saving them to my computer. Some places don't store full-resolution photos, but since Forever does, I've got the best of every possible world.
Then, I'm free to delete anything from my phone that I want to. I tend to save VERY FAVORITES on my phone, but my computer and Forever Storage have them all.
Let me help you not have any photo problems! No overwhelm. No "getting behind" so it feels like too much to "catch up." This secret weapon is phenomenal!
Who do you know who would love this secret for faster and easier scrapbooking? Share this with them using the share media buttons at the left or by Pinning this image to Pinterest.
NOTE: I am a Forever affiliate called an Ambassador (a decision I made because I love it so much), so you will find affiliate links in this post. I earn a commission from anything purchased at my website, and being your Ambassador means I'm here to help you with questions, too. If you're new to Forever and open your free account here to give it a try, you'll get a $20 welcome coupon towards anything mentioned in this post.
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