What's the Story Behind the Picture & How Are You Organizing All Those Photos?

My father, Leon Hilburger, stands outside a candy store - date and photo details unknown.

A distant relative recently shared never-before seen pictures of members of my father's family. Among my aunts, uncles and grandmother were especially interesting photos of my dad who passed away in 1966. In the few pictures we have of him, he was never smiling - not so in these new ones. In the one on the left he is shown uncharacteristically in overalls and work boots in front of a Fanny Farmer candy store. We would love to know the story behind that day in his life and who took the picture!

At our recent family get-together we had a good time speculating about the possible stories behind these pictures, while trying to piece together what we did know about his life.

Today, our pictorial history presents a conundrum of a different sort. Many of us find ourselves in the strange new world between photo-crammed shoeboxes of the past and the thousands of digital images that we now possess. So where do we go from here to get organized?

And just when we think we are "up" on the newest trend to save photos in secure places, it seems technologies continually become obsolete - (think floppy discs, eight-track tapes, VHS tapes, photo negatives and slides, and even DVD formats).

As a procrastinator of photo organization myself, I was especially guilt-ridden during my boys' childhood, thinking I was falling short on properly documenting their early years. While it seems like an incredible undertaking in the beginning, it's important to start by just taking ten minutes here, ten minutes there to begin an unstressed process toward organizational nirvana.  

For tips on getting your photos saved and organized, visit https://thephotomanagers.com/diy/for guidelines from the Association of Personal Photo Organizers.