Photo Organization - a success story

My wife started scrapbooking several years ago. She was working full-time back then, so she worked at it slowly. Over the past few years she has gone through our pictures from the past, gotten them organized, and purchased the albums she would need. Last August she quit working so has had a lot more time to devote to it. She has enjoyed scrapbooking so much that she has almost caught up from our childhood (pictures from our parents) up until our grandchildren. We are now getting a bunch of digital photographs developed and then she will tackle those as well. She has eight albums done and is currently working on two more which will catch her up completely.

In a recent Ann Landers column, "Archeological Digger" wrote that they are going through her mother's photo albums. They want to return old pictures of her nieces and nephews to them or their parents. But the rest they can't identify and "no one is interested in people or places they don't recognize." Scrapbooking solves the problem of unidentified photos. Anyone looking through our photo albums will be able to know who is in the pictures and when they were taken. They will know the sign in one of the pictures is the sign at the entrance to a town named after my great-grandfather who donated the land for the town. Those are interesting bits of information that shouldn't be tossed in the garbage just because the next generation doesn't know what is in the picture. I'm sure my grandchildren will be interested some day to know that their great-great-great-grandfather has a town named after him, which is also their last name.

My wife got started scrapbooking through out daughter-in-law, Cheryl. You can get more information at Cheryl's Creative Memories site. Or can go here for my original post on photograph organization.

Organize your photographs

Organizing your photographs can make such a difference. I've looked through people's photo albums and had no idea who was in the pictures, where it was taken, or when. The only way to know is to have someone who knows explain every picture to you. It can get boring because they want to tell you about every picture, even the ones you're not interested in. Then the next person picks up the album and they have to explain every picture all over again. There is a way to organize your pictures in photo albums that eliminates that problem. It is called scrapbooking.

My wife has been actively scrapbooking for a couple of years. We have albums of our early years, our college days, graduate school days, our wedding, our son's wedding, vacations, as well as albums of our tennis days and golfing days. The nice thing is that anyone can look through these albums and know who, what, when, where and why. The story is told right along with the pictures. It makes looking through photo albums a lot of fun.

I'm not an expert at scrapbooking, so I'll have to refer you to my daughter-in-law, Cheryl. She has been working for Creative Memories for quite a few years. She is the one who got my wife interested. You can check it out at Cheryl's Creative Memories site. Here's an excerpt from the home page:

"It's About Organization and Systems for Completing Albums!

Maybe you've tried scrapbooking and been challenged by the huge amount of product on the market or by the need for organization and motivation. Through my Creative Memories business, I can offer you many options to approach album making. I think you'll find you can preserve your memories, photographs, and stories in your own way whether it be digital album making, traditional scrapbooking, or anything in between. My web site is designed to help you enjoy the Creative Memories experience. You can access our entire line of products, place orders, view my workshop schedule and browse ... "

Check it out. Everyone who looks at your photos will be glad you did.