One of the major projects I did during our Spring lockdown was to finally organize (8 years’ worth of) my solo travel photos. I started with the physical photos and worked through my digital travel albums.
This was one of those things I thought about doing for ages but couldn’t get started since I couldn’t make up my mind about the how of it – I don’t know that many people kept physical photo albums anymore and with Instagram and how easily we take photos these days, it was going to be a major undertaking to pick out just a few snaps from each trip / destination.
Organizing My Travel Photo Album
I knew I wanted some sort of album to add to my coffee table because I think they make for the best conversation starter no matter what! And considering I’ve been to some awesome destinations (not tooting my own horn or anything, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t proud of the places I’ve been!) and I was pretty keen on making the process work.
I came across Anna’s blog post on how she stores her photos / albums and that gave me the inspiration to kick off mine. I started by shopping for the the photo album – I wanted to keep most photos in one album because I didn’t like the idea of having too many albums which makes storage and organization a pain. I also wanted to make sure the photos can be moved around if needed in case I missed printing a few.
I was so pleasantly surprised that Homesense/Winners has the best selection of photo album and for a bargain price of CAD$16.99! Depending on the store, they’ve got multiple sizes that can hold anywhere from 100-500 photos. I went with the 500 photos because it seemed like the best option. If you’re shopping for other milestones (i.e. family albums, wedding, etc), Homesense/Winner has some really awesome options to pick from!
I like that this album has a portrait/landscape option on each page which makes it easier to organize. The album holds the standard 4×6 which I was happy with as I preferred keeping the larger photos in a frame around the condo.
As for the printing itself, I kept it pretty simple – I printed something like 370 photos at Walmart and opted to go for the premium glossy Kodak paper over the value options. The colours came out more vibrant and there was less risk of noise / colour distortion. The matte paper would be great if you plan to frame these photos as they are less likely to cause glares.
It wasn’t an expensive project especially when you print in bulk – the printing was the most expensive, coming in at around $80 including taxes, and the albums added around $30 (I bought 2 just in case).
I also opted to make note on the destination and year that I travelled as I’m sure it will be so easy to forget down the road. I used an HB pencil to minimize damage to the photo itself, though label makers, and albums with a notes section are great options to have in case you want to do the same!
Organizing my Travel Photo Album – The Digital Option
Printed photo is one great way of storing all these awesome memories and stories from my travel; I keep all my travel photos in two places: a spare hard drive and on iCloud. I opted to keep the RAW/JPEG versions in the spare drive, but usually only kept the JPEG in iCloud to ensure there’s sufficient space.
How do you organize your travel photos?
