Digital Photo Management: The Daily Delete

Why I am practicing the “Daily Delete” and you should too…

Today I wanted to share about the first step in managing your digital photos, the Daily Delete, specifically on our smartphones.    In the 2 sample days I’ve taken 39 photos, which is approximately 20 photos/videos per day / 140 per week / 560 per month and 6,720 per year.  That number does not include kids soccer games, school plays, cute dress up outfits, holidays and vacations.    How quickly it all adds up.  This is where deleting your photos daily or even every few days or once a week can help curb the digital photo craziness and overwhelm. 

Before the Daily Delete the camera roll looks like:

Wednesday 10/9  total photos/videos taken:  14

• 2 screen shots (weather report and lock screen to show my friend how to increase her sound)
• 1 video (1:58 min sent to my friend in Houston)
• 5 photos of daily life … sent to my friend in Houston  (instead of calling each other on the phone every day we text and send photos and videos back and forth)
• 1 photo of the dog 
• 3 almost identical photos of my workspace for future business blog/social media post
• 2 photos of that days work in progress on the bathrooms that are being renovated here

Thursday 10/10  total photos/videos taken:  25 

• 3 screenshots of my camera roll for this post
• 1 photo saved from group text of girlfriends
• 1 dog video 
• 2 dog photos
• 2 photos of scrapbook page I made one edited, one un-edited
• 2 photos of me working sent to my friend in Houston
• 2 photos of knitting projects explaining the term “playing yarn chicken” to text my sister
• 2 screenshots one from instagram, one from feedly blog feed (one artwork and one color story)
• 1 photo my daughter texted me showing the bat garland I made and sent her hanging in her college dorm room
• 8 photos of the hydrangea blossoms I cut and brought in… 1 photo played with different filters and editing software… 
• 1 photo to girlfriend showing my halloween bat decorations ( they were pretty cute)

After the Daily Delete, much more manageable:

Wednesday:  4 photos

 (2 construction related, 1 work related, 1 daily life)

Thursday:  12 photos

(3 daily life, 4 hydrangeas, 3 work related, 1 post to my personal blog, 1 girlfriend photo)

Total for the entire week:  40   Honestly still a little high but photos for work, personal blog and construction projects have been boosting the totals lately.  

What photos to delete you ask?  Here are some guidelines:  

1. Anything blurry, out of focus, the inside of your coat pocket (don’t laugh I have a 10 minute video of the inside of my coat pocket from vacation this summer…it happens)
2. The photo you took in the store to text your friend/significant other which decoration you should buy for the front porch.
3. Cute videos or photos you text/email to someone, but you will not need to keep for your Family Memory Library
4. The screenshot of that Amazon Prime show you have never heard about but want to remember to watch…start a list in Evernote, your planner or Trello and delete the photo, (I keep a running list of shows to check out on a little pad of paper in the basket with the TV remotes) 
5. Multiples of the same shot… see 3 identical workspace photos above…I only need one and it doesn’t need to live on my phone, it needs to go in my business photos file on my computer.   So if you have 6 … pick ONE.  This also goes for kids sports photos… believe me I’ve been there, pick the BEST one of them kicking the goal and delete the rest.
6. Similarly, multiple versions of the same photo for Instagram.    When you post a photo from your library to Instagram, the edited version that gets posted is automatically saved to your camera roll.  When you take a photo using the Ig app, you have the option to save the original image to your camera roll.  With this methodology, you potentially have two shots on your camera roll.  You really only need one.  Decide if you want the original or the edited Instagram photo and delete the other.

Take a minute at the end of the day or every few days and clear out the digital clutter.  Your future self will thank you for helping to alleviate the digital overwhelm.   What photos are you deleting today?!    Have years of photos on your hard drive and overwhelmed by the digital craziness?  Modern Memorykeeper can tame the digital craziness and get your Family Memory Library in order.  Get in touch today for a complimentary telephone consultation:  Sue@modernmemorykeeper.com