How to take, organize, and print your personal photographs: Family Heritage Series

I love the beginning of January. I am not a big into making resolutions, but I love getting back into a good routine. It’s also when I’m able to curate and design my yearly photo books for my family. This is my tenth year creating one and I can’t wait! There’s something about reliving your year and seeing your memories in front of you. I love them, my kids love them, and they’re always a talking point when people come over and see the giant stack of them sitting on my shelf. I’m excited to begin a series about how to organize and print your photos. I am passionate about people getting their images printed and displayed so they can be enjoyed. It’s my goal to pass on the things I think about and do so you can make things as easy and streamlined as possible!

It can be overwhelming to organize and print your photos, but I have found that success comes easier when I can make small steps along the way. Tackling a big project all at once often leads to burnout. After many years of trial and error I’ve created a system that doesn’t feel overwhelming and allows me to easily put together a book as soon as January 1 hits!

Committing to Yourself and Your Family

The first thing you need to do is make the commitment to yourself and your family that this is something you want to do. In my own life I have had to accept that I can’t fully commit to everything. There aren’t enough hours in the day to make sure my home is spotless, home décor is trendy and perfect, and endless other tasks. I know and love so many wonderful people who excel in all of these different areas. However, for me, I’ve had to sit down and really decide what is most important to me. What things do I enjoy and are most true to me? Ask yourself if this is something that feels true to you. Do you feel it’s a priority to organize and print your photos?

If the idea of regularly documenting your family and your life is a priority to you then make the commitment to actively make it a part of your routine. I take steps to make it as easy as possible, but it’s still a commitment. Think about why it’s important, and what you hope to get out of it. I love watching my children pull out the albums because we get to see the things we’ve done together. What a wonderful way to sit down and connect with those in your life! Get your spouse and family involved and explain why it’s so important to you. You never know who you might catch stopping to document a special moment that might have otherwise been missed. Book a session to capture your family, graduate, newest addition, or celebrate your anniversary. Your entire family is worth celebrating, and that includes you!

Be Realistic

Let’s all be honest with ourselves and each other. This is not a project meant to be overwhelming and daunting. If it is, you’ll easily burn out and it will never happen. If there is anything that is overwhelming, see if you can find a way to break it down into smaller more manageable pieces. The whole point is to break up the project of capturing your life into simple steps that you can easily add into your routine so it actually happens!

If you ever get to the point where you dread doing it, take a minute to stop and think about changing your expectations, or even find a different way to accomplish your goal. It’s not reasonable for me to carry my big DSLR around with me everywhere I go and document every minute of every day. I use my iPhone to capture moments, and find days (and even weeks) where I don’t pick up my camera at all to document my family. It’s freeing being able to step back and only do the things that you feel excited to do, rather then dreading having to do it at all.

If I don’t feel excited to stop an activity to take a picture then I don’t. I don’t have to prepare a whole organized photoshoot for every holiday imaginable. Sometimes I do, but not always. Or even often! When I pull out my camera it’s usually for 2-3 shots of something I want to remember and then put it away. Sometimes it’s setting up my camera to take pictures on an interval while we do something ordinary. Do what makes you excited and brings you joy without having to feeling obligated to do everything.

The Takeaway

Take some time to think about your why and what that looks like for your family at this time in life. Nothing says it can’t change later! What do you hope to get out of capturing regular, consistent pieces of your life? What types of media do you have (iPhone photos/videos, DLSR photos, professional photos, vacations, etc.) and what type of final product would you like? Think through what your want your end goal to be and then dial back and start thinking about what types of systems you can put in place to make sure it happens. I’ll be sharing my systems throughout the series and maybe some of the things I do will work for you!

I’m so excited to see what you do! Let’s organize and print your photos!