@cap Heirloom offers that capability. It is like facebook, in that it is a phone app, but also can be accessed and updated from any computer. You just log in. Photos can be tagged with names, dates, locations, and there is space to type in whatever descriptive caption you want. I haven’t hit a character limit on captioning. You can put photos in albums. Whatever you tag on a given photo in one place follows the photo to as many albums as you place it in. You can copy and paste captions to more than one photo.
I’m terrified because I have hard copies of photos in frames around the house (some larger, some smaller) but we are renovating and already some of those have been stuck in boxes. I fear that my visual memories will disappear along with the old wallpaper and the carpeting that the dog has made memorable.
We lost many, but luckily not all, of our family pictures to Hurricane Katrina, so I’m a big believer in storing everything digitally for permanence. I still print some pictures because I enjoy scrapbooking, but most pictures are stored digitally and backed up at least twice.
I reconnected with an old (freshman year of college) girlfriend through facebook. Turns out she had a house fire a few years ago and lost just about everything. I rummaged through old boxes and found some photos of her and her family. (She even sent me a pic of her first born son 30+ years ago). She was very appreciative to get those photos. Now, like others I only print out a very few pics for framing. We also have made a few photobooks to commemerate a special trip or occasion.
I still print out hard copies. Not of everything, but each year I make a photo book or album for each of my Ds and for my mom, and, one for me for that year’s events, get-togethers, celebrations, etc. I still have all the photos from the year held digitally but I, and they, always enjoy looking at the hard copies.
I love making Shutterfly albums. Lately, we discovered that Costco is much cheaper, so we are planning to switch. I do not care much for digital even when they organized well, it is simply not the same as having to hold a hard copy of the album in your hands. I like to organize the pics myself, if is one of my hobbies, I do not use “automatic” option that arranges pics for you in the album. Everybody in my family loves my albums. Even my adult children, I made numerous album for them also. Great present! I do not like to be in social media either, I do not have Facebook.
I am a scrapbooker so I do print out photos. My girls love their scrapbooks and it is amazing how many of their friends look through them when they stop by to visit. I make albums from digital prints and also from prints. Making albums is a creative outlet for me and I love it!
I have a bunch of albums from my grandmother. It’s full of dead people, and I have no idea who they are. When we move to our next house, they’re all going in the trash.
I’ve really embraced the minimalist way of thinking, and while I’ll scan in a few of the photos with data on who the people are (some of my grandparents when they were children), it makes no sense to me to hold on to pictures of people I have no emotional connection to-I don’t even know their names.
I have an external hard drive for all the gazillions of digital photos we have, and I make an effort to tag them with as much information as I can so the next generation will have some context of who the people are in the photos.
When we have parties, and when I feel like it, I have all the digital photos running on our tv set to music. It’s cool 
Some.
A few years ago, I took on the project of scanning every negative and photo I could find in our home (including a couple generations back) and organizing them digitally so I can find things easier. I also converted every video I had. Now I have 2 copies of my hard drives (one at home, one offsite) to protect those memories. (I think I’ll create a third “cloud” backup too…)
It was so freeing to get rid of the boxes and boxes of photos and tapes I had in the garage!
I do still have photo albums from pre-digital age, and I have made a few of the Shutterfly books (hope to make more in the future). Occasionally, I will print my pictures for display in my home or office, but I don’t see any need to print otherwise.
I have not yet done it, but have decided to go through my photos, year by year, actually delete the extras that are not worthy, so cut down on storage, and then print a photo book for each year. I have been meaning to do that for a while and have begun 2015 & will work backwards. I guess I have the rest of this year to get that done;)
I use MyPublisher to make photo albums of the photos I like best. They have captions and everything. I’m working on one of the old family photos.
Once a year I make a file of signficant photos, and have them printed as hard copies. All labelled on the back once I get them. Digital files are burned to a disc (which is pointless, because in my elderly years those discs are sure to be unreadable by current tech) and everything is also stored in the cloud, and on the hard drive.
We have experienced, too often, the box of really neat photographs of yore, with no id of any kind. Breaks your heart. So I try harder to make sure my grandkids won’t have that problem
@ClaremontMom, did you scan all of those photos yourself? I have boxes of photos that I want to digitize, but I keep putting it off because the thought of it is so overwhelming! Any tips?
@MJMAMA - Yes, I did it myself…I just did a little here and there…it took a a while (I don’t remember…at least a year). I also did negatives and found this scanner worked great for that:
Of course, that model is probably out of date now, but it might be a good start. I definitely recommend having a scanner that scans negatives.
It is overwhelming to think of it as a total job, but maybe think of it in in pieces…this box of photos, then that one…or a year of photos at a time or whatever works for you.
I also did get rid of a few photos…if I had 4 prints of nearly the same photo, or some bad photos, I just skipped them and moved on.
Also, you can scan more than one at a time…
Good luck!
Yes. I make hard copies. But not of everything by a long shot.
In the “old days” you had a roll of 24 or 36 and used it judiciously to take photos because of processing costs. So now I download my seemingly million photos and pick only the best to be printed. They go in an archival box usually and sometimes an album too.
Things to keep in mind:
- You want family and future generations to find the photos that actually mean something. If something or especially someone is special then it needs to be highlighted and one way is to make a hard copy with good old fashioned captions on the back. Especially for older family members–you might only have one photo of “Uncle Joe” in your entire collection.
That means culling the thousands of cr@p pix you have in your possession. One really good family photo can go a long way. Special family events, baby photos, weddings, special vacations etc. Good news–only print that which is important which eliminates 90 per cent. Some photos have family stories behind them–great photos and great story–print it out and WRITE down the story and why the photo is special.
We have a few of these in my family–my dad’s first car, a special party during WWII, wedding photos (that don’t look like typical wedding photos.
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Computer hardware keeps changing as mentioned in the article.
CD drives are not on many computers today much to my dismay. Probably a flash drive is safer presently (a good brand name flash drive). Change formats as new technology comes out. Change it soon. -
I personally would never rely on “the cloud” to store important memories. No way. Period.
Selfies and throw-away pix maybe that are short term but not something I want my kids to have. Sure, I’ll put it there too but for sure it’ll be somewhere in my hands closer to home.
I would NEVER bet that any particular website, web photo storage place will stay in business, not get hacked, downsize (and throw out your photos) etc. Not to mention that your password to that website would even be available to family or that they would even know it was around. Nope. Never happening. -
Use a photo service and not your printer to make hard copies.
Commercial photo chemicals and processing and paper are MUCH longer lasting than what you can do at home. If you have faded out photos from long ago–scan it now through your computer and get new prints made.
I’m in the both camp. I have some of my digital photos backed up but not all (working on it). And I make a Snapfish book each year of highlights for a family holiday gift. I actually really enjoy picking the photos and making the book. I also like looking through them now and then.
Like others, I want to scan the thousands of photos I have of my kids from when they were little and our lives before kids, but it does feel overwhelming.
I agree that keeping photos of people you have no connection to is not worth it. I remember going through my Aunt’s home and how after a while we were just tossing memorabilia because it held no meaning for us - made me sad, but also made me want to purge so my kids don’t have to do that. OTOH, I love the few photos I have of my and my husband’s parents from when they were little and would love to have a record (but not thousands of pictures) of other ancestors
What is the best way to store digital photos today? I, too, worry about the cloud as well as failing hard drives. I think having at least some prints feels like another way to have backups.
So use multiple backups…I actually use two sets of hard drives —this serves two purposes. Having a second set guards against hard drive failure and secondly since I keep one set away from my home it protects against the case of theft or fire. Cloud backup would give me a third backup --which all this discussion is now making me look into.
Amazon Prime members get unlimited photo backup. I don’t know how good it is for tagging and organizing, but if it’s just another backup it should be fine. Plus, it also backs up from your phone. This is always my concern. I take pictures on my phone and while I am probably better than the “average joe” about downloading to my computer and removing from my phone, however, it still may take me a few days or a couple weeks to do so, and what if something happens to my phone in the meantime?
I understand the desire for prints for display and for albums…I just don’t get it as a “backup”.
Our local TV “tech guy” just did a story about this: http://ktla.com/2016/05/13/never-lose-a-memory-again-back-up-your-photos/
“Amazon prime” What happens when “Amazon” gets bought?
What happens a few years or more importantly MANY years down the road?
My family was blessed with a grandfather whose business was photography. Famous in many circles.
His photos hang in my house and in museums as well as public spaces.
I learned one thing–make sure you keep close what you cherish most. Hard copy is probably the easiest.
Not a problem…I have hard drives and those are my primary backups. (Besides, most companies give you a warning and tell you to download any pictures you have prior to disappearing).
Many years down the road, BOTH my kids (and any future grandkids) can have their own copies of all the photos going back to as early as the late 1800’s (yes, I scanned in some very old photos). No worrying about who gets what photo album. Organized by year and labeled by who they are (as best I knew it when I scanned them)
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His photos hang in my house and in museums as well as public spaces.
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That’s wonderful…and pictures should be enjoyed, I have nothing against printing them. I just am not going to print the thousands of photos I currently have digitally.