In most houses, there’s probably a shoebox – or something bigger! – full of photos
Where are you storing your photos?
The 90s were the era of prodigal photography
Whilst the 70s and 80s had seen widespread increase in casual photography, the availability of compact cameras and cheap SLRs drove an explosion of photos in the 90s. Super-sized (5×7) prints were not much more expensive than standard, and getting a double set of prints (“Your parents might like a copy of that one”) not much more expensive than getting one. So most years, photos piled up faster than we were processing them in our house.
Occasionally a photo album would be put together, which helped get some of the photos back into circulation, but the proportion of photos seen to photos taken is pretty low. Which was a shame, as looking at old photos amongst friends and family was usually greeted with delight.
Converting old media into digital versions is the best way of getting them circulated more widely. The actual process of creating digital copies of photos is relatively fast, though labour intensive. It can be done both from prints and negatives. In addition to sharing them on social media, digital versions are a stepping stone on the way to photobooks – photo albums for the 21st Century.
Where should digital images be stored once generated? Obviously digital media are much more compact than the packets of photos which came before. Unless you’re disciplined about it, the problem is that, in addition to the risk of data getting corrupted, the tiny size means that it’s easy to simply lose.
One of the safest and most secure options is storing photos on the internet. Backup and security is looked after for you. If you use Amazon Prime, they include unlimited full-resolution photo storage. Other less oligarch-dependent options are available.