Simply sorting..photographs....

3/8/2014

Organising my old photographs (prints that is..digital is a whole other task) is something I have been putting off for a long, long time.

It's such an emotional thing looking through old photgraphs, isn't it.

And there are so many of them!

They record the passing of time and change over time. Photos of how we used to look (younger!), of people who died too young, of events which will never happen again, of places I loved which no longer exist....it would be easy to be overwhelmed by this job. But I've decided that a collection of beautiful and happy memories of loving times, friends and family, laughter and achievements will be a joy to have. Most of the photographs are happy. We casual, non professional photographers tend only to take photographs on happy occasions thankfully! They record the people, places and moments in time that mean most to us.

That thought gave me a starting point - if a photograph doesn't evoke any feeling, I can let it go.

If I don't recognise who is in it, or where it is, I can let it go.

If it makes me feel unhappy to look at it, I can let it go.

Any suggestions as to other criteria for keeping or letting go?

8 Comments

Cathy

3/8/2014 09:14:18 am

Omigosh! Organizing photographs has been on my to-do list for at least a year...no joking. I keep transferring it to each new list; I just don't sit down to do it. I keep thinking if I would just take 15 minutes here/there & look at a few, it wouldn't be long until the job was done. Well, at least the sorting part - putting them into an album would be the next step.

Freda

4/8/2014 07:07:39 am

for me the first part was just gathering them all together..good luck!

elaine link

3/8/2014 04:35:54 pm

Most of the ones I want to keep are already in albums - but I do have a shoe box full that need sorting. I love the memories family photos evoke - especially those of loved ones no longer with us - like you they make me very tearful, but in a nice way.

Freda

4/8/2014 07:08:45 am

The albums are next....

cath

4/8/2014 03:44:20 am

As I have a large collection of very old family (black and white) photographs (from about 1850 onwards) last year I have begun scanning them, hoping that after having done that, I can let the original go. How to digitally organise them eventually is something I am still thinking about. And of course if it is badly faded or damaged I don't scan it.
While scanning a criterion I also use is: if it is the same picture but from a different angle I let it go.
I also decide later if I will make a selection of these, on a timeline into a little booklet, just to look through.
Probably I eventually will do the same with a selection of pictures in my own albums and then let the albums go. (shredding them I think). I find it an emotional task, but I think this is best considering I don't have children.

Freda

4/8/2014 07:11:24 am

What a lovely plan, and thanks for the 'same picture/different angle' tip Cath.

Madeleine

4/8/2014 09:01:55 am

I think your criteria are great. My son and I discovered two boxes of photos the other night I'd forgotten about, so now I'm inspired to get them sorted!

Madeleine.x

julia

7/8/2014 06:21:23 am

hello freda...i smiled when i read this post. a few years ago, my husband and i realized that we had to do something about the boxes and boxes of photos. each friday night, we would open a bottle of nice wine, and go through a box, with the goal that half would be gone by the time the wine was gone!...we enjoyed reviewing the last 30 years together, and realized how many photos seemed valuable at the time, but no longer had any meaning at all...time to do it again!and i agree with you...the digital photos are a whole different ball game..one i am dreading.
cheers!

Simply sorting..photographs....

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