A few years ago my daughter gave me a book and told me “you have to read this!”. So I did, that is when I learned about Marie Kondo and her way of order. We all have our own way of order. We all value different things and enjoy varying degrees of order and disorder. Photo organization is really no different. Marie Kondo encourages her clients to hold an item and think about it “does it spark joy.” I as a photo organizer I encourage a similar thing. If when you look at a photo does it spark something? Joy, sadness, memories of times gone by? If so keep that photo if it does not toss it. We, unlike previous generations, have far more photos than ever before. This progression towards “more” is not going to stop anytime soon, so we really have to learn to relieve ourselves of the burden of more. More be it things or more photos won’t enhance our lives. When you get excess of anything, it devalues it all. If you have 100’s of shoes, it makes them all a cacophony of shoes if you have 100’s of types of cookies you have a cacophony of cookies, if you have tens of thousands of photos you have a mega cacophony of photos. When you are left with sound, a loud noise of photos you can’t find, the ones that spark something. You are left with closets, albums, storage lockers of an unorganized mess that does anything but bring you joy. Marie Kondo would not approve nor do I!

Printed photos, digital photos, slides, home videos, etc. all need to be brought to order. This doesn’t happen with a magic wand. It happens bit by bit methodically. I tell my clients we as a people, didn’t get into this mess in a minute. It will take a few to get out of it, but we can. None of it is hard. I swear it isn’t. It can be as easy as while you are waiting for an appointment to go through your phone and delete the ones you don’t have emotion for. It is ok, just delete them. Sit in front of your favorite program or movie with a stack of photos and make a “keep and toss” pile. Keep what brings you not just joy but the rich fabric of your life or the life of your loved ones to mind. Keep the best. If you need help, we are here.