To all my assistants and summer interns who have helped me organize and digitize my photos: the ones in boxes, the personal and family shots, and all the professional stuff, thank you. (A special shout out to Lily Becker for her focus and dedication, and spending so much time getting this done while taking care of my dog, Biggie).
I takes countless photos; some good, some not so good. I even used to photograph all my kids' artwork from elementary school with a disposable camera, had to print the photos at the local CVS, then picked them up and put them in a photo album, all while I was an incredibly overwhelmed and working mom.
Note to all the tired moms out there: This was really dumb.
When I finally downsized and moved, I went through all the art, picked a couple of pieces from each kid, framed them, and now have them in different places, from my office to my home.
There is also this great service, Shutterfly, that you can send your artwork to and have it printed in a bound book.
I've also saved all the highlights from my career, meetings, parties, and business ops. When I left my original brand, I was fortunate to receive a Dropbox filled with all my memories. A special thank you to the great individual who sent them to me.
However, in this age of Instagram and photo sharing, I still take a ton of pictures. It seems that every time one of my assistants moves on, I have to start the process all over again with a new assistant. It’s pretty overwhelming.
I've found a way to communicate with my assistant about organizing and storing photos. It's crucial they're stored where I would naturally look for them, not where she might think they should go. Here are a couple of visual methods that bring some calmness to my chaos.
I take a screenshot of my “favorites” photo album, and print it out so we can start the process. This is where the color-coding comes in. When the photos are put into the correct digital folders, they get removed from my favorites. Then, when they are more than half way gone from the album, they get refreshed and printed to finish the process.
Here’s a peak inside one of my many DropBoxes. I have a personal section, a business section, and a JRB section. This one is my personal library.