The proper photo organizing supplies are an important part of your photo organizing project. A Photo Organizer’s kit includes many different items that make the job of handling, identifying and storing your precious lifetime of photos.

 

What the Experts Use

Before you get down to the business of organizing your photos, you’ll need to collect some photo organizing supplies. We polled Professional Photo Organizers for their supply list; these are the ‘must haves’ when they begin any photo organizing project.

Cotton Gloves

Fingertips contain an oily residue that will further deteriorate your delicate photo.

Face Mask

If your printed photos smell musty, or they were stored in an attic or basement they may contain mold spores that you could find irritating during the sorting process.

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Soft-lead Blue or Black Art Pencil

As you sort photos you may want to include a date, year or name on the back of a photo. This pencil is not permanent, and will not indent or harm your photo until you can capture the details digitally once scanned. Never use a pen to mark the back of your photo.

Index Cards

Jot down more details, facts, stories and dates on index cards and group them with printed photos. Index cards can be scanned with printed photos, so important details remain grouped together.

Archive Quality Photo Safe Storage Box

Choosing a good quality photo box will keep your photos safe, and aid in the sorting process.

Dental Floss and Hair Dryer

If you have peel and stick albums, some of your photos may be difficult to remove.

Smartphone Camera

If you have old albums with details on the page, you can take a snapshot of the page to keep the details with the photos.

Sticky Notes or a Notebook

These come in handy for creating a timeline during the sorting process.  Some organizers use apps like Evernote or OneNote to curate information or create timelines.

External Hard Drive

Choose a high capacity drive according to the amount of images you have.

Garbage Bags

You’ll come across toss-away pictures, artwork and meaningless ticket stubs that will help reduce your clutter. Let’s set a goal to fill a bag!

These are the essentials, but you may have some more ideas too. Whatever makes your job easier, add it to the list.

What are your must-have photo organizing supplies?

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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.