Organizing and Permanently Storing Your Holiday Photos and Videos

How many photos and videos did you take during the recent holiday weekend? The exact number isn’t important, but here’s another question that is:

Did you take the photos and videos that matter? And do you know what you’re missing?

Think about the differences in these questions.

If you want to capture the most meaningful memories you can, then it’s not a matter of snapping all the photos or shooting all the videos that you can. What’s more important is that you’re aware of the memories you need so your collection feels complete and well-chronicled.

And here’s an important point:

Organize and store your videos for future generations and not just today.

I use a storage method that I invite you to try for free and you’ll be able to store your photos well into the next century and beyond. So, organize with an eye toward the future.

Let’s look at the benefits of organizing and storing the photos and videos you’ve just taken—and the ones you’ll be taking.

 

Melody’s Method for Organizing Photos: Think Like a Journalist

I’ve been a photo coach for almost 30 years and my passion has always been that families should preserve their most meaningful memories.

To do that, you need to clear the clutter.

How do you know what is most meaningful?

Use the basic journalistic questions to get your photos and other media in order:

• Who: is in the photo or video?
• What: are they doing?
• Where: was it taken?
• Why: is this important?
• When: was it taken?
• How: will this matter to my family’s story?

Not everything has to have profound meaning. Some photos are just downright cute and funny so you can save those.

And you can delete obvious duplicates.

But what about photos that are in-between—you know, not quite total duplicates but they’re similar because of who’s in the picture and where it was taken?

Let’s say you’re playing in the snow with your kids or grandkids and you’ve built a snowman with them. And then you get in a snowball fight.

You begin snapping photos on your smartphone and you’ve had different shots and your camera’s space is filling up. Some photos are different from others, but does that really matter?

Let’s use the questions above:

The same people are in the photo. What they’re doing has changed. It’s the same location and it was taken on the same day. So:

• Why is this important?
• How will this matter to my family’s story?

Maybe only one of those pictures will matter a decade from now or 75 years from now. ‘

Consider this: you may only need to save one photo or video from an outing.

Why?

That one photo or video becomes part of a much larger collection that’s permanently stored.

Let’s talk about digital storage.

 

A Permanent Storage System

What do you want your family to know and remember?

Pictures tell stories so look for photos showing the different life stages your children and grandchildren have lived through.

You don’t need a vast quantity of files but you need a system where you can easily access the files. That way, you know what photos you have and the type of photos you’d like to capture.

Since Hannukah, Christmas and New Year’s are fast approaching wouldn’t it be nice if you could quickly glance through images of years past and see what types of photos and videos you should try to get this year?

And if you have loved ones and close friends scattered around the country or the globe wouldn’t it be nice to have a place where they could send their files and you could easily categorize them?

Now you can.

The platform FOREVER® is a complete memory-keeping system that you own where you can:

• Digitize all older photos and files from decades ago
• Upload photos and videos from your phone
• Store your most meaningful memories—guaranteed for a lifetime, plus 100 years and beyond
• Organize your photos, videos, and documents in albums and sub-albums
• Use the streaming video option
• Turn your digital images into photo books and gifts that you can give year-round

It’s easy to learn about the many ways to use FOREVER® by visiting the Events page on my website.

How does FOREVER® work?

A friend of mine who’s also a photo coach, Amy Vanden Berg, gave a perfect example in this post, How Safely Stored and Well-Organized Photos Bring Hope and Peace of Mind.

Amy’s father died unexpectedly but she had hundreds of his photos and videos stored on her FOREVER® account. In just a few hours, she and her siblings pulled together a number of touching pictures for his memorial service while also making a photo book to memorialize his life.

FOREVER® is a powerful organizing tool.

Another colleague of mine, Marianna Curran, creates albums based on her family like her adult children and places they regularly go like their family vacation home.

Marianna organized her account by four basic family groups:

• Father’s family
• Mother’s family
• Husband’s family
• Nuclear family (children)

“In my family grouping, I have photos of my son and daughter, me and my husband, and related files that belong there more than they belong in another place like chronology.”

She’s also used FOREVER®’s family research service to do work on genealogy in one of her family lines.

Read more of her story in this post, Her Method to Reduce the Madness of Organizing Photos and Storing Them Permanently.

 

I’ll be Glad to Show You More

Contact me and let me know your needs for storing and organizing photos.

As I mentioned earlier, I invite you to get 2 free GB of storage so you can try FOREVER® and see how to upload photos and create albums.

And if you’re interested in becoming a photo coach, I’ll share some of my experiences with you and show you how to use FOREVER®’s platform in a robust home business.

Have a wonderful holiday season.