photo book Archives - Save Your Photos

This blog post is sponsored by Forever, the only full-resolution online storage guaranteed for your lifetime plus 100 years. Forever is also a Save Your Photos month sponsor.

I’m “that” relative. You know, the one with the camera at every function, snapping tons of photos that may or may not ever be seen. I’ve been known to say, “You can smile and be cute or make a face, I’m taking the picture either way!”

I’m THE resource when a picture is needed. The one that can be counted on to capture the event. A historian of sorts with pictures all over the place. My years behind the lens have taught me a valuable lesson- there is always a story to be told and the person to best tell it is the subject and not others.

Leaving A Legacy Versus Crafting A Legacy

This lesson was lived out in my life recently when I was asked to complete an almost emotionally impossible task. Would I create a photo book using my mom’s pictures to chronicle my deceased sister’s life? My younger sister, Tina, fought a valiant and brave battle against cancer. She left two incredible children, who are now young adults, and a husband. My mom wanted to give a memory book my sister’s new grandbaby. Momma handed me a traditional scrapbook she had begun along with a stack of pictures and said, “Go for it.”

Organizing her pictures brought a litany of questions…most without answers. How do you encapsulate a life in a mere few pages? Which stories were to be shared and how much of each? What stories were for my mom to tell, and which ones belonged to Tina’s family? Who were the people in some of the photos? What were their names and were they really friends? How to present a grandmother this baby will never know in such a way she will never forget?

These questions brought me to the idea of crafting a legacy…writing my own story.

There is a lot written about “Leaving a Legacy” but very little about crafting a legacy. Crafting your legacy to me means the deliberate telling of your own story, in your words with your thoughts. Sharing with others your gifts, your struggles, your talents and your funny stories. It’s not being vain, proud, or self-centered. It’s about being real, honest, transparent, brave and fun! It’s also, overwhelming.

So, how to begin?

Make Your Plan

Start with the idea that you have 20 blank pages to fill. Would you want your book to read like a comedy, a historical novel, a genealogist’s treasure trove, or written to future grandchildren? How far back do you want to go? Will it be a baby book to adult or simply chronicle a struggle that you have overcome or are going through? Should it be themed with your travels, your artwork, your day to day activities, or will it be a highlight reel of your blessings? The joy of crafting your legacy is that you get to choose!

Get Your Photos in One Spot

Pull out hard drives, boxes of pictures, VHS tapes, flash drives, floppy disks, framed pictures, scrapbooks that you may want to use get them and get them all in one place. I know this may seem overwhelming at first, but it is so freeing once you get started. Trust the process, it works!

Divide By Decade Or Themes (Your Choice)

It took you a long time to get where you are, so don’t let the details cripple you!

For your printed photos, divide by decades or even bigger chunks of time. Birth- Elementary School. Junior High- College. First job –kids. Or, break it down by events-family vacations, holidays, trips, sports, etc.

Decide to work on this project in specific amounts of time so that you continue and don’t give up in frustration. For example, 15 minutes of “me” time daily.

As you look at old photos you will remember, laugh, cry, and wonder where the time has gone. Jot down stories, notes and begin your “filtering”. You have permission to get rid of pictures of people who mean nothing to you or whose name you can’t remember. Toss blurry and out of focus photos along with doubles (unless you make a specific pile with a name to be given away shortly). Declutter your life as you go, but write notes on the stories.

Tell your story, share your pictures, craft your legacy. It’s the sweetest and most rewarding journey you’ll ever get to take. Click To Tweet

Choose a Permanent Home for Your Digital Photos

Having one place to preserve all my memories and family stories was the first step to my peace of mind solution. When you are ready to digitize, consider the cost, quality, long term storage guarantees, and data migration. For me, that solution was the company Forever. They offer a free account to try out and then permanent storage options that fit your needs. And with Forever, you pay one time and you own your storage, forever. You do not need to ever pay any additional fees. I trust Forever to be around 100 years from now because when I purchased my Forever account, much of that money went into a fund that will continue to pay for the maintenance of my photos over time. In addition, I never need to worry about my family knowing the correct passwords or where the pictures are, because Forever is generational! I own my account so it’s like insurance for my photos!

They also have privacy and legacy options for my albums. The choices are: Private (only I see), Friends and Family (my friends and family see) and Public (anyone can see). They also have preservation settings that will allow you to make portions of your account public so your legacy will live on. So, in my sister’s case, I made her albums public so folks can search by her name and see her pictures and the stories of her life.

In Forever, I was also able to create and print a digital photo book of the photos in my Forever account. Do your research and choose the option best for you. Remember free online services come with lots of strings attached. I have learned that those free photo sites are not a solution for my family memories.

Tell Your Story…Craft Your Legacy

You’ve been inspired by old pictures and the stories you have remembered. You have decided on how you want to tell your story. Now comes the time to start crafting a legacy! Will you create an online account, a digital storybook or a traditional scrapbook? There are benefits to each, but my current favorite is the digital story/photo book. I have five children and three grandchildren, so the option of making it once and printing multiple copies appeals to me! The end format is not as important as the gathering and recording of the tales.

If this still seems overwhelming and you are thinking, “Yeah, but where do I start?,” let’s go back to middle school English class. Ask yourself (and answer) the 5 W’s and an H. Who, What, Where, Why, When, and How.

Who

Who are you?
Who are your parents?
Who are your siblings?
Who raised you?
Who were the influences in your life?
Who encouraged you?
Who are your brothers and sisters?
Who are your children?
Who are you writing to /for?
Who was your best friend growing up?

What

What is your favorite color?
What is your favorite place to vacation, spend time, to be?
What do you enjoy in your free time?
What was your job?
What skills and talents do you possess?
What would you like to learn?
What would you do differently?
What are your favorite foods?
What circumstances have molded and shaped you into the person you are?
What adversity have you overcome?
What did you get in trouble most for as a child?

Where

Where were you born?
Where have you lived?
Where is your favorite “happy” place?
Where have you traveled?
Where would you like to travel?
Where did you meet your significant other?
Where to you like to spend time?

Why

Why are you writing?
Why did you stay in a tough spot (marriage, job, career, country, etc.)?
Why did you decide to leave a tough spot?
Why are you the way you are?

When

When were you born?
When did you embrace your faith?
When did you decide to have children?
When did you decide not to have children?
When did you decide to open a business, work for yourself, not work for a company, not work for yourself?
When did you find out you were adopted?

How

How do you live on a day to day basis?
How did others help you along your journey?
How has your faith (or lack of) influenced who you have become or how you live?
How did you get to this country/state?

This isn’t an exhaustive list of questions, but an encouragement to take action, to get started and to begin crafting a legacy. You have a story to tell, only you can tell it, and only you can give it justice. Tell your story, share your pictures, craft your legacy. It’s the sweetest and most rewarding journey you’ll ever get to take.

We also invite you to visit our sister blog The Photo Organizers for more tips and in-depth knowledge from some of the top photo organizing industry professionals. To find a photo organizer near you, visit the Association of Personal Photo Organizers.

Kathy Lanham is a mother of 5 (grandmother of 3!) She has 20+ years’ experience in the memory keeping field helping folks collect, organize, and celebrate their photos. She is a photographer and a Senior Lead Ambassador with Forever. She enjoys travel, reading, and eating out! She lives in KY with her husband Mike.

Every person has a story to tell and a family legacy to share. Marianne Behler of Lifetime Photo Solutions believes every person (children especially) should have a book to hold that tells how important they are, their history with pictures and stories of their life.

Family Legacy: Who Gets the Pictures? Who Tells the Stories?

Every person has a story to tell and a family legacy to share. Every person (children especially) should have a book to hold that tells how important they are, their history with pictures and stories of their life.

Have your heard the saying, “It’s never urgent until it’s too late?” I encourage people to take the steps needed to preserve their pictures and tell their stories before it’s too late. Our pictures, our story, impacts the lives of others: the people who care about us, our children, our family and future generations. There is a window of opportunity to get this done. This window is before we get ready to move into a retirement facility. Definitely before we start needing assistance from others.

I recently assisted two families in creating their family history books. Both almost missed that window of opportunity. One person developed Dementia during the process which led to Alzheimer’s. She started exhibiting signs of memory loss when we were working to identify the people and to record the stories of her life. The other, a gentleman who lived to see is book completed, died just three weeks later from an advanced stage of Parkinson’s.

Getting started means creating a plan to guide you through the process.

Start Now and Allow Time

A collection of pictures and stories that spans several generations will take time to assess and curate (organize and digitize). A collection may include both printed and digital photos, photo albums, framed photos, photo books, movies and more.

Create a Vision and a Plan

Envision completion. A Photo Organizer will assist you in all phases of planning and completing a Legacy photo book, a slide show, celebration poster boards and digital storage systems that will allow you to keep your memories while eliminating the clutter.

Involve Your Family

Who wants your photos? Many families decide to create a photo book with copies for each of their children and grandchildren as a gift to celebrate milestone events: weddings, anniversaries, retirement and/or significant birthdays.

Keep the Memories, Not the Clutter

A DVD can be created of your BEST photos. Celebration of life posters, canvas prints, and important photos [framed] can become your wall art for you to share and for everyone to see. Photos taken of your collections and significant treasured possessions can be incorporated.

Hire a Professional

A professional brings energy, is not overwhelmed, is objective and can assist you in making decisions about each picture, each piece of memorabilia and the telling of your story. Create a budget to complete your project. If you have a 50-year collection of photos and accompanying items, it will take time consisting of several stages of work for a photo organizer to complete your project. Find a photo organizer near you at APPO.org.

Would you like to tell your story and leave your legacy? #saveyourphotos Click To Tweet

Leaving A Family Legacy

After giving a presentation at a local retirement facility, a woman approached me saying that she wanted to have a legacy photo book completed of her most important pictures, stories and her family treasures. She was widowed, did not have children to leave her pictures and stories to, but wanted to complete it for herself and her family. We took pictures of her significant family treasures and featured both the pictures and stories in her book.

Here are two pages from her Family Legacy book:

Would you like to tell your story and leave your legacy for your children, grandchildren and future generations? Please consider getting started today. This could be the most important gift that you can give your family.

“Photos will only keep your memories alive when they have been arranged so that you can enjoy them whenever you like.” – Filing Fairies

Marianne Behler of Lifetime Photo Solutions resides in Jackson, Michigan. Lifetime Photo Solutions specializes in helping people with a lifetime of photos get organized, digitize their collection and create legacy photo books.

Crafting a Legacy: Telling Your Story in Photos