Time To Start Your Post-Summer Photo Checklist.
5 STEPS TO GET THE MOST FROM YOUR SUMMER CAMERA ROLL.
I’m a sucker for travel brochures. Every place I go is an invitation to gather local intel on history, tourist activities, restaurants, and whatever makes up my destination’s DNA. I snatch up handful’s of brochures and counter cards that inevitably land on my side table at home, unread. Summer is the worst, and by the end of August these brochures stack up like ancient strata in the Grand Canyon, marking moments in the summer epoch.
Same with summer photos. I snatch pictures in the spirit of the moment, sometimes with intention but usually with opportunity, planning - like the brochures - to review them at a later time. The magic of pictures, though, is that they are personal in ways that mass-printed information is not. So even though photos may mimic the clutter of the former, they don’t deserve to go straight to the trash bin.
So now is the perfect time to review and tidy up your summer photos before Fall descends and buries them in pictures of back-to-school, fall events, and a parade of holidays.
Here are 5 easy steps to curate your summer camera roll and move forward with a sense of accomplishment.
Contain it. I shot about 1700 photos in 2023 which works out to around 140 per month. Probably a bit more for summer. Call it under 500 since May. That’s nothing. A Sunday morning with coffee and cinnamon roll. Look at your last three months as one multi-faceted journey to avoid the overwhelm of tackling your entire photo library. On top of that, it’s fun. This is the payback, getting a thoughtful look at the moments that may have been a motion blur at the time.
Tidy up. Flipping through 500 photos really doesn’t take that long when you are focussed. Your eye is a better photo editor than you think. Every time you hesitate on a shot, that’s a keeper. Doesn’t matter that it’s not ‘perfect.’ Photos are an emotional bookmark. Reviewing these photos while you still remember the moment is key to saving the priceless ones. But while you’re at it, dump the outtakes. Unless those extra frames have a real purpose, trash the 3 extra takes of your family in front of the Eiffel Tower. Giving yourself choices means that you have to choose. Now is that time. You’ll thank me. Then there are the simply random shots that need to go. Out of focus. Your feet. Flocks of seagulls in the distance. Where you parked. Like that.
Storytime. Once you’ve tackled the basic clutter, you’ve also got a sense of your summer journey. How it all fits together. Maybe it’s several chapters of one long arc. Maybe it’s a collection of short stories. If you’re a parent, you only get 18 of these summers with your kids at home. What’s the story of this one? Digital photography has made it possible to save these times in ways our parents never could, and now you get to craft that. For your friends. For your kids. For your 80-year-old self. You can add missing locations. Names. Notes. Details that enrich the images. Make a custom Album or two that distills those adventures down into a Memory or event.
Create. What really sets digital photography apart is how accessible it is for anyone with a mobile phone. We capture images of anything and everything that interests us. But beyond the capture, what makes digital media really powerful is how we can easily create narratives greater than the sum of their parts. Photos are the evidence of how we each see the world around us. Everyone has a different take. And whether you are a wildly creative person or have discovered it in your pictures, you owe it to yourself to create something special with the pictures you take. Be it a summer retrospective, a collection of flower shots, or summer cloud patterns - one of my favorites - there’s something very satisfying about breaking out of the natural sequence of your photos library and making custom arrangements by color or subject or a study of someone close. You can even color edit and crop images to make something entirely new. It’s all at your fingertips.
Publish. “Digital is for sharing. Print is for preserving.” Pixels, like text, only come to life when viewed. And for all the fuss about how digital makes it “too easy” to get buried in photos, it’s also never been easier to share them and publish your creative vision to the world. Digital attachments of first baby steps, breathtaking vistas, and group selfies have replaced postcards and double prints as the vehicle of preference for shared experience. And for those of us who flunked finger painting, photography offers a creative outlet that’s accessible to everyone. Even better, digital images have birthed an explosion of exciting print products. From photo prints to elegant hard bound archival photo books, getting your favorite pictures in print is easy, fast, and affordable. Back in the day of film, getting a 16”x 20” wall print of your favorite photo might cost hundred’s of dollars. And that’s without the frame and matte. Today that same print can be ordered from your iPhone for less than the cost of date night at the movies. Photo books, greeting cards, wall posters, metal prints, fabric, calendars, and even glossy magazines are now available at your fingertips.
So here’s the thing.
This is the time to tidy up and curate your summer photos. You’ll have a ball reliving the last few weeks and you may get inspired to leverage your collection into your own home decorations, thank you gifts, or get a jump on presents for the holidays. Here are some ideas to get you started:
Summer 2024 photo book
Acrylic wall print
Magazine of summer trip customized for each family member
Greeting cards of summer places for thank you’s
Custom soft cover journal - a photo every 3 pages with blank space to write
A calendar for the school year - you can start in any month
Last summer at home memory book for college-bound child
A personal portfolio book of your favorite photos from the summer
Start now. Before Fall is knocking loudly at the door.
Whenever you are ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:
I help people who love their pictures but are confounded by Apple Photos. You get simple, patient guidance and encouragement to help you master and enjoy your photos. You can book a 1:1 online call here.
You can sign up for my DIY course: Making Photo Books in Apple Photos that walks you step by step through the process and teaches you how to make photo books in the easiest, quickest way possible. See details and sign up here.
You can sign up on the waiting list for my upcoming You’ve Got This: Make Your Own Photo Book group project.