You may have noticed, I’m a bit of a photography nut. I love taking photos. It’s fun to look for treasures or special moments to capture and share. It’s a hobby that helps me be present and completely in the moment. It helps me slow down and pay closer attention to what is going on around me.

While my main focus (sorry… put sort of intended…) is nature photography, I find that when I am at a family gathering, a party or special event, having my camera on hand helps me be more observant. It helps me see small, precious moments I might have otherwise missed.

It’s later on that I run into a problem. I look at all the photos taken and wonder, what am I going to do with all of them? I mean on my phone alone there are over 2600 pictures! There is no way I’m going to print them all!

We Are Losing A Legacy of Sharing

I love my camera phone, I take it with me everywhere. And as the saying goes, “the best camera is the camera you have with you”, so my iPhone gets pulled out a lot! Using it has not only changed my photography style but it has pushed me creatively as well.

Digital photography in general, has changed the way we take photos, store them and use them. But sadly, beyond sharing them occasionally on social media, sending them via text or attaching a few to an email, most of our photos remain unseen.

By leaving our pictures sitting on a phone (or computer or memory card), we are losing a legacy of sharing the story of our lives.

Many of us grew up with those “lovely” peel n’ stick or magnetic style photo albums. Each filled with pictures of family vacations, baby pictures, birthday parties and even those terrible grade school pictures. We could look through those albums and see the story of our family. It’s a legacy our children and  younger generations are losing out on.

Sharing Our Story

It’s important to capture and preserve not only the story of our families, but our own personal story as well. Photography is just one way to do that. I think it is time to get the photos off our phones and into a physical printed format.

So let’s look at a few ways to do just that.

3 Ways to Get Your Pictures Off Your Phone

Photo Notecards:

I may be a bit biased on this one because it’s one of my favorite ways to use photos. It’s fun to create my own photo notecards to give as gifts. For example for a birthday I will create a simple photo collage of different images I have taken of someone through the years, here is one example.

To make these:

1. I use Photoshop, but you could easily do the same thing in Photoshop Elements, or online with services like Canva or PicMonkey. Both have templates you can use and add your photos to.
2. Next, print these photos on your printer or order at your local 1-hour photo.
3. Then glue or tape these to a blank notecard, which you can find at a craft store, Target, Walmart or on Amazon.

Yearly Calendar:

This is one of my favorite gifts to receive each year. I look forward calendars full of family photos showing the growth of the kiddos and seeing family adventures from throughout the year. Looking at them makes me smile, so I keep one at my desk and one in my bedroom. After the year is up, I still have them as a collection of photos which I can add to a photo album.

To make these:

1. You will need to set-up an account with a photo printing service like Costco*, Shutterfly or Walmart.
2. Next, upload a selection of photos to use.
3. Choose a  calendar template and add in the images you want to use for each month.

*Costco’s photo center is one of my favorite places to order family style calendars. They are usually just under $10 and if you have it shipped, you do not need a Costco card to take advantage of their great service.

Photo Albums:

One of the many advantages of digital photography is that it has brought along a wide range of digital products and service providers. The options are amazing! Photo albums can be created printed with a hard or soft cover. They are available as small as 4×6 and all the way up to 12×12, you are left to your imagination and budget.

To make these:

1. Just like the yearly calendar you can simply upload your images to photo printing service like Costco, Shutterfly and Walmart.
2. Then, select the template and add in the images you want to use on each page.

Make It Easy

I have a love/hate relationship with the scrapbooking industry. On the one hand the creative, beautiful layouts found in magazines or on Pinterest get my creative juices flowing. But, it’s also more than a little intimidating. It has kept me from creating even simple albums.

Thankfully, I’m getting over that, for the most part. 🙂

Just remember, keep it simple and doable.

This is a quick overview but I hope it gives you a few ideas to try. I’ll be revisiting this idea in future with more ideas (and examples) of getting your images off your camera (or computer or memory card) and into your hands.

So… when was the last time you printed any photos off of your camera phone?

As you probably have guessed by now, I LOVE taking and sharing photos.

Do you know the saying “A picture is worth a thousand words”? Well I think that it goes beyond words, pictures also evoke a wide range of emotions too.

• A wedding photo can make you smile
• A baptism can bring tears to your eyes
• A beautiful sunrise creates a sense of awe
• A tragic event evokes sadness
• A smiling baby makes us laugh

We take pictures of our families to preserve memories. We take pictures of important events in order to document them, share them and to revisit them in the future.

Sadly, in the last 5-10 years, with the advent of digital cameras, we don’t print our photos much any more. We post them online, download them to our computers or leave them on our digital devices.

We lose something by not printing and creating a tangible “thing” that we can pull out and looked at.

The scrapbooking world hasn’t helped either. We see simply printing a photo as not enough. We feel like we are not doing it correctly if we haven’t created an elaborate spread of photos with stickers, fancy fonts and washi tape.

That is sad. I would much rather sit down with a plain ole photo album than have nothing at all.

Over the past few years I have gotten braver in sharing my photography in various social media outlets. It was hard at first but now I enjoy it and try not to miss a day during the week. Sharing is fun and the feedback I get back on what people like is rewarding.

Plus I have found that it is a way I can encourage and uplift someones day. That through my photography I can create a moment of beauty, a moment of seeing the wonder of God’s creation. That is a blessing for me too!

While sharing on social media is great. There is something special about sharing a printed photo…

A few years ago I started creating handmade books of nature photography paired with a friends favorite scripture verses. She loved it! It next became a Kindle picture book and this year grew into a printed version of the book with a companion journal.

I mention this to share with you the power of the pictures you take. But taking the picture is only the beginning and sadly is where most of us stop.

It’s Time To Start A Photo Journal

A small journal where you chronicle your own journey and create something just for you. Maybe something you can pass on to the next generation.

I would recommend checking out the website Gadanke.com where Katie Clemmons shares her belief that you have a story worth preserving. (And she is right!) She has a great Ted Talk on the importance of “Storycatching”. (Check out her GREAT journals and journaling tutorials as well.)

Your journal does not have to be elaborate. It can be a simple album with pockets for 4×6 prints. Put a picture on the left and an index card with notes about the picture on the right.

It can be a journal where you add a picture to the page and simply hand write a story about your day or about a memory you don’t want to forget.

It can be as fancy as you want it to be. But, I do find that the fancier you try to be the less likely it will get done.

Keep. It. Simple.

Keep it easy to access and add to.

But, do document your life in photos. Write down experiences and become a memory keeper.

Pictures Of You

Most of us prefer to be behind the camera instead of in front of it. If you are the photographer in your family, the one everyone grumbles about at family events and the camera comes out… I bet that when you look through your collection of photos, you are not in many of them.

We all need to be better about including ourselves in photos. Of preserving our stories and not just the stories of others. We need to learn to be more comfortable in front of the camera.

A November Photo Journal Challenge

So here is my challenge to both you and me. During the month of November, start a photo journal. Commit to taking AND PRINTING one photo per week and write about what you are thankful for.

Take a picture of your journal page and post it on our Facebook Page, share it on Twitter, or Instagram with the hashtag #MyPhotoJournal.

JUST ONE RULE… you, yes you, need to be in at least 1 of those weekly photo journal pages. Okay?!