I currently have over twenty thousand photos and videos on my phone. I am guilty of keeping many more pictures and videos than I should, and here, I'll share my process for dealing with my photos. These steps will help you figure out what to do with all your phone photos.
Step 1: Reduce
Step 2: Back Up
Step 3: Print
Step 1: REDUCE
As hard as it is, we are allowed to delete photos. We need to delete photos. Start with the easy deletes: screenshots and duplicates. Then the more difficult deletes can come after.
Screenshots: Of my 400 screenshots, they mainly fit into the following categories: memes, future projects, and school info. I have a folder in my Notes App where I can move all the school info where I store class lists, field trips, and events. Once a photo is in this folder, I can delete it from my camera roll. I like to keep my memes because sometimes I need a little smile, but I can scroll through to see if any aren't funny anymore. I can move future projects to Pinterest folders where I can save the full project site instead of a single photo.
Duplicates: Apple has a section in your camera roll that allows you to merge duplicates, which is the easiest place to start. The more difficult duplicates are photos that are just a moment apart in time or a slight change in expression, which you would have to scroll through to reduce.
Finding the best: With thousands of pictures to sort through, this part can seem daunting. One way to make this task a little easier is to take it day by day: each day you can search your photo library for photos taken on this date over the last years. Once you have these photos in front of you, you can delete very similar photos, photos with eyes closed, or blurry photos.
Step 2: BACK UP
Today's phones offer more storage than ever before. When my firstborn was young, I had to delete photos and apps constantly just to keep the phone running. Thankfully, this is no longer the case, and we can keep every snapshot on our phone's camera rolls. However, the camera roll on your phone is not the only place you should keep your photos. Here are the backup methods I use for my photos. I make sure to have my photos in multiple locations in case any of these locations suddenly stop working.
The Cloud: Many of our phones include cloud storage. As long as our phones back up, our photos are stored for us in this virtual storage space.
Amazon Photos: If you have Amazon Prime, you automatically have access to Amazon Photos: unlimited photo storage and 10 GB of video storage. One bonus to Amazon Photos is that I have it set to be the screensaver on our TVs, so we see our photos when the televisions start to "sleep."
Shutterfly: As long as you stay active and make occasional purchases, Shutterfly offers unlimited photo storage. I have all my uploaded photos organized by years and months.
External Hard Drive: These are affordable storage devices that allow you to save photos in a physical location off of your phone and computer.
Just remember not to put all your eggs in one basket. I had only saved videos on an external hard drive, which became corrupted, so I now only have a handful of the videos from my oldest's first year.
Step 3: PRINT
How will your children enjoy their childhood photos once they are adults? Are all the photos on your phone? Will the cloud still be around in 20 years? Will your storage options go the way of the floppy disc and CD-R? Getting our photos off our phones and into our hands is a very important piece to sharing our memories.
Shutterfly: As mentioned above, I save all my photos to Shutterfly, organized by months and years. Each year, I print an album for each of my kids with their highlights. I work on their albums whenever I get a few free moments and then print them when Shutterfly holds one of their "unlimited free pages" promotions. (Confession: I am a bit behind on their yearly albums, but they are being made!)
Chatbooks: Up until recently, Chatbooks had a great option where it was attached to my Instagram account. Any photo posted to IG automatically populated an album on Chatbooks, and for every 60 photos, Chatbooks printed and sent me a photo album. Meta has since removed this automation, so I now post something to IG and then add it to my Chatbooks account to get my albums.
Chatbooks referral link for a $10 credit: Click Here
Artifact Uprising: AU has a variety of beautiful ways to print your photos. I use them when I want a gorgeous album or special prints (4x6 photos with borders on textured paper are my favorite!).
AU referral link for a $50 credit: Click Here
MPix: Mpix has high-quality prints that are perfect for framing. I've found when I print a photo at Shutterfly, CVS, and MPix that the prints from MPix are more true-to-color and just an overall higher quality for an affordable price. The prints are also printed on archival photo paper rated to last over one hundred years.
MPix referral link for a $10 coupon: Click Here
Our photos hold our most cherished memories, but they can easily become overwhelming if we don’t manage them. By taking the time to reduce, back up, and print, we can ensure our favorite moments are not only preserved but also enjoyed for years to come. Whether it's deleting unnecessary images, securing backups in multiple locations, or printing albums and framed prints, these steps will help keep your photo collection meaningful and manageable.
So, take a little time each month to declutter, organize, and print—your future self (and your family) will thank you!
If you're in New Hampshire and looking for professional photos to add to your collection, contact Laurie LaPorte Photography for your family's portrait needs: my website.
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