Last summer, I got a worrisome call from my father. When he described his symptoms, I knew the situation was serious. I picked him up the following morning for a doctor's appointment, but as soon as I saw him, I knew we needed to head to the emergency room instead.
In a whirlwind few weeks, he went from living independently and working to being dependent on others for the first time. These quick changes required us to quickly sort through his belongings, sell as much as possible, get records together, and move him into assisted living. Thankfully, his health stabilized, and he’s doing well.
We prioritized making sure he was set up for his new space. Once settled, we turned our attention to other tasks. One of those projects was organizing his printed photos.
He had many photos, but they were tossed haphazardly into multiple boxes. Organizing them had been viewed as a “someday” project, and someday wasn’t going to happen without my help. My father was elated when we finally started sorting through the photos together.
Priceless Benefits
The time we spent together was priceless. He enjoyed telling stories about the pictures, and I loved learning new things about him. We created one album of the best photos from this collection. We added dates, names, and other details as we went. Now he can enjoy his photos any time he wants!
Another invaluable result is sharing the photos. We’ve brought the album along to family gatherings, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised to see the interest of even the youngest generation of family members. Comments like, “You were a really handsome young man. I bet the girls were chasing you!” led to some great stories. For example, in first grade, there were twin girls who both liked him. Since he couldn’t choose between them, he decided they would both be his girlfriend. I love seeing him share his stories because of the work we did.
The Problem with Someday Thinking
Procrastinating big tasks is extremely common. Out of the clients I’ve worked with over the years, about 80% of them had a big collection of printed photos but no plan for how and when they would get organized. They just knew that “someday” it needed to be done.
The problem with someday thinking is that without specific plans, nothing gets accomplished. Last time I checked, there is no day of the week called Someday. It’s easy to assume that in a different stage of life, huge swaths of time will miraculously appear, and all of those projects will t be scratched off our to-do list in quick succession. Not likely.
Why Can’t I Just Pass it On?
Another assumption is that it’s okay to just pass them all along as is to another family member. You can certainly choose that option—just hand off those boxes of photos you’ve accumulated. But here are the problems with that approach:
You won’t get maximum enjoyment from your photos now.
Your loved ones who inherit the photos won’t know all the people and events in your photos. So you might be passing along the photos, but the real value is in the stories.
Your loved ones won’t be happy about your choice. They don’t want or need the additional burden of this work.
No Magical Solution
I can guarantee with 100% certainty that your photos will not magically get organized on their own. It will take effort on your part. Quite a bit of it, actually. But I can also guarantee that the work is worth it, and that you’ll be glad you did. And so will your friends and family members!
But It’s So Overwhelming!
Ok, so maybe now you’re convinced it’s time to get started. But when you think about the work ahead of you, you feel completely overwhelmed, and you have no clue how to get started.
I get it! I’ve often procrastinated on big tasks for that same reason. The toughest part is just getting started. I can’t do the work for you. But I can give you some tips to get started. *For more details, you’ll find a three part series of articles on my website.
How Do I Get Started?
Make a decision. Set yourself a deadline and get some accountability if it will help you.
Plan your work. You could set aside large chunks of time, work a few minutes every day, or some mixture of the two. As Ben Franklin said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!”
Gather your photos. If possible, get them all in one space. If you can’t, at least make a list of the locations. There are so many places they might be “hiding.”
Choose your end game. I find this question very helpful: If we could wave a magic wand and your photos were all organized, what would it look like? This is definitely not a “one size fits all” situation.
Consider both what you want as well as those who will inherit the photos.
For my father, since he doesn’t do anything digitally, it made the most sense for us to make a physical album (although I do want to also scan the album for easier sharing and protection from damage).
There are so many options in terms of what you can create, both physical and digital, or a combination of both. For example, printed photo books are easy to make and take up much less space than regular photo albums.
Get to work sorting! The lion’s share of the work will be sorting photos using a simple ABC sort. Even if you haven’t completed step #4 and don’t know for sure what you want, you can still start sorting. This is the critical step! It can be done in small increments of time. You could even complete it while binging a mindless show or listening to music, an audiobook or a podcast.
Keep working to completion!
I’ve Got a Class for That!
On Saturday, August 19th, I’m teaching two sessions of my hands-on Printed Photo Organizing Workshop at Create Appalachia’s Kingsport location (225 West Center Street) in downtown Kingsport. I’m teaching a morning session from 10am-12pm and an afternoon session from 1:30-3:30pm. For just $25, you'll get two hours of instruction, work time with individual help as needed, a worksheet, a list of resources, and three bins for sorting the box of photos you bring. Two lucky attendees will win a door prize. By the time you leave, you'll have a plan and a head start to finally getting your photos in order!
For more information and to register, visit the Create Appalachia website. This workshop will likely be offered again at Create Appalachia’s Johnson City location this fall. If you are part of a group (local or not) that would like to schedule a private workshop, reach out to me by email (angie@shipshape.solutions).
Ready to lose the photo clutter but save the memories? There’s no better time than now to get started!
