Tag Archives: photos

ORGANIZING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS

Starting right now, for every image you plan to keep, if it’s digital, name it with the date and the people and/or places in it and batch load them to DropBox, to another on-line back-up storage place, or to one of the sites listed below. If you have printed photos, put the names, place, and date on the back using a gel pen as soon as you have them in your hand. I can’t emphasize how important it is to put crucial information on each image or photo. I had to throw out some that dated back to the 1800s that my mother and aunt kept because I had no idea who the people were, so they were useless to me. The same will happen with digital ones if they are not correctly named.

Next, upload your photos to a place like:

  • FLICKR flickr.com Easy sharing from almost any mobile device
  • PHOTOBUCKET photobucket.com Scrapbook builder. Add music and slide shows
  • SNAPFISH snapfish.com Encourages you to order prints and personalized gifts. Has private “group rooms” for family and friends to see your photos and leave comments
  • SHUTTERFLY shutterfly.com You can upload photos and have them made into greeting cards or calendars. Sign up and get 50 4×6 free prints
  • SMUGMUG smugmug.com/ Yearly fee, seems reasonable for what they offer, which is a lot
  • GOOGLE PHOTOES google.com Automatically finds and stores all the photos on your PC and Android devices

I’ve mentioned just a few of the highlights from each site. Frankly, it makes me want to upload my photos to several different sites in get all the unique features. Uploading to any of these sites can act as your backup for photos, which is another reason to use more than one site, in case one goes out of business or suddenly fails for some reason.

Figure out how you want to store printed images. Scrapbook or boxes? You might want to have a system of boxes to temporally store them until you put them in a scrapbook. The boxes can be labeled, for example by person, place, or date in order to easily place them in the book later. You may also wish to get all your print photos digitized. I’ve noticed that the prices for doing this have come down a lot lately.

Ideally, and if I had to do it all over again, I would keep a diary (so easy to do now digitally) and put the pictures on the diary pages every day. Later this could be made into a bound book you can give to people in the photos and keep for yourself.

THE SCANNER

***Today is WEIRD WEDNESDAY in which I talk about unusual stuff as it happens, if it happens within the week***

Believe in the paranormal? No? How about coincidences? Don’t believe in those either? I’m very skeptical about paranormal happenings, but I’m a big, no a huge, believer in coincidences because I’ve experienced some that are absolutely extraordinary.

Monday my belief grew.

Several months ago I bought a nice photo scanner and had a lot of fun scanning old photos, sending some off to my kids, printing some out of old friends we were going to visit so they could have copies, and just enjoying the whole process. Here’s one of my grandmother and aunt.  Isn’t that neat? How about those dresses?

Yes, loads of fun until the scanner broke. Totally quit working. Light wouldn’t go on. There was no way to open it up and change the light bulb. I thought that was odd. So, I emailed the company and quickly received a response. Things progressed to where I was given directions about how to send it off for repair or replacement. It cost me over $30 to buy a box and get it packed and sent via UPS with tracking. All on me. I figured I might have just thrown away over $30.

The email said it could take up to six weeks from the time they received the scanner until I got it back. Seemed like a long time, but I kept busy with other things. Two months went by, and no scanner. I waited another couple of weeks, then called them. Hate making such calls. Not only that, I had to leave a message, which I did. Detailed everything about it—my special number, when it was sent, when it was delivered to them, who signed for it and so on.

A man called back within fifteen minutes. That was the first surprise. He told me the scanner had been sent out on the 10th of this month, and it was due to arrive the day I called or the next day by Fed Ed. I figured since the guy had a chance to check up on the status of my scanner because I left such a detailed message, he had realized it hadn’t been sent, and he was going to Fed Ex it right away, so I should receive it the next day. Until he gave me a tracking number. Hmm.

I thanked him and hung up. Went on-line. Indeed the package had been sent on the 10th and was in my city, on the truck to be delivered to my house. Astonished, I looked out the window, and there was the Fed Ed truck pulling up in front.

And yes, my scanner was inside the box. Looks to be a replacement.

Now do you believe in coincidences? Paranormal happenings? Voodoo, maybe? Sure seemed like it to me.

When I say weird, I mean weird. And it is so improbable, I could never use it in a fictional story. The reader simply would not believe it. Do you have a wonderful story about a coincidence that happened to you? Please tell us about it in the comments.