storing photosTaking photos is a wonderful way to capture memories, and we’ve been doing it for centuries. The history of photography goes way back, beginning in the 4th century b.c., according to this timeline on ThoughtCo.com.  Taking photos has certainly evolved over time, and become commonplace in our society, which created a need for solutions, or options for storing photos.

Several months ago I wrote an article called Organizing Printed Photos, which touched on storage. In the early stages of photography, not many people had cameras, so storing photos was not really an issue.

When a photo was taken, most likely by a photographer, it was probably put into a picture frame. As time went on, innovation of photography evolved and more people were buying cameras and taking their own pictures.

With more and more people becoming amateur photographers, and creating their own memories, storing photos became more of need. Storage for pretty much everything, comes in a variety of options. How and where you use an item, should be a consideration for the type of storage you choose.

An important thing to note about storing photos, is that you want to make sure the option you choose is archival quality, which means, photo safe, or acid-free. Click on this link to read an article by Exposures.com to learn more about safely storing your photos.

The list below shows some different solutions, or options for storing photos.  Not all of these solutions will work for everyone, as it is in all aspects of life. Consider which one, or more than one, will work with your particular situation and give it whirl. If that one doesn’t work, try another until you find the best option for storing your precious memories.

Albums

Because the need of storing photos in other ways came into focus, the photo album was created. Way back when, they were typically book’s with hard bound covers that had black paper pages.  The pages used little adhesive corners where the photos were inserted.  Not much protection of the photos, so they yellowed over time.

Like photography, the photo album has evolved over time. At one point, in the 1970’s I believe, photo albums with magnetic pages came into play. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but after many years of storage, we figured out that the pictures adhered to the pages, and it became almost impossible to remove them without damaging the images.

Apparently, you can still buy them, but I would steer clear of that type of album. Choose an album that fits your needs, and make sure it is photo safe, or acid-free as mentioned in the link to the article above.

Photo Boxes

Many people are going with this option for easy access.  Just like albums, there are different types of photo storage boxes.  Some are plain or decorative cardboard, others are plastic, usually clear.

They typically have inserts that you can label to categorize your images.  If you decide on this option, make sure to choose a box that is archival quality as mentioned above.

Digitally

This is by far the safest way protect your photos.  There are a number of ways to store and display images digitally. The commonality of these numerous ways is a computer.

Most, if not all cell phones have a camera feature, and these newer phones have a large amount of storage.  Pictures can be saved to a cloud storage account on the internet, or downloaded to your pc to save or print.

There are also online companies that will create tangible items with your images such as photo books, and other items as gifts, for another way of preserving your memories.

An additional safety precaution to preserve anything digital, is to perform a backup of your digital files on a regular basis. Cloud storage companies have a feature that keeps your files backed up, safe and sound, so you can access them from any computer device.