What on Earth to do with all your pics?
We love to capture every moment on our smartphones. But then what? The purpose of picture taking is to preserve memories, especially when the images are of your children. Yet so often our photos go into the digital universe, never to be seen again. If you’re looking for clever ways to organize and actually use your photos, Kate Byars, founder of concierge framing and family photography service Lo & Behold on the westside, has creative and practical advice.
Storage Solutions
“Use the most automatic thing you can find,” says Byars. Both Google Photos and Apple iCloud can be connected to your devices to upload and store your photos in real time and organize them by date. From there, you can also create and share albums for specific life events or to use for a printed photo book.
Organization Trick
No matter which one you choose, Byars recommends favoriting your photos by clicking on the heart icon in the moment or going through them once a week to do the same. “When you start a print project, it’s so much easier to go back to favorites. We all shoot five times as many photos as we actually need to get the best shot. Heart one thing per moment, and when you go back through, you’ll save time by knowing that’s the one you like the most.”
Digital Viewing Put that smart TV to good use as a digital photo album, suggests Byars. Connect your favorites folder to your television and use the slideshow as the go-to screensaver.
Album Routine
“We enjoy our photos much more and much more frequently when they are in some sort of tangible format,” says Byars, who advises creating an annual printed photo album. “Give yourself a week or more to get it done so the process isn’t stressful. That’s why favorites are important!”
Time Capsule Framers
Instead of adding to a plethora of framed photos or buying new frames each year to feature your family and kids as they grow up, Byars says to reuse the frames. “Put in the most recent photos but keep the others in the frame. If you do this for several years, you end up with a little time capsule.”
Gallery Wall
“The reason I created my business is because I heard from moms over and over that they wanted the family gallery but just could not approach the project. It seemed too daunting,” says Byars, who offers a comprehensive service to create the custom, framed wall galleries of your dreams for around $2,500- $6,000, which can include everything from going through your 20K disorganized photo file to selecting images to installation. Not in the budget? She offers this DIY sequence: Measure your space; buy the frames; hang the empty frames each with two nails spaced apart by a couple inches; stick bumpers on the bottom of the frame that grip the wall. Next, allow the empty frames to stare at you from the wall. Then, sit down in front of the wall with your laptop or phone, pick the images and sizes and send them to print. When the prints come in, pop them in the frames. “Break it down into manageable steps that can be done over several Saturdays,” she says.
Special Gifts
Use your now-organized photos as holiday gifts, such as ornaments. “It’s a little capture of that child or family in time that can be brought out once a year.” Grandparents in particular also love a beautifully framed 8-by-10-inch photo. “They want a forest of those on their piano,” Byars says.
LO & BEHOLD
678.820.0404
loandbeholdhome.com
@loandbehold.atl
