Photo Stories: Are You Committed?

I’m committing to something.

I’m committing to talk more about what has become one of the most important aspects of memory-keeping for me.

I’m committing to share more about how it fits within my own system of scrapbooking and how it might fit within yours.

One year ago I shared The Most Important Word for You to Learn for the year and How You Really Can Tell All of Your Stories.

If you weren’t around here at that time, I hope you’ll read both of those linked articles. But the gist of it is that you can add your thoughts, journaling, important information to your digital photo files! They become part of the information of the photo and they’ll transfer with your photos, too.

That means that someday when you’re gone and your adult children or grandchildren are shuffling through your most important photos, they’ll have your words, too.

Above is a screen capture of a photo I took in December. To the left in the caption box is my journaling.

The other day I mentioned my curiosity to know whether any of you had started and continued documenting your photos. Here’s what Tammy said:

Just wanted to let you know that I did start adding info into the caption section of my photos (in Picasa). I haven’t kept up with it completely, but love the ones that I did. I also love that when I upload to Facebook, that info automatically becomes the caption there as well. I do still put the info into my Project Life, or traditional pages — what struck me most was when you said that there isn’t any way to know how future family members will view photos, and that the printed photo is not the only copy anymore, so you don’t have to be as worried about what you do with that one print. I figure it is possible that some of the digital files will end up in one place, and the scrapbooks may end up in another, and that is all good. Thanks for the metadata journaling tip! I’m definitely going to do more of that this year. –Tammy Brandt

I’m so happy to hear this!

If you’re curious to know more about the diverse and awesome benefits of adding your words to your photos, plus a simple way to do it, please read these two articles:

This process has transformed my thinking about scrapbooking.

Who wants to join me this year in adding our words to our photo stories?

Please leave a comment with your commitment.

I’ll do random periodic check-in’s with you to keep us remembering and feeling excited, and to help you make it mesh with your scrapbooking!

So who’s in?

Tags: Journaling, metadata, photo journalism, scrapbook, stories

This entry was posted on Friday, January 6th, 2012 at 11:32 am and is filed under Photo Stories 2012, Photography Tips, Project Life, Scrapbook Organization, Scrapbooking for Beginners, Scrapbooking Ideas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Debbie Piercey

I think this is a wonderful idea. I did some exploring after receiving your last email regarding metadata and figured out how to do it in Photoshop. I had no idea it was even possible! I’m in. Thanks Noell for sharing!
Lucrecia Gray

I am in!! I also would like to get my kids to do this as well, while the memories are fresh. They are young and all they will have to really remember these years are pictures!
http://twitter.com/Bookworm Bookworm

Noell, I’m going to investigate how to do this in Lightroom. I just got a new laptop and have to install it again. :)

I’m a librarian, so I do think about this stuff (the longevity of information and the challenges of archiving it and making it available long term.) I think if we want future generations to have access to this information, we need to make our wishes explicit. Not to be morbid, but if my life ended tomorrow, it would *never* occur to my husband or 7-year-old to look in the metadata of our digital photos. So, I think along with this great idea for memory keeping, there actually needs to be a document of some kind, perhaps stored with your important papers or with your albums, that would notify a spouse, children, grandchildren, that this information is there.
Laura (a/k/a Bookworm)
http://profiles.google.com/dawnaclark Donna Clark

Noell, that’s so funny you mentioned this! I heard you explain how to do this in a PRT episode and it stuck with me. I must admit, I only did it occasionally since most of the time I just wanted to dump the memory card, pop it back into the camera and start shooting! Since I wasn’t uploading regularly, the memory card had so many different events/photos that I just didn’t take the time. Interestingly enough, just 3 days ago I decided to “just do it”! It took much longer than I’d hoped because of the 300+ images on the card, but I added the metadata in batches so that helped. I think the most important thing for me if I’m to keep up, is to do it regularly. Also, now that my devices (all Mac of course Izzy!) have Photo Stream enabled, I can even add metadata to my iPhone photos in Aperture! I think this will be a tremendous time saver if I am diligent when I upload. It’s really nice to be able to put as much, or as little data into the caption section. Thanks for another brilliant memory keeping tip! I’m a PRT super fan and PRT member and love it all!
Talia

I read the metadata article back when it came out and found it absolutely wonderful for me to record my thoughts on the photos and what was going on behind the camera. I got a little overwhelmed when I started to go back through older photos that had no journaling or tags. I’m willing to commit to adding metadata to my current photos at the end of each day when I offload them from my camera and spend 30 minutes each Sunday evening working on older photos.
Iris

i’ve been doing tags the LOM way on my photos for a while now & did PL in 2011, but don’t plan to do PL for 2012. (I discovered roundtable & became a member in middle of last year and have been drooling over your minibook ideas, so now I’m obsessed with doing mini-books for this year as opposed to capturing everyday life as I did in PL last year). I like the idea of capturing journaling on the metada since now all those snippets I’ve been jotting down on Evernote won’t have a daily journaling place to go like they did in PL. Plus I don’t want to take so many photos – I want to enjoy the moment more rather than concentrate on “oh I really need a picture of this”. I’m going to give this a try.
Gina Comer

YES! I’ve also been thinking lately about this and the need for a list of websites/passwords – esp to my digital albums for print, facebook, my blog, oh life, etc. I have a lot of my “person” on the web I want my husband to be able to access if I’m gone.
http://www.paperclipping.com Noell

Thank you for your membership, Donna!!

If you also go into individual photos to add journaling, (in addition to batch captioning on import) remember you don’t need to journal all your photos. Just the ones that you’ve flagged/starred as the ones that best document your life and story.
It’s important imo to keep it a fast process so there’s more about that in the 2nd article that you might want to read you’re not already filtering.
DeeAnn Cummins

I was so interested and excited when you talked about this last year, and I even told family and friends about this great idea….but I haven’t figured out how to make it happen yet! Thanks for reminding me. I would really like to add comments to the old photos of my grown sons, so I guess I have a PROJECT!
http://www.paperclipping.com Noell

You rock!! That is an awesome plan!

During the times I’ve been successful at doing it daily, or close to daily, I feel like I’m journaling about my life in a way that makes me so happy. I think of it as a photo journal.
Good luck with your commitment!
http://xnomads.typepad.com/ Margie S (Nihao, Cupcake!)

I use Lightroom as well and had added a few things here and there, but after your article I have been more cognizant of doing it more often. So, thanks for this reminder as I would like to continue to increase the frequency of adding notes to my digi photos in LR. One step I think I miss, though, is uploading those comments to Flickr automatically. I better go into LR and figure out how to change those settings. The other thing I am not good about is taking those comments and putting them on scrapbook pages, but as you pointed out, if anything happens to me, my loved one will have my stories paired with words which in the end, is the most important thing! Thanks! :)
Missus Wookie

Was delighted to find out about this with a mention on PCR. I’ve done some photos and intend to do more. I want to build it into my workflow but haven’t managed that yet – I’m working on it.
Angie

I seem to be able to keep up with my photo captioning in fits and starts. I will be very routine for a while then I will stop sorting and purging and let the pile in Lightroom build up again before I get back to it. I am trying to start this year out with clear, measurable goals for my photos and scrapbooking. Captioning is one of the pieces that I am definitely committed to.
KatieK.

Re: metadata – I love that the program(Memory Manager) I use adds my typing to the metadata without me having to do any extra steps or having to think about it. I type and type away. Probably too much at times. If it is going to be a photo that I send to someone or FB, I reread what I wrote to make sure nothing is in the metadata that I don’t want shared. If so, I clean it before sending out in to the universe.

Re: the image & writing you shared – I thought I was reading about my son! Ever since his homeschool work increased , his dance schedule became consuming and he got more to do on computer and the stupid games on computer with brother – he doesn’t create as much. I get sad thinking of that. So knowing that that happens – I saved stuff over the years. I taught him well – he will ask me if I want his creations and toss them into the save basket!

He is the creative kid though at heart – if there is a project even a paper, he will find a way to play with the paper or doodle it up or somehow give it a artistic edge. He is the one I go to for art & creative advice.

Thanks for sharing your son’s photo and the journaling.
Jana _NJ

I do sometimes i use Aperture as well but I have to get better now i’m using more Day one in ipad to journal but have to try more of this
http://www.paperclipping.com Noell

This is a really good point and I’m going to make a note to talk about it in the future! Thank you!
Sue_matu

I’m in and have been adding comments to my metadata. I also love the fact that it gets uploaded with the photo to Flickr.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=571388037 Michele Mann Fugit

Count me in! I actually started this last night! Thank you for showing me what it is… now to figure out my photoshop that has been sitting and collecting dust for 2 years! yikes…
http://digitalscrapbookinghq.com Melissa Shanhun

Laura – I’m a trained Records Manager/Archivist/Librarian too – so metadata has been on my radar for 12 years now! I’m so excited to see scrappers joining in on this.

Funny thing when our DD was born I wrote out instructions for Phill (my DH) how to import photos from the camera! And now I’m teaching him how to do it in lightroom.

I don’t journal on all my photos but I do rename them on import. Journalling is totally something I’ll commit to this year!
Kmsjohnson

When you first talked about it last year, I did some exploring and looking into it. I started doing it and then got sidetracked with reorganizing my pictures and totally forgot about it. Count me in though to get back on the band wagon this year. I love the plan of dedicating 30 minutes a week to working on older photo’s too.

Thanks!!

Kim
http://twitter.com/ScrappyTams Tambur

I’m in. I have been incorporating this practice more regularly over the past 5 or 6 months. My kiddos love it. When they need pictures for school projects they have all the information they need right there in the metadata. Thanks!
http://www.paperclipping.com Noell

Hmmm — so our kids are similar in multiple ways! :)

I’m a huge believer in finding software that is easy to use, and that you love to use! Glad to hear yours is easy. That’s what I like about Aperture too. I don’t have to do anything — the box is just sitting there for waiting for me and I can type as much as I want.

Yay for good managing and editing software!
http://www.paperclipping.com Noell

Day One sounds awesome for general journaling. There really is nothing like having the journaling that goes with photos right there attached to them.
Melinda T

Great idea! Count me in! I’m still at work, but will definitely bookmark this post and read and look at the other links!
PattiP

I’ve heard a lot of good tips this year, but this one is the best and I think the most important. When I do my Monthly Roundup ala Katie the Scrapbook Lady, I now include making sure the stories are typed into the description. Love it.
http://profiles.google.com/dawnaclark Donna Clark

Thank you. I read another article you wrote and had forgotten about only journalling on the starred photos! So much easier! I will go back and read the 2nd article again to get a better understanding of it. have a great day!
http://www.paperclipping.com Noell

Oh phew! I wasn’t sure if you were doing all your photos or not, so I wanted to make sure you knew it’s unnecessary, just in case! :)
gladdie

I am in- omg I am in – eek! now I need to re-structure my days and get down and committed!

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