With all the parties, baking, shopping and wrapping, documenting the season is often the last thing on your mind. Yet when January rolls around, you wonder where the time went! Reduce the holiday blur and find clarity in your seasonal memory keeping with these simple steps.
Step 1. Procrastinate. Perhaps this is an unusual productivity tip, but bear with me. Take stock of what you truly need to capture holiday memories and put off the rest until January. Pare down to the basics. You do not need to reorganize your photo albums mid-December, so cross it off your list!
Step 2. Gather supplies. Arm yourself with new batteries, empty memory cards and a little blank book. Use a camera you know well and have it always at the ready. Have a system in place for offloading images, even if that system includes waiting until January or the memory card is full (whichever comes first).
Step 3. Focus. Keep an eye on the task at hand and avoid distractions. Don’t start new projects right now and don’t fret about unfinished business. Take photos of your holiday activities, jot down your memories and feelings, and move on to the next fun thing.
Step 4. Use short-cuts. By the time December 31 comes knocking at your door, you’re ready to jump into the New Year with new projects and new memories. Wrap up 2009 properly with low-cost products that make life oh-so-simple.
1. Flickr. Forget anything fancy and share your images with friends and family via online sharing sites like Flickr. Leverage the power of the captions and descriptions to preserve the stories that go with each photo.
2. Quick Pages. Use pre-designed digital scrapbook pages to assemble a custom-look album in a jiffy. Your friends and family will never know this set of quick pages from Katie Pertiet wasn’t scrapped by you!
3. Ready-made Albums. Assemble your holiday images into an album that’s been designed for you. Click order and it will arrive on your doorstep. Try out one of Shutterfly’s many pre-designed books like this Christmas version.
Step 5. Do it your way. Since you’re a blog reader, you’ve likely been exposed to the countless super-creative and somewhat time consuming projects that photographers, scrappers and crafters undertake this time of year. If these ideas don’t fit your style, then be OK with that. Document your stories in whatever way works for you.
With a little planning and some focused thinking, you can re-take control over your holiday storytelling. Center yourself on making memories that will last a lifetime and employ these simple ideas to keep up with ease.
[photo source: Alie Edwards]
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Hi Jennifer! We love your suggestions on finding time for holiday memory keeping. Sorting out photos, especially during this busy season, can truly be a daunting task! December is a time for capturing memories and we just posted our own recommended approach on how to do it effectively. Check it out! http://yesdvd.blogspot.com/2009/12/capture-holiday-spirit-with-photo-and.html Happy Holidays!
I agree, procrastination is one thing I preach about avoiding other times of the year. But, during the holidays we may have to get down to the basics in order to take it all in.
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