The ABC's of Organizing Your Digital Life

If you missed the event this past Thursday night, shame on you! Luckily I’m here to fill you in on the most important details that I took away from the seminar. Organizing your digital life is a daunting task but in the end very rewarding. There are a few easy tricks to getting through the organizing process a little quicker; it’s as simple as the ABC’s.

The ABC’s of photo organizing was created by the Association of Personal Photo Organizers to guide you in the process.

A is for the photos you want to keep in an album. Because of digital photography, we are now taking more digital images than ever before, leaving us feeling overwhelmed. It's best
to start with your holiday photos and choose the A photos - these are the photos you want to share, print or add to a keepsake book.

B is for photos that you want to store in a safe organizing box - not all your photos, but the ones you would be devastated to lose. Deciding which pictures are worth saving can be a difficult, but empowering task.

C is for photos that will be tossed or put in the garbage can. This can be difficult, especially when your photos are stored in multiple places and formats. Blurry, out of focus and duplicate images are the obvious ones to dispose of. For more difficult decisions, I go to S.

S is for photos that tell a story. I always ask my clients to share the details of the photo and what story it tells. This helps them to confidently make decisions on which to keep and which to toss and ensures they'll always have the important photos that they will want to share and see for generations to come.

At Arista Camera we have all the necessary resources for navigating through the ABC’s. Once you’ve decided which photos you’d like to keep in an album, upload them to our site, aristacamera.com, and send them to our printer, you’ll have professional photo quality prints in
no time and for the small price of 18 cents per 4x6, preserving your memories won’t break the bank, but not printing them and risking a computer malfunction/losing all your memories may break your heart. When you come in to pick up those album worthy prints, peek around the store for an album worth putting the prints in. Choose from our extensive collection of albums that can hold as little or as many photos you are planning to store.

Any album worthy photos would also fall into the B category, so I suggest printing doubles of the A category and storing them in an archival safe box, which we sell at a low cost. When it comes to storing these treasured photos I can’t stress enough the importance of using an archival safe museum quality box. If you use a plain old shoe box you run the risk of your photos aging, and losing their luster which is exactly what you’re trying to avoid.

To me, the “C” process might be the most difficult of all. It seems so wrong trashing any photo but it has to be done. Digital photography allows you to take thousands of photos at no extra cost, unlike the old school film days when you tried to capture that perfect moment as to not waste one of your 24 or 36 shots available. The downside to this is that we don’t always weed out the best and worst photos and we’re left with thousands of images of that one gorgeous sunset we just had to capture. In order to keep these moments special it’s important to weed out the thousands and only keep a couple as opposed to the thousands, not only does this free up space in your digital life but it also keeps the memory as special as it was the moment you took it. Always keep in mind while storing your photos, who you’re storing them for and why. When your family inherits these memories all those flower shots and sunset shots will probably be the first ones to get
trashed. The person inheriting photos tends to only want to keep pictures that capture their heritage, and family lineage. So do not only yourself but your family justice, by trashing those out of focus, and multiple scenic shots.

The pictures that tell a story are always the best. Get creative with these “S” photos. Create a photo book to leave on your coffee table, or even a piece of wall art, such as a gallery canvas wrap, to hang in your family room, these are great conversation pieces and will let you relive that memory over and over again.

Organizing your digital life can be as easy as the ABC’S, so log on to Aristacamera.com create your new account and start preserving your memories now. This project could be a fun walk down memory lane, all while being productive!

APPO EVENT

Many people are overwhelmed by the arduous task of making the move into
the digital world but it doesn’t have to be as difficult as you think. Let us
help you navigate the boxes of old photos you have hidden away in closets and
digital images that are all over your computer! Thursday, April 5th,
from 7-8:30 p.m. Ann Marie Speruzzi from Arista Camera will be partnering up
with Michelle Nahom, Training Specialist for the Association of Personal Photo
Organizers (APPO) for a seminar at Bronxville Library to walk you through the
ABC’s of photo organizing as well as some other simple steps to help you regain
control and organize a lifetime of memories.

At Aristacamera.com we provide you with the free service of uploading and
storing your photos. Once you upload your photos into albums on our website the
organizing part of this task has started. A project like this requires time but
as long as all your photos are in one place that are easily accessible and
visible, you may start to relax, breathe easier and maybe feel like you can do
it.

The possibilities are endless when your photos are stored at
aristacamera.com. Poke around the site for some ideas while your pictures are
being uploaded at the best quality. We have sections to create almost anything
you can think of, including but not limited to plain prints in glossy or matte
finish up to poster size, gallery canvas wraps, collages, mugs, cards, and
plenty of gift items. At our site you also have the choice of having your order
shipped to your home or to pick up in our store located in the heart of
Bronxville.

Although our website has hundreds of creative options for you to sort
through and organize your memories to your liking the options when you visit
our retail shop go beyond that. In Arista Camera & Imaging we provide you
with a personal service that can’t be found many places. Here at Arista we have
a tremendous staff including, Ann Marie who is currently an APPO member and
working towards her certification. By having an APPO member on staff we can provide
you with more resources than ever before. Ann Marie will be on hand at the
Bronxville Library on April 5th to answer any questions you may have
in regards to any in house printing or scanning jobs you may want to pursue.

This seminar is for anyone who has ever felt frustrated and confused
about your options to organize, share and back up your photos. Please join us
for this fun, interactive social evening and leave inspired and ready to
conquer the daunting task! We’ll have some great giveaways. Light refreshments
will be provided. For additional information contact Michelle Nahom at
203-788-5338.

Where: Bronxville Library, 201 Pondfield Rd., Bronxville, NY
When: April 5, 2012, 7-8:30 p.m.

Click the link provided below to register for the event
Hope to see you there!

http://bronxville040512.eventbrite.com