September Is Save Your Photos Month, 2020 edition 

September is Save Your Photos month!

I often think of what author Gretchen Rubin says about this time of year: “September is the other January. Do you feel as though the beginning of the school year marks a ‘clean slate’ that helps you start new habits?” 

Gretchen is right. September is typically a great time to start new habits. But this September is quite different from any we’ve experienced. Many people are still working from home. Children may be attending remote classes and needing supervision. Most people don’t have the luxury of endless free time. But taking a few actionable steps this month to save your photos can go a long way. 

Hurricane season has started in the East, and wildfires are raging in the West. Heartbreaking stories of families losing their homes to floods, fires and other disasters dominate the news. Often their precious digital photos are not backed up, nor have their print photos been digitized in the first place. 

There are many facets to consider when saving your photos:

• With digital photos, first, make sure they are backed up to the cloud.

• External hard drives are another recommended way to protect your digital photo collection. We recommend copying the collection onto two EHDs, with one EHD stored off-site for safekeeping.

• Scanning is another excellent and important way to save your print photos. Should something happen to the physical prints, having digital copies will ensure they are not lost forever. I wish I had this option when I lost most of my childhood family photos in a house fire a few decades ago.

• And don’t forget about your old home movies. These should be digitized for easy viewing across your devices. The files can be integrated into your main digital collection, all stored in the cloud, and backed up on EHDs. 

If you are inspired to start organizing and saving your photos yourself, check out Cathi Nelson’s excellent book on the subject: Photo Organizing Made Easy.

You may also want to join myself and other photo professionals at The Photo Managers’ public Facebook group, Advice from the Photo Organizing Pros. It’s where we share plenty of tips, ideas and solutions to help you manage, organize and preserve your photo collection.

You can also take advantage of over 40 free classes at the Save Your Photos website – but hurry, as access expires on November 1, 2020.

Have a safe rest of September.