Don’t Let Your Best Photos Get Lost in the Scroll

I know that photo is in here somewhere…

Recently, I was talking with a friend about photos.

She was telling me about all the pictures she has on her phone of her three-year-old granddaughter — how cute she is, how much she has grown, and how many wonderful little moments she has captured.

I said, “You should make her a book.”

A small photo book filled with pictures of herself, her parents, her grandparents and the people she loves. At three years old, she would probably love sitting down and looking through a book that is all about her.

I’m not sure my friend was entirely convinced.

But I know how much I would love to have a photo book of myself as a child with my grandmother — making cookies together, sitting beside her while she read me a story, or simply spending an ordinary afternoon together.

How I would love to be able to see those moments today.

And if all those photos of your grandchild live only on your phone, what are the chances that child will ever really see them?

How often do you sit down together and scroll through hundreds or thousands of photos on your phone?

Now imagine those favourite photos in a little book of their own — pictures with Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, birthdays, holidays, funny faces and ordinary days.

That is a book a child can pick up, turn the pages of, ask questions about and come back to again and again.

The photos are no longer simply stored somewhere.

They’re being enjoyed.

Then our conversation moved on to travel photos, and we started talking about something we have probably all experienced.

Someone wants to show you pictures from a trip.

“Wait, I have a great picture of that.”

Scroll, scroll, scroll.

“No, that’s not it.”

Scroll back.

“Oh, here it is!”

Then they remember another photo they want to show you.

​More scrolling.

They know the picture is there somewhere. They just can’t quite find it.

The problem isn’t that we don’t take enough photos. It’s that we take so many that the best ones can disappear among all the others.

Imagine coming home from a week-long trip with 500 photos.

What if, instead of leaving all 500 buried on your phone, you chose the best 50 or 60?

You could put them into a book in roughly the order the trip happened. Add the name of the hotel, a favourite restaurant, the little town you discovered by accident, or the funny thing that happened on the third day.

Now, when someone asks about your trip, you can pull a book off the shelf and say, “Would you like to see it?”

Instead of searching through hundreds of images, you have created a story.

And that book isn’t only for other people.

A year from now — or ten years from now — you can sit down, open it and remember.

Creating a photo book doesn’t have to be a huge project.

In fact, you can start today.

1. But before you get started, if you do nothing else, make sure your photos are backed up.
Make sure your photos exist somewhere other than just your phone — cloud storage, a computer, an external drive, or ideally more than one place.

2. Choose one event or story.
Don’t start with your entire camera roll. Choose one trip, one birthday, one family gathering, or perhaps one year of your grandchild’s life.

3. Set a timer for 20 minutes.
Go through the photos and heart or favourite the ones that stand out. Don’t overthink it. If a photo makes you smile, brings back a memory or helps tell the story, choose it.

4. Put your favourites into an album.
Suddenly, those 500 photos may have become 50 or 60.
And those 50 or 60 may be all you really need.

5. Make something with them.
Your photos should already be in order. So all you need to do is add a few dates, places or short stories if you want, and create your book.

Your book doesn’t need every photo.

It needs the photos that help you remember the story.

And if you can choose the photos but don’t want to tackle the design, layout and printing, that’s where a professional can help.

I have yet to have a client tell me, “I wish I had never made that book.”

What I hear instead is:

​“I’m so glad I did this.”

“I take it off the shelf and look through it.”

“I had forgotten about that day.”

That is the wonderful thing about a photo book.

Someday, someone will be glad you took the time to make it.

​And that someone may be you.