You have a Mountain of Travel Photos
If you just got back from a trip or recently had to search for a photo that’s buried somewhere on your phone, I have some solutions for you!
Get ready to finally put your photos to good use!
I’ve been thinking a lot of about what to do with my travel photos Over the past 10 years I’ve accumulated 25,000+ photos and it just sits my computer…
After my recent trip to Asia, I’ve collected even more photos.
Have you noticed that all most travel activities revolve around standing in line to take a photo with a scenic landmark? Maybe it’s just me.
I stand in line to take these pictures even though I know full well that I don’t know what to do with them after I take the pictures.
I’ve been working diligently to change all of that. Below I list out the solutions that I’m going to try.
First Step is to Organize
But before I can do anything with them, I have to organize them.
For someone who is both OCD and probably a bit ADHD, I need a very orderly way to store and access my photos and videos otherwise I get overwhelmed and disoriented.
Unfortunately, My brain can’t handle chaos.
Over the years I’ve tried different ways to group my photos and I’ve finally concluded that accessing photos and videos on the file system is NO GOOD.
Having a user interface like Google Photos is ideal for browsing photos and videos.
But at the same time I need them to be on my computer to actually edit them.
I was thinking about building something now that AI can help you build almost anything until I found a photo app called Immich.
I read through their website and knew immediately that it’s going to solve all my organization problems so I installed it on my linux server and got to work. You can read about how I set up a linux server in this article.
Immich now lets me see all my local photos and videos through a interface that is very similar to Google Photos or iCloud. And it’s free!
I have all my media files on an external hard drive connected to my linux server. I’ve organizing all my media files based on dates so there is a folder for each year and inside the folder are 12 folders, one for each month. My photos and video files are located in the month that they were taken or they were downloaded and stored.
This might now seem great for finding your files but don’t worry, that’s were Immich comes it. I don’t actually look at my photos and videos from my computer filesystem.
Instead I open up the Immich app and browse the photos there. For the photos that I want to use I’ll just download them to my personal computer and make edits. This way I can edit without worrying about making a mistake and ruining the original copy.
Time to Create some Memories
Share with friends and family
This is a no brainer and you probably already do this. But often times you’re sharing a photo or a video via text and no one will be able to find it again after the conversation moves on.
A better way to share is to create an album that includes your comments and notes related to the photo or video that you’re sharing.
You can do this by creating a photo book and printing out a hard copy. Or you can print out the photos that you like, add it to an album and hand write your notes.
When I went back to visit family, looking through a physical photo album is still the most nostalgic and comfortable. Nothing beats being able to have a book in your hand that you can pass around.
Create a digital scrapbook
A digital scrapbook requires a little bit more craftiness and effort but it’s the same idea as a photo book.
You can create on using Canva for free.
Create an account on Canva if you don’t already have one.
Create a new design and select 20 photos that you want to include to tell a story.
Place the photos into the canvas, add backgrounds, stickers, and your comments.
I’ll include an example once I make mine.
