Keep the MICA Shots

Getting your digital photos organized and printed.

So much has changed in the last decade. Our first child was born 11 years ago and sitting on our bookcase are three fat photo albums stuffed with photos of him as a baby and toddler. My 9-year-old has five beautifully designed full-color photo books. My 5-year-old has a stack of 4x6 photos thrown in a box. And my poor 2-year-old... I think the only printed photos we have of him were given to me by his Grandma.

It’s not that I take any fewer photos, and I’d like to blame it on the busyness of mothering four kids. But, the truth of it is all of those photos are stuck on my phone, and I have not prioritized their organization or proper display.

If you can relate, and if you want to make a change, here are some suggestions for getting those adorable digital photos onto paper for the whole family to enjoy.

The first step is to take a deep breath. You do not have to go through all of your photos in one sitting. Set a timer for 10 minutes, and see how much you can get done. You’ll probably have so much fun looking at old

By Katie Albers

photos, you’ll let that 10 minute buzzer go right on by!

Time to start deleting! Open your photos app and keep scrolling until you get to the very oldest photos on your phone. As you look at each photo, ask yourself is this photo a MICA shot?:

Memorable? Interesting? Clear? Attractive?

If the answer is yes to all four then the photo is worthy to be printed. Otherwise hit delete and move on. Be sure to cut out all the duplicate photos while you’re at it.

After you have weeded out all the old junky photos and caught up to the present, take a quick moment to see how much memory you have freed up on your phone! Then set a weekly reminder to take a couple minutes to go through your past week’s photos with the same criteria.

Now it’s time to print these beautiful memories!

Did you realize that the very place

where your phone already saves all

your photos likely has a service built-in

to make prints and photo books? Both

iPhoto and Google Photos offer easy to use photo book makers. They will even find the faces you request and put the pictures on the pages for you, no

designing required. Super simple, get it done!

However, if you’ve been inspired

by organizing your pictures and you

want to dedicate the time to designing your own digital scrapbooks, I suggest giving our very own locally owned Weir’s Photo a try. Their website is easy to use, offers many different

photo products, and the very friendly staff at Weir’s are just a phone call away for any questions you might have. They can even help with creating your

perfect photo display and the quality of their printing is unmatched!

Don’t let any more time go by with

your precious memories floating in

cyberspace. It’s so much more fun to sit together with a photo book in your

lap. I better go get busy sorting photos too!

OP

KATIE ALBERS grew up in Owensboro and loved words so much that she became a school librarian and even alphabetized her family: Josh, Katie, Lance, Mallory, Noelle, Oaken, and Polly (the cat).