Digital photos can be so overwhelming. So! Overwhelming! We can fill up our phones, dump the photos somewhere and then tap, tap, tap our way to thousands of more photos. Quickly there are photos across devices and clouds (what is this cloud exactly again?) and it's hard to know even where to start. But there is hope! 

My system for managing our family photos does not require a lot of work, keeps my phone from getting filled to capacity and has me regularly printing photo books that are family keepsakes. I have an iPhone and was originally using albums in iPhoto to organize my photos and it was OK albeit a bit clunky. And then I discovered my current system using Google Photos and I feel like "Family photo management? CHECK!" It is incredibly satisfying, especially as someone who loves taking photos but has never scrapbooked or even been great at printing photos. If I can do this, so can you!

Right now my approach is to create one family photo book for each calendar year. For each of my boys I also made albums for the first year (for Dashiell to 21 months, which is about when Cedric came along). So each January through December I'm organizing photos into one Google Photos album for that calendar year. Then at the end of the year I upload all those photos into Blurb, create a simple photo book, order, and done!

Below I've broken down my system into the tools I use and the process I follow. I would also HIGHLY recommend that you first pop over to the post at Bneato Bar, which is where I got the idea in the first place. She goes over some of the technical parts of getting set up in detail and getting your photos over to Google Photos in the first place. You can do it!

Tools:

+ I use the Google Photos app on my phone and also use Google Photos on my laptop. I use the app to synch the photos from my phone while I have wifi (at home or at work) and I use Google Photos on my laptop to sort the photos into albums.

+ I take all photos with my iPhone 6S.

+ All my photo books are created and printed using Blurb.

Process:

+ Synch photos on phone to Google Photos using app. About once a month or so I synch/back up all the photos on my phone to Google Photos. I do this by opening up the app while I'm on wifi (to avoid using data) and tap the Assistant tab. The app automatically starts backing up all photos. I leave the app open and set my phone aside and let it finish the back up. 

+ Delete photos from phone. This is so scary the first couple of times! But once all the photos have been backed up to Google Photos I go into my iPhone photos, select all (which can be done by holding down your finger on one photo to select and then dragging down - just learned this!) and delete! 

+ Organize photos into Google Photo album(s). At the beginning of a calendar year I create an album in Google Photos called "Team Wharton [YEAR]," so this year I'm working on Team Wharton 2016. After I synch new photos from my phone I'll open Google Photos on my laptop, select all the photos that are candidates for being included in our annual family photo book and add them to our Team Wharton album. I'd also like to start doing albums for trips that we take so this would be another album that I would create, like "PNW Adventure 2016." You can select and add photos to Google Photos albums from your phone but I find it easier to do on a laptop.

Another thing I like is being able to make my Team Wharton albums shared with Chris. This way he can add photos that he takes right into the album. I'll admit that he is not adding photos regularly so as we head towards the end of the year I'll have to make sure I get all his 2016 photos but in theory you could have several family members contributing photos. 

+ Create an annual photo book using Blurb. At the beginning of a new calendar year I create a photo book in Blurb for the previous year. I set time in my calendar to do this over a few days, like my lunch break at work for a week, or a few nights post-bedtime. This is key! If I don't put it in my calendar it doesn't happen.

When I'm ready to start I'll make sure that I have pictures from Chris as well as from the grandparents to complete the Team Wharton album. Once that is done I open Google Photos in my laptop, select all photos in the Team Wharton album, and download them to my computer. This is so that I have all the photos in one spot to upload to Blurb.

Next, I open the Bookwright software from Blurb (it has to be downloaded to your computer). I've found that I've had to re-download this when I make a new album, not sure if I'm doing something wrong, but it's quick so not a big deal. I always choose the 7 inch x 7 inch photo book with an image wrap hard cover and glossy paper. I've been really happy with the quality.

In the Bookwright software I upload photos from my computer and select all the photos that I just downloaded from my Google Photos album. All the photos appear in a "photo bin" at the bottom of the Bookwright software. 

Then, over a few days, I build a photo book. I do each spread fairly quickly and intentionally don't spend a ton of time thinking about layouts. The photos are uploaded in the same order as they were in Google Photos and so maintain chronological order for the most part. So I work from the left side of the photo bin to the right and the photo book ends up in chronological order as well.

I love the pages with a single photo and full bleed (to the edge of the page) so I do that a lot. It's a simple but impactful layout. Or I'll sometimes put a few photos together on a page but have found that my favorite is the single photo with full bleed. I don't worry about how long the book is getting, it'll be what it will be. I don't add text. I've had thoughts of writing with sharpie on the pages afterwards but so far haven't done that with any of them.

Putting together the photo book takes me a few days but once I get going it's not laborious and it's so fun to see all our adventures from the year. When I'm done, the photo book gets uploaded to Blurb where it can be saved or ordered. Blurb often has discount codes so if I can't find one at the time I'll wait a few weeks and check again.

....and that's it!

I've been surprised at how much the boys love to look through the family photo books already - I thought they would be something they would enjoy "one day" as adults. And looking through them helps solidify my memories of things as well - that trip to the park where the bee was buzzing around us, the day we checked the mail in the rain. The little everyday adventures that are so abundant and specific to this time of life but pass so quickly.

I'd love to know what memory keeping works for you, or if you have any questions about what I'm doing just ask in the comments. 

Happy organizing!

P.S. We chatted all about family memory keeping, including my approach with Google Photos on The Girl Next Door Podcast!