Remote Organizing

There are three steps to beautifully organized photo collection... STEP 1: FREE CALL You book a free call with me ASAP (strike while the iron's hot!) - we'll discuss your project, what has prompted you to look into organizing and how you envisage your photo collection at the end of the project. You will inevitably think yours is going to be the worst photo mess I've ever seen and I'll reassure you that it isn't. Don't worry if you're not sure of the answers to the above questions. We'll get there I promise :) STEP 2: CLIENT VISIT OR ZOOM MEETING Usually but not always a visit to the client's home so I can accurately assess the scope of your entire project. I'll then be able to provide you with a detailed personalized plan of organizing action. Currently home visits aren't allowed, so we'll be meeting via Zoom or similar. We'll be able to cover all the same ground - in some ways it's more efficient :) COST: For this step, including the plan design, I charge $60 an hour, for an estimated 3 hours. 50% being due before the meeting. STEP 3: ALL SYSTEMS GO Once you receive and sign off on the plan, we'll create a timeline and begin the process of ending your photo guilt and stress and getting things organized one and for all. I can't give you a cost at this point, as it isn't possible to estimate what I can't see. However I will share that projects such as these start at around $500 and up. If at this point you decide the timing isn't right for you then I will still leave you with the detailed plan so that you'll now how to proceed with your photo organization at a later date. The costs of not organizing Sure it might be cheaper to just stick your photos back in the closet once again. But from experience it's wise to consider the cost of NOT going through this one-time organization process. There's the obvious slight risk from fire or water damage or even just general deterioration. There's a much higher risk of losing improperly backed up digital photos. There's the fact that your digital overwhelm will just continue as you take more and more photos, creating duplicates and bursts along the way. Finally, there's, to my mind, the greatest loss of all, and the reason my website is named what it is, and that's the opportunity of never getting to enjoy or share your photos because you can't find the ones you want.

Every client is different but in general here's what you have to look forward to: Photo-safe archival boxes of your treasured prints, clearly labeled with dates and meaningul folder names. These photos will relate exactly to your digital archive which will be similarly organized and will also include all your 'digital-only' photos taken on your cameras and then, more recently of course, on your smartphones. If you have memorabilia or other media it will also be organized into a relatable archive. In other words you'll be able to search the digital archive and then immediately be able to find the physical location of the item you're searching for. You will be able to choose the archival boxes that appeal to you and fit with your new desire to show off your photos rather than hide them. These items cost more than shoeboxes, but they are more than worth it as they will be safely housing your photos for decades to come.

Project completion time depends on schedules, the scope of your collection, how organized it is at present and how organized you want it to be. In general projects take at least a month but if you are working towards a particular goal or occasion or to complete a project, such as a photobook, within a project of course i will try to make that work. That said - it's always the most cost-effective to have ALL the photos organized before working on any single project.

Small changes like the discovery of a few photos are no big deal (and happen all the time). Sometimes though, as we get into the process, clients begin to excited about new possibilities - which is great - and want to make some additions. All that happens is that if the requested changes will add substantially to the scope of your project I will simply reassess the entire plan and provide you with a new quote.

You're probably wondering if access images on old diskettes, hard drives that we all seem to collect. The answer is yes. I have the hardware to deal with most of these issues. If an old computer won't boot up we may have to outsource the image retrieval but in general if you can turn it on, I'll be able to find a way to extract the photos. For support in this area, my relationship with The Photo Managers organization is enormously helpful, they have answers to questions on every media format you can think of - the obscurer the better!

Most archives will include at least some videos - especially since people have been shooting them with their smartphone. And in the Apple ecosystem live photos are actually all 2 second videos plus a jpg. (I really recommend permanently turning this feature off as these live photos take huge amounts of space and aren't easy to share.) I will personally work with all the videos I can easily handle. For other older video formats, film, VHS tapes, camcorder cassettes etc. I outsource these to a trusted service who can process such materials professionally and at a reasonable price. I will then incorporate the digitized videos into your new archive.

Clients often ask if I really do get rid of all the duplicates and what if there are more than 2 copies? How do I know which ones to keep? Without going into all the details, yes, I'll get rid of 95+% of the duplicates and the removal method used is specifically set up to keep the larger size version of any two of duplicate files. This remains true even if there are more than two duplicates. I can also handle 'similar' files such as multiple photos taken in a single burst where you only need to keep the best one. Duplicate and burst clean-up is one the best benefits of photo organizing as they are so difficult to deal with on your own and they really dilute the impact of your collection. (i.e. it's really boring to look at duplicates and bursts - no matter now cute your kids are!)

If necessary, I can retrieve photos from all your emails, social media, google photos and other cloud accounts. There are some issues with resolution with many of these files, but even if not perfect, it's better to have them in your collection than not.

No problem! Just book a call with me or send me an email at nicole@enjoyyourphotos.ca.

Organization makes sharing easy primarily because it's now so easy to search your photos. There are generally two types of searches. to find a specific photo you know would be perfect for a project. for a range of possible photos that might relate to a particular project Instead of scrolling endlessly in a dozen different places you'll be able to 'google' search your own photos using your own keywords to find the right photos in seconds. It's such a pleasure.

A wonderful way to share your photos is via photobooks, which exist in many different forms from relatively inexpensive softcover books, easy for proud parents or grandparents to have on hand to more formal and beautiful coffee table style books or lay flat books to show off photography. Really the choices are endless. I can create photobooks for you, but my preference is to show you how to make them yourselves as it is a very rewarding process and the learning curve isn't steep. The hardest part is finding and narrowing down the photos and using your new search ability along with a few tips on what works best in a book, you'll be able to make books quickly and easily and everyone will enjoy the results.

There's no denying the power of putting photos to music to tell a great story and there are plenty of services out there that will allow you to make pro slideshows quickly and easily. Slideshows can combine photos and video clips for even greater impact. Funny, sad, moving, powerful - whatever your goal for your slideshow they are always a huge hit! The hardest part is finding the right photos but armed with your brand new organized archive this will now be a breeze. Once again allowing you to enjoy your photos rather than being frustrated that you can't find them.

Another way to share photos privately with friends and family is to publish some or all of your photos to an online gallery service. Personally I use SmugMug, but there are other services out there and we can discuss the best option for you. These work really well when you can set them up so that they update automatically and also if you are able to search them, just as you can search your own archive. These galleries are relatively inexpensive and I can set these galleries up for you as part of our project. Once you've decided on your preferred option, it's relatively easy to do. The Legacy Factor Recently during the 'Stay Home' I just had a blast 'Zooming' with my brothers, both far away, as I screen shared my Legacy gallery with them and we had the time to go through it photo by photo. The three of us spent hours going down memory lane and howling with laughter at our outfits. One brother astonished me with his memory of all our old cars! I cannot recommend this experience highly enough - and no need to wait for a pandemic to strike.