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To me, there's no better souvenir than a photograph. A picture preserves a moment; and since there are many moments I want to remember, I've ended up with lots of shots. But it's tricky to figure out just how to organize photos. Over the years, I’ve found myself with thousands of them, more than I''ll ever need, and that’s a shame. I didn’t spend all that time taking pictures in Florence, Strasbourg, Nantucket, and Naxos to have them waste away in the cloud, collecting digital dust. Compound my photographic habits with other factors—the existence of Instagram, more accessible digital photography, and increased bytes of storage on smartphones—and you'll see my dilemma. And I doubt I'm alone.
Marie Kondo addresses this conundrum in her book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. She recommends consolidating pictures by examining them one by one, so that you can process each photo individually while identifying the few keepers. She writes: “With this method, you will keep only about five per day of a special trip, but this will be so representative of that time that they bring back the rest vividly. Really important things are not that great in number.” (For this reason, I'm now shooting fewer, more intentional shots on film and am laying off of digital for a while.)
Right now, many of us remain house-bound, with our formerly busy lives on pause. But the situation also presents an opportunity to reflect on the experiences we’re fresh off of, through the photos we've taken. So what better time to put them in order? Once you've pared down your camera roll, you can showcase your memories in an engraved leather scrapbook, sleek hanging frames, glossy printed photo books, or a digital picture frame. You’ll appreciate them so much more once you’ve swapped your JPGs for keepsakes. Below, an easy guide to how to organize your photos.
All products featured in this story are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Consider storing your files on an external hard drive
The first rule of photo organization is to back everything up. External hard drives aren't new, but whether you’ve yet to start using one, had one and lost it, or simply don’t maintain yours, now is the time to add one into your digital routine. Storing photos on a hard drive means they're protected if your devices get lost, are stolen, or crash; hard drives also provide maximum storage capacity and free up space on your computer and phone, increasing those devices’ speed and ability to function. The LaCie 2TB Rugged Mini is ideal for travelers due to its shock- and pressure-proof design, rubber sleeve, and portability. Its 2TB storage capacity is plenty for the average user—if you use it only for pictures, it would hold about 500,000. I use my own drive to organize my photos, housing them in folders labeled by trip and date, and then sorting those into two buckets—“all” and “selects”—so that my best shots are readily available.
Buy now: LaCie 2TB Rugged Mini External Hard Drive, $98, bhphotovideo.com
Tame the chaos with a photo organization app
Even with a powerful external hard drive at your disposal, floods of files can become increasingly out of control. For this reason, having an app that reins in the mayhem is essential. Photo Sync is a great one for a few reasons. It addresses the issue of multiple platforms, transferring and syncing photos (automatically, if you like) through Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or a hotspot between phones, computers, drives, and services like Dropbox, Flickr, and Google Photos. It keeps them tidy with the option to delete photos after transferring (see you never, duplicates). And it even has customizable category, subcategory, and file-naming systems that it maintains for the user automatically. To get the most out of the app, invest in the $1 per month premium version (iOS only).
Treasure your trip with a one-of-a-kind scrapbook
Etsy's collection of gorgeous goods is no secret, but some of the craftsmanship you’ll find on the platform is truly stunning—one example of which is this highly customizable photo album. Wooden covers come in a choice of maple, oak, rosewood, walnut, black, or light black; you also have your pick of black or dark brown leather binding, black or dark brown sheets of paper, a choice of dimensions, and number of pages. The most special part of all though, might be the cover engraving, for which customers can select any image or text they like. We love the map carving and beautiful cursive shown in the example above.
Buy now: Travel Photo Album, from $56, etsy.com
Hang prints of your trips around your home
Getting quality prints of your photos produced and framed can be a tedious, multi-step (not to mention, expensive) process. Online photo and design marketplace Minted streamlines it, letting you choose a style, size, and one of 16 frame options in one fell swoop. Two especially nice styles for trip photos are the With a Heart - Landscape print, which adds a small heart to the bottom of the frame and provides an elegant text option beneath your image, and the Love Location print, which collages images into the shape of a map (templates of Mexico, Australia, California, and more are available.).
Buy now: With a Heart - Landscape framed custom photo (20" X 16"), $192, minted.com
Buy now: Mexico Love Location framed custom photo art (20" X 16"), $158, minted.com
Bring your camera roll to life with a mini Bluetooth printer
To give your camera roll pictures more value in an instant, consider an iOS- and Android-compatible printer. Polaroid makes one of the best-rated models on the market: It connects to phones via Bluetooth and prints two-by-three-inch prints, which have sticky backs and are smudge-proof, tear-proof, and water-resistant. The special zink (zero ink) paper translates to speedy development, too. This gift set option comes with tons of fun goodies and accessories, including a memory book that holds 64 photos, a set of fine-tip colored markers, sheets of stickers, and photo borders.
Buy now: Polaroid Zip Wireless Mini Printer gift bundle, $183, amazon.com
Digitize your ‘90s snaps with a photo scanner
We’ve covered a lot of ground on how to make hard copies of your digital photos. But what if you need to do the reverse? Whether you're the family’s designated archivist, have a penchant for snapping Polaroids at parties, or are a sucker for throwbacks, a reliable, quality scanner is a necessary tool. This Epson Model is lightning-fast, scanning one photo per second.
Buy now: Wireless High-speed Photo and Document Scanning System, $530, officedepot.com
Keep things compact and modern with a digital picture frame
One of the best ways to display digital photos might just be with a device specifically designed for them. One advantage of digital photos is that they lend themselves so easily to slideshows, which digital picture frames display superbly. This 15.6-inch, 16GB Wi-Fi-connected Feelcare model stands out for its unusually large size, really spotlighting images rather than letting them blend into living room decor. Reviewers rave about the vivid photo quality, amplified by the frame's high-resolution screen.
Buy now: Feelcare Digital Picture Frame, $210, amazon.com
Tell the story of your journey in an elegant, classic photo album
To chronicle a special trip, like a honeymoon, big birthday celebration, or life-changing voyage, a high-quality traditional photo album might be worth the investment. Custom photo gift company Artifact Uprising's Layflat photo album beautifully captures any life milestone, with a linen hardcover that comes in colors like emerald, rose, and oatmeal; a hand-bound spine; and foil title stamp of your choosing.
Buy now: Layflat Photo Album, from $149, artifactuprising.com
Transform your Instagram grid into wall decor
Remember about three years ago when having a color-coordinated Instagram grid was all the rage? We may not miss that high-maintenance approach to social media, but we have nothing but respect for the utter devotion to a look, especially when it can be turned into home decor. Framebridge offers a set of nine square-shaped, golden frames, which add up to a perfectly symmetrical, tic-tac-toe-esque hanging arrangement—use it to bring that satisfyingly neat, white-bordered look from the ‘gram to your walls.
Buy now: The Mini Grid, $349, framebridge.com
Create a no-frills album quickly and inexpensively
From shooting and editing to organizing and printing, maintaining a photo collection is no small amount of work. Chatbooks, a platform that produces photo albums, offers a great way to keep it simple. All you have to do is upload and select your photos, and Chatbooks arranges them chronologically with one per page. The only other steps are adding captions and rearranging photo order as you please, then choosing a cover.
Buy now: Rifle Paper Co. Road Trip cover, from $13, chatbooks.com
Buy now: Rifle Paper Co. Wanderlust cover, from $13, chatbooks.com
Buy now: Rifle Paper Co. Best Trip Ever cover, from $13, chatbooks.com