Photos only last if somebody looks after them. A phone can be lost, a cloud account forgotten and a hard drive dropped. Keeping pictures safe is mostly about simple, boring habits that run without you thinking about them.
The clip below is what we put on while sorting. It runs long enough to get through a month of photos.
Make it a habit
The best system is the one you will still be using next year. Keep it simple enough that it survives a busy month.
Sharing is part of keeping. A photo that three people have is safer than one that only lives on your phone.
- Back up before deleting anything
- Star photos as you take them
- Include at least one place, not just faces
What we got wrong
Write the year on the spine. It sounds obvious, but without it a shelf of books quickly becomes a puzzle.
If two photos are nearly the same, keep the one where someone is doing something. A raised hand, a turned head or a half-finished sentence gives a picture life that a perfectly still pose rarely has, even when the still one is technically better.
I thought I needed a better camera. I needed a better window.
Tom Okafor, Paperleaf
Keep it simple
A good caption answers the question someone will ask in twenty years. Who is that? Where were we? Why is everyone wet? Write the answer while you still know it, even if it feels too obvious to bother with today.
I never thought about the light from the window. Moved the high chair and the difference is huge.
Try giving them the phone for a day. Worked with my teenager.
We have the same problem. Starring photos as we go helped a lot.
Great question. Start with one photo per child per day and swap them on the second pass.