Digital is good, really really good. Taking photos is so easy and nothing beats the ability to be able to immediately see what you took. I also love the fact that when my son(s) comes to me with a school project needing a photo from his life I can immediately print one. No more running to the store for me. And no more physical photos lying around everywhere. I never quite grasped the best way to organize them so this was going to be a blessing.
What was I thinking?! Yes, I no longer have physical photos to move from place to place but I still needed a strategy of organizing my digital ones. It got to a point that I could no longer continue with my previous process of dumping each and every photo in to one folder. It was impossible for me to find anything! So I began experimenting; organize by events? by individual? by subject? I found myself having the same problem - I didn't know what to do!!
I came to the quick realization that in this day and age there had to be some sort of software program that would solve all of my problems! I did a little bit of research and purchased one that allowed me to add endless amounts of detail to each photo. One that I could do quick keyword searches to find any photos. AWESOME! - until I accidentally deleted the special identifier the program created for me. Hours of work down the drain. (Note to self - guess it would help to actually READ the instructions first!). Faced with the task of re-entering the data I decided that maybe this software wasn't going to meet my immediate needs. I didn't have time to devote to entering all this data. I needed something quick and easy. Then it came to me.
I ended up creating (within My Pictures folder) separate folders for each year. Within each year are subfolders containing each month. I put all the pictures taken in a specific month into that months folder (ie: all pictures I take this month will go in my AUGUST 2006 folder). At the end of the month I archive that month - which simply means I back up that entire months folder onto a CD and I print an index sheet of that months photos which I place in a three ring binder - that is tabbed by years. I quickly write on the bottom of the index page the month and year it covers - so in this months case it will be AUGUST 2006. And that's it! What I'm left with is all my photos are backed up and I have a quick reference sheet in my three ring binder. The index sheet lists all the photos names - the default names which is always some weird number that I can never remember.
I just finished putting this system in place and I've already run across the need to use it several times to find a picture taken. It's simple. I have a general idea of when it was taken so I quickly scan through my three ring binder; year, month - oh there's the photo. I then go to either the specific folder on my computer or pull the proper CD and I scan for the photo. Ta Dah, I'm done.
Eventually I will use the software program I purchased (although I have since found out about some FREE ones that work just as well). I love the idea of being able to do keyword searches. I have one photo in particular that I can't wait to just type in "GOOFBALL" and up pops the photo. LOL! Until then I have a quick and easy way of finding what I need. Plus I have the piece of mind knowing I have backed up my photos. Now that's a good thing!
