Some of us still remember the days when all the pictures you ever took and were ever taken of you fit into a few photo albums. Of course, 35mm film limited how many pictures could or would be taken of us. This all changed with the rise of digital cameras in the 1990s and even more with the arrival of the first iPhone in 2007. Since then, it’s been effortless and cheap to take countless pictures.
However, this development has also presented a problem we’re all struggling with: how do we manage all these photos and keep them organized?
Over the years, I’ve taken many trips, visited trade shows and museums, and captured thousands of pictures each year. All this collecting is meaningless if you can’t find what was captured. Whether you have an iPhone or an Android phone, your photos are automatically stored in a library. Unless you download them individually, they’ll just be managed by your phone’s or computer’s software (if you choose to sync your photos).
Google Photos and Apple Photos both offer neat ways to get photos organized. Searches and facial recognition give us the option to put photos in folders, providing a good starting point for further organization.
I prefer to have more control over my photos. My approach is to download them from their respective online drives and manually rename and organize them – just like the photos I take with my cameras. This requires a solid folder structure and naming convention. I usually include the dates, locations, and events in the folder and file names for optimal search results.
Including tags and metadata with relevant keywords can also be helpful. Ratings and flags can be used to rank and highlight photos. However, it can be too time-consuming to do this for thousands of photos, so in these cases, I rely on a solid folder structure and batch renaming.
To organize your photo collection, start by taking inventory:
- Where are your photos currently stored?
- When and where were they taken?
- With what devices were they taken?
- How can they be grouped?
- Where and how should the most relevant photos be displayed?
- Are you planning to share your photos?
- Are you purging or planning to keep all your photos?
These are just some considerations before starting the actual work. Before any heavy lifting, all photos must be backed up, and this step should be repeated throughout the process. Fortunately, digital storage is affordable today, allowing for multiple backups.
Here’s one approach to dealing with the challenge
- Initial Pruning: Soon after taking photos, delete the ones that didn’t turn out well (duplicates, out of focus, etc.).
- Creating Folders: Organize photos in folders focused on events, locations, and dates.
- Proper Naming Convention: Rename photos to include the date and location in the file name.
- Proper Storage: Keep a local backup of all photos and upload them to the cloud (iCloud and Google Drive).
- Digital Frames: Creating galleries of my favorite pictures and sticking them on my walls with the help of dynamic frames.
- Keep maintaining the collection by repeating the steps above for my new creations.
The result: You’ll have neat collections that you can share with others. For example, I recently had a nephew visit from Germany for three weeks. I took pictures with my phone and camera, organized them in a “nephew visit” folder, and shared them with family members. This saved him a lot of explaining when he returned, as the pictures told the story of his adventures.
Again, this is what works for me, but your situation may require a different solution.
Why am I sharing all of this?
You likely belong to the 99% who don’t have all their photos in perfect order or properly backed up. You might have heard of people losing their photos when their phone was lost or broke. That should never happen. You might also have experienced trying to find a specific photo but being unable to locate it.
Legacy Considerations
A good portion of your photos might become irrelevant once you pass on. Your family and friends won’t have the capacity to sift through all your files. The best way to handle this is to create several legacy folders with photos that will remain relevant once you are gone.
Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. I’ve shared some general principles of how I organize my photos, but the best strategy for you might be different, based on your habits and history.
Maybe there’s value in bringing some of your old album photos into the digital space or in turning some of your digital images into physical albums. Digital picture frames that can be loaded with photo collections are another great option.
Key Takeaway
It takes time to organize and optimize your photo collection, but it’s worth it. Your memories will be much more present and vibrant, making it time well spent. If you need help with organizing your digital life, I’m here to assist you in taking the steps to add power to your visual memories.
