How do you store your summer-vacation photos?

Photo Credit: Getty Images

After a few (very frustrating) years of struggling to get decent photos out of a less-than-two-megapixel digital camera about the size of a shoebox (felt like that, anyway) that drained its double-A batteries in minutes flat, I have finally upgraded to a camera from this millennium and am awash in digital files just waiting to be printed in all their full, non-pixellated glory. The best ones will get hung on the wall or framed on a shelf, but I'm not sure how I want to store the rest. In my space-starved apartment, I can't imagine clearing out entire bookshelves to make room for albums, but I also don't know if the increasingly popular photo-storage boxes really encourage perusing (and when they do, don't you get fingerprints all over everything?).

I do kind of like this set of clear boxes from The Container Store ($12), which at least lets you sort your snapshots into themes and identify and pull out just the ones you want (again, without getting your grubby paws all over all of them), but it's not terrifically attractive.

Photo Credit: Container Store

Still, most of the prettier versions of photo boxes just have index card-type dividers that don't make grabbing the ones you want quite as easy. This one has archival-quality paper envelopes, but I imagine I'd probably just end up dumping in my photos in the drugstore's 1-hour photo envelopes.

Photo Credit: Container Store

And then you've got albums, and the question of whether to splurge on a traditional hand-bound Italian-leather version with acid-free paper, like this laurel-leaf embellished version from Kate's Paperie ($50)...

Photo Credit: Kate's Paperie

...or to make your own album with a patterned binder and some album refill pages. Maybe something like Russel + Hazel's allover-print mini binder series ($16).

Photo Credit: Russel + Hazel

Comment Away: How do you store your family's photos? Or do you even print them out anymore?

Other ways to turn clutter into something darn near a work of art:
Old, unwanted books become floating shelves
Kids' piles of artwork become a frame-worthy collage
A handful of pretty projects for burned-out incandescent bulbs

From the Community…

Comments 1-7 of 7

Posted by Gem Wed Jul 9, 2008 1:57am PDT

I am buying the Creative Memories photo storage organizer, it is awsome.

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Posted by alischiong@ymail.com Wed Jul 9, 2008 10:44am PDT

Try using Scancafe.com, they help you scan all your old photos in the best quality so that you can have your digital copies. It is inexpensive compare to many other similar companies. It's easy to use and you do not even have to sort out your photos before sending them. They scan everything and you get to choose which one you want to have digitally. (BUT of course, you need to pick more than 50% of the photos that you sent to them!) After that they will send back your originals along with a cd or dvd that contains all your scans in it! Pretty cool and great websites btw! =)

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Posted by bugletj Wed Jul 9, 2008 11:39pm PDT

I post my photos on flickr / snapfish /ophoto to share with friends and family. I'll then try to get around to making a backup disc of my pics and place them in the new binder I bought.

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Posted by Mom of Two Thu Jul 10, 2008 1:46pm PDT

I like albums, especially the one my daughters made for me, showing them and their "out-of-state" friends, sharing fun times. It helps me connect faces with names that come up in conversations.

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Posted by anneichikawa Fri Jul 11, 2008 9:17am PDT

I use flickr, too, but I want to try to print out the good ones and put them in a shoebox, er, I mean ALBUMS.

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Posted by anneichikawa Fri Jul 11, 2008 9:17am PDT

I use flickr, too, but I want to try to print out the good ones and put them in a shoebox, er, I mean ALBUMS.

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Posted by mrscolbert Fri Jul 11, 2008 4:45pm PDT

HAH! I have a brick-type 1.3 MP camera from the last millennium too. I still use it when I'm feeling facetious... my friends look at me, look at it, and say, "That's digital?!" It's great.
I don't really print my pictures until I have one that I want and a reason to have it in paper form, like to put it on the wall or in an album. Back up all the photos on a CD and use a photo printer to print the ones you need and have space for. :)

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Comments 1-7 of 7

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