Picture Overload

by Machelle Willing

Do you ever feel like you are drowning in pictures? Since our move I have not really had time to scrapbook and I usually need at least 3 to 4 hours of uninterrupted time to feel like I am making any real progress. I am definitely feeling “picture overload” right now.

When I am scrapbooking, I do not scrap in chronological order. I have my albums divided by categories (along the lines of Stacy Julian’s Photo Freedom method). Currently mine are: family, pets, travel and Christmas. In each category I jump between current events/moments and memories of people and times past. So, I do not print my pictures until I have several pages in mind and then print sizes accordingly. I still send them out to be printed so this takes quite a bit of planning and organizing and list making. Which brings me to today.

"Picture Overload" media; a screenshot of my Historian menu

I have been getting ready for a 3 day retreat next month. Since I haven’t scrapbooked in a while it has taken me longer than usual to remember where I was in any given album and what I thought should come next. Here is where keeping your pictures in a good photo management program with multiple categories comes in handy and helps prevent picture overload. I use a program called Historian (by Forever) and have for almost 20 years.

All the pictures are sorted by events, holidays, family, etc. I am also able to tag people in each photo and use facial recognition so I can search by several different criteria to find exactly what I’m looking for. It is a lifesaver sometimes!

Once I have them sorted, I can send them to be printed at my local one-hour lab in almost any size. I have a photo box that I store them in with dividers for each of my album categories. Then when I am at my retreat, I can grab each set of pictures and go to work! I have a small notebook that I jot down my ideas for each page and just go down the list.