[BarbaraC1977]

I've digi-scrapped many of our family pictures from the last 10 years or so that were digital, and many heritage photos from my DH's family, plus a few of ours. We'd packed up many of our photos into boxes in haste some years ago, during wildfire cautions here in Colorado, and stored the boxes at my office which was far less at risk.

While there are years here and there that are actually organized into albums for our two sons, an appalling number of photographs remained in the folders from developing along with their negatives. I am trying to just get them into a semblance of order, and get the negatives properly stored. I found the Iris Photo Boxes for the best price at Office Depot, and purchased some so that I can try to at least organize the photos and keep them clean and reasonably protected. We'll put the negatives into negative sheets; my DH really wants those saved. I hate scanning negatives (it's hard to assure sufficient cleanliness in a home with cats.) Eventually, those will go with other negative sheets into our safe deposit box.

My best estimate is that there are at least 2500 photos to go through, starting from college years (mid-1970s) plus a few hundred older, and in some cases much more fragile pictures. I need to decide what to scan and then what to scrap. Part of me says just send all the photos in decent condition to a scanning service. I'd scan the fragile ones myself. I'm glad the prices on external hard drives continue to come down, too. Between original scans and then corrected/cleaned images, multi-terabyte drives are looking really good!

I am really torn about where to start. I feel bad about not having all of my children's growing up scrapped, but they know very little about our lives before they were born. The college/newlywed/early marriage years' photos are fading and changing color, so maybe I should start there.

I suspect that here at Scrap Girls I have company in this situation, so I am interested in suggestions on where you'd start if these were your photos. Suggestions welcome.

[AnnBK]

You certainly have good company here...and I go back even farther than you do. I have boxes and boxes of old photos that are fading, pictures of our college years (early '60's) and then the kids early years. And then there are the heritage photos that we inherited from both sides. Our parents all passed away within 5 years and we got tons of pictures and documents. Where do you start? And how do you do that and keep up with what's going on right now? I have a new camera to learn, I've had it for over a year and haven't taken more than a dozen photos with it. Can we petition for a 30 hour day so we can get it all done?

[ScrapGram]

Reading Ro's NL articles earlier this year about preserving family memories really made me realize that I need to save our photos digitally. As one of my retirement projects I did get them all out of those horrible magnetic albums and into photo boxes which I organized by child, family, and friends. When I did this I kept everything though, so I really need to go back and get rid of the junk, then scan what is left. I also have probably 100-200 heritage photos that need to be scanned. Some of them need repaired which I am not very experienced at.
I think most of us are in the same boat. I wish there was some magic formula we could use, but I think Ro is right-you just have to jump in and start somewhere. (Thanks, Ro). The ones I have organized into the four categories above, (child-i have 2, family, and friends) I just put in chronological order as well as I could. I could kick myself for never writing dates on the backs of pictures!

[SandiC.]

I'm working on mine randomly and then organizing on computer and after they've been scanned. I didn't go digital until 2003 0r 2004 so all of my kids photos are film. There are many damaged photos too. I'm not getting many done, but I do want to make it a priority. Since most of the photos were taken in a time we couldn't afford many photos, most of the pics are of family events and only one roll of film was taken and only about half were any good. that means the ones worth scanning and scrapping are not as many as would seem at first. So I'm trying to do one packet at a time and then file it all away.

[April Showers]

I do mine similar to how Sandi does them. As I scan them, I organize them in folders by year or decade depending on how many photos there are from that time. I've been gradually working through my negatives and I do about a year's worth at a time- then scrap them for a while. I scan heritage ones when I feel like it. I did most of my childhood photos for my siblings for Christmas last year- giving myself a deadline like that was very helpful- as was the slide feeder for my negative scanner. I don't worry about getting them all done or I'd never get started.
Good luck~ it can seem overwhelming.

[Smiles]

I'm a big fan of Jennifer Hofmann of Inspired Home Office. Her theory when you have an overwhelming amount to organize is to start with the most fun (or least onerous) - that way you build up a little momentum. She also says to set a time limit, and honor it - otherwise your inner self won't trust you and you'll really dread going back to it.

So what would be most fun for you to start with?

[Belle]

That's a great idea there Gayle. In my case, I hate scanning. I think I must pay my DGD's to sort my photos and show them how to scan. Clever huh! I also really need to sort the photos. I also have photos that I don't even know who all the people are. Dad (FIL) has just died and he was the last source of who's who.

[ValerieT]

All I can add, to to do them one packet or box at a time. Scan only those that are worth keeping, and as you go throw away all those bad photos. Like Sandi said the number of good photos will not be as many as you think. Scan any photos that are damaged or the colour is changing as well, a simple way to scrap these is to changed them to black and white or sepia, but sometimes the damage adds to the charm.

[jenrou]

I'm in the same boat with you all. Besides my own children's, grandkids, etc. I have all of my family photos and husband's family photos that go way back. I've started scanning a few at a time, and also started putting them into photo boxes from Costco, similar to Barbara's only double size with plastic holders inside. Slow going, as I hate to do it! I lave a bunch of larger Heritage and damaged Heritage. I haven't scrapped a lot, so I really need to scan and sort. I pit them on a dedicated EHD velcroed to my laptop (like Ro) and am trying to sort by years, so far, I may change the sorting type. ????

I'm older than probably a lot of you, so it worries me what will happen to them. My children grown now are not too interested in family history. I also have other whole extended family photos since I did genealogy for so many years. I'm concerned even about the genealogy.

I did read some of the lady's info on another website who teaches a class in photos, and it may be the one that one of you mentioned.
Help!

I haven them all congregated in a stack of plastic file cabines/drawers so far, gathered from of the other places in the house.

[healthyscraps]

How exciting. I know that i could get swept away in looking through such an assortment of photos and never get anythg actually done. I would try not get to caught up on following a system as the focus (hard to believe I am saying that as I love organizing and systems) but rather enjoying the journey as I am sure you will discover amazing memories along the way. I would scan a bunch and organize in years etc but take a break and scrap what captures my attention (influenced by the time of year and what is happens in your life at the time). Enjoy the journey and simply start. It is said that it is easier to turn a moving ship. I am sure as you begin you will find your rhythm and focus.

[Sara Arell]

Oh, I wish I knew the answer to this - I have boxes and boxes of old photos that I've never scrapped or scanned and I really must take some time to do that very soon. Some I only have one copy of and they are pics of all four of our children together and I know that they will all want a copy - and then there are the layouts I've never done with them - so much to do and I don't know where to start either!

[Nica]

I've actually been using the challenges as direction. Like the National Parks Challenge. Instead of looking for recent pictures, I searched my old albums to find pics of me as a kid. On the way through, I found two other sets that I wanted to scrap (my bio-dad and some elephants, totally related to national parks, I know. ) I'm nearly done with the elephants, so I'll be looking for the next challenge soon. In this way, I have a specific goal, so it's less overwhelming, and small chunks, so I can actually get them done. I figure, if I'm not excited about scanning and scrapping them, the rest of the world probably won't care either.

[lorac]

I have tons of photos to scan. I've done quite a few already, including family papers: birth, death, and marriage certificates; mortgage payoff of grandparents house. The only problem is that I have no one to leave all these photos and scrapbook layouts to. I don't have any children, my cousins could care less about my photos, as they all have their own photos to deal with. But that doesn't stop me from scrapping. I'm 65 now and as I get to be in my 90's, I'll start to toss things away. What else can I do?

[Nica]

lorac, on 13 May 2012 - 06:54 AM, said:

I have tons of photos to scan. I've done quite a few already, including family papers: birth, death, and marriage certificates; mortgage payoff of grandparents house. The only problem is that I have no one to leave all these photos and scrapbook layouts to. I don't have any children, my cousins could care less about my photos, as they all have their own photos to deal with. But that doesn't stop me from scrapping. I'm 65 now and as I get to be in my 90's, I'll start to toss things away. What else can I do?

On the other hand, Carol, none of us are really scrapping for the future. We're scrapping for ourselves right now, and hoping that future generations will care. Keep on keeping-on, Hon. Let the future take care of itself, after all, after you're gone, you won't care either!

[Wendy J]

My father passed away a few years ago, so I found all the family pictures I could, scanned them, and made a photo book in his memory. Well, that was the start of my digital recording of all things family. I then had to scan the hundreds of pictures of our 2 boys growing up and made them photo books. Now, I seem to be the official family historian and I have scanned hundreds of photos, slides and negatives - all of which reside on my EHDs. I've decided to create ongoing chronological journals of our married life in photobook form - just received the first one back last week. Some day I'll organize a book of the rest of the family for my brothers and mom. This is most time consuming, but very rewarding. Through pictures we're discovering some wonderful times which had been forgotten - our boys are discovering relatives and events they weren't aware of. I really owe this new passion to Scrapgirls (and SG community and designers). Before I can across SG I didn't have the knowledge or inspiration to pull everything together - nor the materials to do so. Kudos to Ro and her vision.

[KayMitch]

Nica, on 13 May 2012 - 07:20 AM, said:

lorac, on 13 May 2012 - 06:54 AM, said:

I have tons of photos to scan. I've done quite a few already, including family papers: birth, death, and marriage certificates; mortgage payoff of grandparents house. The only problem is that I have no one to leave all these photos and scrapbook layouts to. I don't have any children, my cousins could care less about my photos, as they all have their own photos to deal with. But that doesn't stop me from scrapping. I'm 65 now and as I get to be in my 90's, I'll start to toss things away. What else can I do?

On the other hand, Carol, none of us are really scrapping for the future. We're scrapping for ourselves right now, and hoping that future generations will care. Keep on keeping-on, Hon. Let the future take care of itself, after all, after you're gone, you won't care either!

Beautifully said Monica. Enjoy the moment and if it means something to someone later then wonderful... Kay

[MariJ]

KayMitch, on 13 May 2012 - 10:18 AM, said:

Nica, on 13 May 2012 - 07:20 AM, said:

lorac, on 13 May 2012 - 06:54 AM, said:

I have tons of photos to scan. I've done quite a few already, including family papers: birth, death, and marriage certificates; mortgage payoff of grandparents house. The only problem is that I have no one to leave all these photos and scrapbook layouts to. I don't have any children, my cousins could care less about my photos, as they all have their own photos to deal with. But that doesn't stop me from scrapping. I'm 65 now and as I get to be in my 90's, I'll start to toss things away. What else can I do?

On the other hand, Carol, none of us are really scrapping for the future. We're scrapping for ourselves right now, and hoping that future generations will care. Keep on keeping-on, Hon. Let the future take care of itself, after all, after you're gone, you won't care either!

Beautifully said Monica. Enjoy the moment and if it means something to someone later then wonderful... Kay

Ditto, ditto, ditto!

[MariJ]

Hi Barbara
Happy Mother's Day to you first!
What wonderful responses and ideas - I'm enjoying your question and its answers.
One thing that struck me. I tend to get overwhelmed AKA "do nothing" when there are too many options, decisions and things to do. I was actually feeling a bit of overload reading about your dilemna. When I read your words about sending the photos out to be professionally scanned, I found myself breathing and letting out a sigh of relief so thought - that might be a helpful option - to at least feel as if something was being done -- and taking a huge chunk out of YOUR plate. Although, I do know you'd have to first organize, get them together, too and that's also another job... Sigh.. Good luck and I'd say - go first for the closest Heritage scrapping now - I mean like your parents - so your kids and theirs have that to keep. Your children's lives are precious and deserve to be scrapped, but they know that part. And, maybe someone there will become a scrapper for THEIR grandchildren.
That's my take and good luck to you.. PS don't forget to breathe....

[BarbaraC1977]

Thank you, everyone! I hope to hear more, but it's great to feel the affirmation that I'm not alone, and to just "go with what feels like fun." I'm very inspired by Jode's Project 52 layouts as a simple way to at least "get it done." Am thinking about interpreting her layouts to 8.5x11, and coming up with something that could be used for months or seasons, to get started. And then, when particular pictures speak to me, to scrap those few as additional related layouts for that period. Here is a review from 2009 of Photo Scanning Services. I'm most intrigued with ScanCafe, but does anyone have more recent experience, comments, or suggestions of other services? Thanks again for the encouragement, commiseration and suggestions!
Oh, and Happy Mother's Day!

[Smiles]

Costco offers scanning services in their warehouse, and their prices seem quite reasonable. We have thousands of slides from my dad, and we're thinking of giving them a try.

[Cheri T]

You're definitely not alone! I say scanning service, as long as it's local or you can personally deliver and pick up. I wouldn't mail one-of-a-kind things or depend on a courier service.
As to what to begin with, here's an idea I have done: Put the originals in inexpensive acid-free photo albums after they are scanned. Give each child the album of their birth and younger year photos and tell them that you are going to EVENTUALLY scrapbook them, but wanted them to have the photos now. Spend time with each child telling stories about the photos, etc now, and making notes to yourself.
If your psyche can do it, scrapbook out of order. (I know this is very hard for some of us, lol) - do a page of child #1, then child #2, then of your own dating years, etc...that way you are not focused so much on one thing to the exclusion of others. You can either print the digi pages as you finish them and put in top-loading scrapbooks, or share the images digitally until you finally have enough done to print a Shutterfly (or whatever) book all at once.

And bottom line is, there is no right or wrong - it's whatever works best for you and your family!

[porkypine]

Scan them while you can and save backups on different systems. I have a picture of my g-g-g-gramma from 1849 that has faded terribly in just the last decade. Probably due to the dry heat in Idaho summers. I have other photos of ancestors almost as old so SCAN THEM and distribute them before they fade away. the problems with old photos is that they polarize- go extreme light and dark and lose the midtones OR, they just fade due to improper 'fixing'. Also acid papers in the old albums cause the photos to deterioriate. I put my old photos in acid free slip covers but the weather still damages them. The originals are kept in the dark because light will also fade them.

I've had the family geneaology from my grandmothers but the younger generation is scattered and doesn't have time (they live too far away) to sit and learn it all so I recently decided to make a scrapbook family history geneaology on digital format. It is a huge job for me - there are about 996 people in the tree but I don't have photos of many of the older generations. However, I do have the stories. So my self-appointed task is to write out what I remember and distribute the finished product to all my relatives on cd/dvd or some such. They'll have to print it out so I'll need to make sure it is print friendly. :0) Hopefully, one of the younger generation will pick it up and carry it forward. I've posted the 'geneaology' part on ancestry.com but it doens't really have a nice way to represent the stories and my 'Luddite' relatives (My brother calls himself that) want it in book form, not online or computer. I havea BIG job! Hopefully I'll get it done berfore I kick the bucket.