Sort your photographs

Taking the time to properly organise your photographs will give you and your family pleasure for years to come

IT WAS ALL much more straightforward in the early 1900s, when the box brownie was introduced as the first mass-marketed camera. Your average family occasion of yore might have spawned a handful of photographs that on being printed were lovingly pasted into albums for everyone to admire. Simple, eh?

These days a birthday, anniversary or birth of a new child can result in hundreds of digital images being, snapped many of them remaining captive on CDs or on hard drives never to see the light of day. Adding to the unseen digital pile are all those old family photos stuffed into sideboards and that drawer you never open because the random contents would send you over the edge, also known as “the nervous breakdown drawer”.

To turn the tide, first accept that creating order from the chaos is going to take time to sort but that it’s a worthwhile project which might turn out to be enjoyable. Second, share the pain. Enlist the help of technically adept children or relatives to forage through digital archives and hard-copy photos for the shots you actually want to archive or show off in frames.

THE EXPERT

When it comes to hard-copy prints, Dublin-based Spanish photographer Angel Luis Gonzalez recommends separating them by years and getting rid of any photos that don’t make the grade. “Once you have smaller packets of images, the prospect of sorting them out can seem less daunting,” he says. Get all the family involved in putting them into albums or bribe friends with the prospect of seeing your fashion disasters over the years. Gonzalez recommends using soft pencil if you want to add information to the back of photographs so as not to damage the prints.

He says that sorting digital files can be more stressful. “It can feel overwhelming when you are dealing sometimes with thousands of images, but dividing the task into smaller steps is the best way to succeed.” The best way to deal with digital files is to copy all images from external storage, such as CDs, DVDs and USB sticks, to a newly created folder on your computer. Call it something like “Family Album” and create new folders inside, one for each year. Digital files always have a time stamp that will tell you when they were taken.

Some programmes such as iPhoto for Apple computers can be useful because they automatically create folders and events when images are added to the library. The only issue here, says Gonzalez, is that they won’t be able to manage large collections and will eventually become sluggish, so it’s best to work outside a programme.

Now for the dreaded editing of the images. “Selecting a few digital images per year or event from your collection that you eventually print for archiving or display can be a slow process. But you will soon find a rhythm and discipline.”

Create different folders inside each given year for photos you want to print and ones you eventually want to display in frames.

“Now that you have edited the files down to a few dozen it’s easy to copy on to a USB stick or CD and bring to a local lab for printing.” He recommends fine-art printers, who will provide maximum quality prints on archival paper and inks so that they remain lovely to look at for decades. See Exhibit Arts (inspirationalarts.ie), Exhibit A (exhibitastudios.ie) and Fire (fire.ie).

HOW TO ORGANISE YOUR PHOTOS

Top tips from professional organising consultant Sarah Reynolds of Organised Chaos

1 Set aside time. Allocate a day or time per day that you dedicate to putting your photos in order and don’t get distracted during this time. You may be tempted to begin showing the photos to those around you and reliving memories.

2 Labelling. Before moving photos from your digital camera on to your computer, always set up a picture folder first and make sure the folder is appropriately labelled. Labels should describe the theme of the photos and should include a date, for instance “Christmas 2011” or “Ben’s christening November 2009”.

3. Create categories. Sort actual photos out one by one. As you do, categories and sub-categories will emerge such as “Holidays – France”. Write the sub-category on a post-it and place it on top of the bundle of photos. Hold them together with an elastic band. Place the photos in an envelope with the overall category written on the outside.

4. Toss and delete unwanted photos. Don’t hold on to any poor quality or blurred photos.

5. Storage. Printed photos need a home. Designate a space in your home for your photo collection. This could be as simple as assigning a drawer and placing your organised envelopes containing your newly categorised photos in there. Or you could purchase photo boxes, which have dividers in them so that you can label up the divider and place your group of photos inside.

6. Don’t forget to back up. If you have a lot of photos on your computer, purchasing an external hard drive is essential for not only protecting your photos but also keeping your computer files organised. Once the folders of photos are moved over to the external hard drive they can be deleted off your computer, freeing up space. If you do not wish to delete all the folders you have just transferred over, create a new folder titled “Archived” plus today’s date and place those folders in there.RI

Organisedchaos.ie

This company offers advice and practical assistance with photos and other decluttering

Scanmyphotos.com

Scans photos, negatives and slides and sends them back to you. It also specialises in restoring vintage photos