Tag: photo organizing

The Life of a Photo Organizer: Jodi Bondy

On October 2, 2020

In Gifting Guides, Lifestyle, Photo Organization, Photography, Special Moments

Nixplay has partnered with The Photo Managers for the Save Your Photos initiative, a public service outreach campaign that teaches individuals how they can preserve life’s irreplaceable photos, videos, and documents in case of an unforeseen accident or disaster.

As a Certified Professional Photo Organizer, I get to see some pretty cool things. Family memories on print or film, long lost memories buried in a box or trunk, and huge smiles when a project all comes together. I love mystery and, often, that’s exactly what I face when working with a client. This crazy pandemic that we’ve been dealing with for 6 months has caused many folks to start digging through those old boxes and storage bins they have harbored for years.

So just what’s in there?

Many people are finding photos of their immediate family — fun 70’s bell bottoms, 80’s hairstyles, and the like. Others are uncovering the vintage photos they inherited from their parents or grandparents. They were always going to do something with those when they got them.

Role As A Photo Organizer

As a Photo Organizer, I’m able to coach or facilitate the process. Dealing with your own clutter can be overwhelming, so bringing in a neutral party will allow you some clarity to make decisions on what you can do with these newly discovered treasures.

I met with a client once who probably had 6 big plastic storage totes, several cardboard bank boxes, a scattered mix of flash drives and even some old floppy disks! As I started to empty the boxes, I found there was no rhyme or reason as to what’s in the box. There were loose photos, framed photos, VHS tapes, partial scrapbooks and photo albums. You name it. First thing I assured my client was that whatever I found, I would protect her privacy and would not share with the world any items I may find that might be considered “sketchy”. Think HIPAA that you sign at your doctor’s office.

We started making piles of “like stuff”. If we knew which side of the family or which person was the main focus, we even separated out to that level. I had piles all over the floor and chairs! We emptied the boxes and took those out of the room, at least temporarily.

Organizing loose photos, framed photos, VHS tapes, partial scrapbooks and photo albums

The ABC’s of Photo Organizing

Once the tubs and boxes were empty, we started with one pile and proceeded to follow the ABC’s method that most professionals use — “A” stands for photos that would be ALBUM worthy. These are the ones you would want to showcase. “B” stands for BOX. These items may have a very cool story attached to them and there may be no other evidence of the event (remember we basically took photos blindly back in the day and hoped we got some good shots). These will be stored in archival safe boxes in case there is ever a need for these in the future. “C” are the photos that can be put in the CAN. The trash can, that is. Duplicates, blurry, no heads, etc. We all have them. Even some landscape photos – if there are no people in these. I can tell you Google has a much better photo than the one you took! Then finally, we have the “S” which stands for the STORY. You need to have people write down the story that expands on why the photo is so important. Videos and other media take a little more time because you need to figure out what is on them, get them converted to digital and store them on a device that will be usable in the next several years.

In fact, all of this takes time and effort. But the coolest thing is being able to watch a family gather around the table with the photos and memories and start sharing stories. This is a great time to have a paper and pencil handy, so you can write down the memories from everyone’s perspective. It also makes a great holiday activity when the family is all together, whether in person or via video conference. Share the photos and have a game of Guess Who. Look for family resemblances, check Uncle Harry’s cool car and his crazy plaid pants!

Enjoy the stories with a Nixplay Frame

One of the options I typically give my clients is to buy a Nixplay (or two). They can send many of the photos to the frame and give it as a gift for another family member. How fun it can be to have a recent memory pop up followed by someone generations earlier who have the same nose.

I love what I do and I take great pride in my work. So if you have that unopened box hidden away, let a professional photo organizer help you sift through the items and, perhaps, you will find hidden treasure.

Jodi Bondy

Jodi is a certified professional photo manager in Indiana. She is also an educator and volunteer emergency medical technician. She understands the importance of human connection and the telling of stories through image and print. When she is not working on client projects, you can find her playing with grandkids and helping others to document their memories.

https://www.hoosierphotoorganizer.com/

Organize and digitize your photos with Nixplay

Caren Osborne’s Latest Photo Organizing Project

By Caren Osborne

On September 23, 2020

In Home & Interiors, Lifestyle, Photography, Special Moments

It’s been a tough few months for everyone, but things are finally starting to reopen, and people are moving around a bit more. I drove down to North Carolina recently to spend ten days with my daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren. The drive was a bit surreal as there was no traffic, so I made it all the way from eastern Connecticut to Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 10 and a half hours! I had a wonderful visit and, while there, I found a beautiful new home close to my family. For the next few weeks, I will be putting my business on hold while I organize, pack up and move.

Organizing and Digitizing my Late Husband’s Photos

My latest photo organizing project has been going through my late husband’s photos. There was a box stored under the pool table (that we don’t use) labeled “Rick’s photos”. He and I had started going through it a couple of winters ago, but never finished. With his passing, I now wanted to take the time to sort and organize all of those photos to preserve them for myself and his family. It turned out that a lot of the photos were actually his mother’s and sister’s, so I put those aside and gave them to my sister-in-law to sort through herself. For my husband’s photos, I organized them by date when I could and the rest by subject – such as vehicles (he was into classic cars and restoring Jeeps and trucks), family, boats (he had a lot of those over the years too), pets, and photos of the two of us.

After I finished sorting and organizing the photos, I then digitized them so that they can be preserved and treasured for many years to come. To give our families the chance to re-live their memories, I’ll also be putting them into a Forever account so they can view them and add their own comments. I wish I had the opportunity to finish organizing the photos with Rick, because I’m sure there are some wonderful stories that go along with many of them. More emphatically than ever, I advise everyone to take the time to record the stories that go along with each photo – before they’re lost forever.

Using a Nixplay frame to digitize and display photos

After spending some time looking back at all these special moments, , I went through the digital photos on my computer and phone, and identified all the special ones of Rick over the years. I have been very diligent over the past 15 years in organizing my digital photos, going back to the ones I took with my digital cameras, by date and subject, so it was easy to find the ones I wanted to pull out.

My next step in this photo organizing project was to go through my traditional paper scrapbook albums that I have created over the past 22 years, pull out the special photos of Rick during our many adventures, and digitize them to add to my collection.

Finally, I’ll be creating a few collages from the scanned photos to be used as memorial boards for his funeral and adding all of our photos to my Nixplay digital photo frame which will be on display after the funeral at our house for family and friends to view. My goal is to eventually create a book celebrating his life to be able to preserve his story for myself, his daughter and his grandchildren.

Organize and digitize your photos with Nixplay >>>

Caren Osborne

Caren is passionate about preserving photos and stories for her daughter and grandchildren. It is this passion that she brings to her clients as she assists them with preserving their photos and their stories to enjoy now and for future generations.

https://memorylanephotosolutions.com/about-caren/

How To Organize Your Life In 2020

By Mars Salazar

On January 15, 2020

In Home & Interiors

A new year, a new decade, a new chance to revamp your home–and while you’re at it, your life. Start 2020 right by setting aside some time to assess what you need and don’t need moving forward. Start with these tips.

1. Assess your belongings.

Start in your room and take stock of your wardrobe, dresser, and desk. Assess each one of your belongings: to borrow Marie Kondo’s terminology, if it doesn’t spark joy in your soul (or if you have no use for the item anymore), it’s time to bin it. Clothes you haven’t worn since 8 kilos ago? Sell or donate them. Gadgets from the early ’00s? Throw them away if they don’t serve their purpose anymore. Grooming products that are way past their expiration date? Toss, ASAP.

From there, proceed to the other rooms in your home and declutter each of them. Take out everything in your cupboards, drawers, and closets, sort out everything into “need” and “don’t need” piles, and dispose of the things in the latter pile. You don’t have to do this in one go–you can do your bedroom one weekend, the kitchen next, and so on, whenever your mood and schedule permits.

2. Straighten out your priorities for the year.

Once your desk is straightened out, sit down and write your goals for the year. The beginning of a new year always makes people excited to do so many things, but let’s face it–with all your other responsibilities, it’ll be difficult to accomplish everything you want to do. So if you want to actually finish something this year, we suggest trimming down your to-do list into a set of S.M.A.R.T. goals: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based objectives per quarter. This should align your priorities for the year, helping you stay focused and be more productive.

3. Track Your Spending.

Did you go above your budget in 2019? Don’t worry, we’re here to help you avoid making the same mistake in 2020. An easy way to go about it is to download a spending tracker onto your phone. Every time you spend on something, make sure to jot it down on the app. You have to practice accountability, and you should note everything–especially purchases you feel guilty about. At the end of the month, review your spending and streamline where you can. This is a good habit to start

4. Create Good Habits.

It’s never too late to start a good habit! Whether it’s to stop being late, shop less, or work out more, you can always turn over a new leaf. Create a tracker on excel to note what you’ve done (or have not done), or, similar to what we told you in the previous number, download an app to help you monitor your habits. It’ll also help you reduce mental clutter.

5. Scan and Save Your Photos.

You probably have a handful of photo albums at home, gathering dust in a cupboard somewhere. This defeats the purpose of having photos–they’re meant to be displayed and revisited. So this year, go through all your printed photos and scan each one of them. It might take a bit of time, but it’s totally worth it. Save it on a hard drive, or better yet, on the cloud, where you can retrieve your photos whenever, wherever. Don’t forget to display your pictures on a Nixplay Frame so you’ll be reminded of your favorite memories all the time!

Mars Salazar

Marianne is Nixplay’s Web Content Editor. Her hobbies include exploring new places, playing table tennis, and cuddling puppies. Send her a message at marianne.salazar@nixplay.com.

Looking For A Better Way To Organize Your Photos?

By Cathi Nelson

On January 25, 2019

In Photography

Are you overwhelmed with your growing photo collection? Are your digital images and videos scattered over various devices and in different locations? Google Photos, Amazon Photos, One Drive, Flickr, DropBox, Smug Mug, iCloud Photos, DVD’s, CD’s, old computers, memory cards, and flash drives; it’s no wonder people struggle with finding and viewing their favorite photos.

Technology has made the process of connecting with our family photos very difficult. Somedays it can feel like you need a master’s degree in technology.

But don’t worry—help has arrived! The Association of Personal Photo Organizers has spent months compiling years of knowledge into two easy-to-follow courses designed to take you step-by-step through the organizing process.

Digital Photo Organizing Made Easy is an in-depth course with easy to follow video tutorials, handouts, resource guides, and a private Facebook group. You will learn how to find, organize and consolidate your images & videos into one manageable library so you can easily access, share and backup your most important memories.

Need help with those boxes of printed photos and home movies? Then you’ll love our second course, Printed Photo Organizing Made Easy. This course also has a private Facebook group and over 2.5 hours of instruction that takes you step-by-step through the process of organizing (and digitizing) your printed photos, memorabilia, old media, and home movies.

If organizing your photos is on your to-do list, then now is the time to invest in learning and completing your photo organizing project!

Cathi Nelson

Cathi Nelson, author of Photo Organizing Made Easy; Going from Overwhelmed to Overjoyed, is the leader of a global photo organizing movement. A cutting-edge entrepreneur and speaker, in 2009 she founded The Photo Managers, the leading organization serving entrepreneurs through training, a professional certification program, best practices, and a code of ethics that sets high standards for the rapidly growing photo management industry. She’s built a worldwide community and organization around supporting people in creating thriving businesses doing work they love. She’s been featured in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Real Simple Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal about how to organize and preserve the legacy of your family heritage through photos.

https://thephotomanagers.com/

Meet A Photo Organizer: Marianne Behler of Lifetime Photo Solutions

By Marianne Behler

On November 14, 2018

In Customer Testimonials

We talked to Marianne Behler, the woman behind Michigan-based Lifetime Photo Solutions. Marianne’s in the business of helping people make sense of their photo collections, meticulously going through hundreds of images to determine which captured memories are worth keeping and preserving. In this exclusive interview, Marianne reveals how she became a photo organizer, shares some of her most notable projects, and gives some advice for folks who’d like to start organizing their own photos.

Marianne Behler

What made you decide to become a Photo Organizer?

I became a Photo Organizer and a member of the Association of Personal Photo Organizers (APPO) after reading about and immediately contacting Cathi Nelson, who started APPO in 2010. Coincidently people were asking me to organize their photos, digitize their photos, organize their digital photos, and create photo books for them. People love their children and their families; they love taking photos and sharing their stories. But they have no idea how to do it, combined with little time and a sense of urgency.

I converse with people about their photos, their life, and what they might wish to do with their photo collection—their vision. The client I best serve has a lifetime of photos, possibly even of their parents, grandparents, and generations beyond. They are in shoeboxes and bins, in no particular order. Some are in albums of all types, [some are in] old scrapbooks or newer scrapbooks that they now want to reduce in number. They have digital photos on cameras, phones, and other devices. They want something created for their children and grandchildren that will highlight the best of the best of their photos and the stories that make them special—their legacy.

A sample of Marianne’s work

First, I complete a photo assessment of their photo collection, taking pictures and making notes. I prepare a report which includes my recommendation for phases to complete their work—organizing and scanning printed photos is typically the first phase. And that is where a Nixplay frame comes in! Because the sorting, organizing and digitizing of a photo collection takes time, the immediate “I love this” and “I love what you are doing” comes from getting their pictures back into their lives, when they see them again. Imagine seeing their parent’s photos, their own childhood photos, pictures of the home where they once lived, images of their travels, and school photos, all coming back into their lives after not seeing them for years. What a thrill!

Can you tell us about the most fulfilling project you’ve managed?

This is a hard story to tell. It is the story of John McAuliffe, a man who wanted to have his story told. Initially, we were going to tell his story and his wife’s separately, but his wife died. We then revisited the idea of John telling his own story. Unfortunately, John’s Parkinson’s disease had greatly diminished his ability to both remember and communicate. Each time I visited John, his story got bigger and longer. There were more and more pictures and memorabilia to sort through.

Finally, I enlisted the help of his family. And, his story became the story of John and his wife Annetta—both their families had immigrated to America and they had beautiful stories to tell. The long and short of it was that John lived “just” long enough to receive a copy of his book, with the pictures and stories of his life! He and his sons each received a copy of his book, and they also ordered 50 smaller copies for other family and friends. John died just three weeks after, and his life and story were proclaimed by the priest at his funeral because of his book. He truly left a legacy of their lives for his children, grandchildren, and the friends who knew him. Their family stories are being featured in Jackson, Michigan, in a gallery talk on immigration to America. They are using the book and pictures from the book for the gallery talk.

Marianne and her client, John McAuliffe

How has Nixplay helped your job as a legacy keeper?

Nixplay offers me a way to help get my clients’ photos back into their lives! Because a story of a lifetime takes time to curate and tell, Nixplay offers my clients a way to relive their lives immediately. The new stories being told can also be easily combined with my clients’ legacies because of the present-day technology offered by Nixplay. Our children, our grandchildren, and their daily lives and accomplishments can all meld into their Nixplay digital frame from anywhere and everywhere.

More of Marianne’s work

What advice can you give to our readers who’d like to start organizing their own photo collection?

Hire a photo organizer and purchase a Nixplay digital frame that your photo organizer can manage. Have your photo organizer import both your newly organized and digitized photos onto your Nixplay frame, and have your children and grandchildren add photos to your playlists so you can see and be part of their daily lives. This would be an awesome Christmas or holiday present for all the grandparents and parents on your list! The gifts that are so well appreciated are usually those that elicit memories, and a Nixplay frame can achieve just that.