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2020 Connected Learning and the Homework Gap

January 20, 2021 By Kelle

2020 Connected Learning and the Homework Gap

This post is sponsored by AT&T. 

On our kitchen counter sits a black metal box, an index card with “2020” written in black marker taped to the front of it. It’s our “2020 box”—the place where we tuck away this year’s problems and meltdowns that need a place to go. It started as a way to comically commemorate all the crazy things that have happened this year, but it’s actually become a therapeutic way for our family to vent. The blender broke? Write it down and shove it in the box. Trip got canceled? Scribble it on a scrap of paper and in it goes. Our most recent addition to the box—“The Internet glitched out as Lainey was completing her science fair PowerPoint that she forgot to save.” It warranted a meltdown of epic proportions, but we could all relate—we’ve been there. Nothing’s worse than technology challenges during times of stress, and most of us can remember a time when we’ve experienced it. “We’ll just have to start over,” I told Lainey, “Write it down. Put it in the 2020 box.”

 

Our technology challenges during times of stress are nothing compared to the challenges nearly 17 million children in the U.S. have experienced this year, and it’s a problem not easily fixed with a scrap of paper tossed into a black box. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced more than 50 million U.S. students to learn from home, and yet nearly 17 million children are unable to take part because their families don’t have an internet connection or device to support digital learning. This problem is called the Homework Gap, and it’s one of the many issues AT&T is committing to help solve.

We are so fortunate to have two of our three kids at home experiencing in-person learning now (Lainey’s been learning from home since school started but went back today for her first day of in person learning since last March!), but we’ve definitely had a fair share of technology frustrations this year.

Enter Exhibit A: The First Three Weeks of School. If you’ll recall, I went into virtual learning at the beginning of the year with Richard Simmons gusto. New workspace! A chalkboard! A game plan that was admittedly overly optimistic.

…and it was hard. Very hard—and that’s coming from a former teacher! I’m grateful we had the opportunity to safely send our kids back, but I feel for those families who don’t and for the teachers who are trying to serve them (300,000 to 400,000 K-12 teachers live in households without adequate internet connectivity or home computing devices—roughly 10 percent of all public school teachers). Virtual learning was especially challenging for Nella who benefits from so many disability supports at school. The homework gap disproportionately impacts students with disabilities as well as children of color and students in rural and under-resourced neighborhoods. That homework gap? Its impact on our sweet babies with special needs is monumental.

Of all the photos, memes and stories that have been shared this year, how many of us will never forget the photo of the children sitting on the stoop outside a fast food restaurant, hovered over a laptop, attempting to connect to their classroom with the restaurant’s WiFi because they couldn’t access it at home? And here I was frustrated over temporary connectivity glitches or days when when our district sent e-mails that their virtual classroom program was down for the day.

 

And our teachers? Bless them. May they all get straight passes to heaven for the way they served us this year and the challenges they’ve dealt with. If there’s one little silver lining to our experience with distance learning, it’s that we got to be flies on the walls of the classroom. There were several times this year I teared up pouring another cup of coffee in the kitchen while I listened in on the way the kids’ teachers were showing up on screens—their enthusiasm, their praise, their creativity, their attempt to make the kids feel like they were right there with them and that this wasn’t an awful year.

While I’m not teaching in the classroom anymore, I did teach a few online courses this summer, experiencing a tiny bit of the frustrations our teachers have felt. In the little town where we stayed in Northern Michigan, the WiFi connectivity is laughably weak. There were several times during a live Zoom call where I had to walk around the gardens, holding my laptop in front of me, searching for the magic pocket of connectivity that would unfreeze my face. And is there an unwritten rule that if your face freezes on a live call with multiple participants, it will freeze on the most unflattering angle?

Despite my live call freeze frames, I am a qualified teacher; I promise:

Our little stories and scraps of paper in the 2020 black box are hardly a representation of the real challenges schools, teachers and students have faced this year though. We are tired and frustrated, and we still have more than half of the school year to finish. And for many schools in the country, virtual learning is still the only option. We need technology, we need it to work, and we need more students and teachers to be able to access it.

That’s where AT&T comes in. They’ve already stepped up this year to offer exclusive savings on personal wireless service for teachers. Plus they’ve committed $10 million to support our nation’s most vulnerable students who don’t have adequate internet access, and they’ve partnered with Connected Nation to close the homework gap for struggling students by providing WiFi hotspots and free AT&T internet service. And now, to help close the gap and enable connected learning, AT&T is offering discounted wireless data plans 1 and content filtering options to more than 135,000 public and private K12 schools. 2

For every 24 student lines activated, schools can activate 1 teacher line with the same services at no cost. 3 Visit AT&T Connected Learning to learn more about the homework gap and AT&T’s limited time offer.

To all our hardworking teachers and assistants showing up in unimaginable ways this year…thank you. We promise not to screen shot your unflattering screen freezes.

Now, what to do with our black box at the end of the year. Any suggestions?

1 After 50GB of data use on a line, AT&T may temporarily slow data speeds if the network is busy.
2 Offer ends 1/22/21. Req’s new line on Special DataConnect for Education plan ($14/mo. after credits) w/ Enterprise Traffic Protector service ($1/mo.) or AccessMyLAN ($6/mo. after credits) and elig. data-only device. If data svc cancelled, data plan credits stop. Credits otherwise cease 12/29/22. Other fees, taxes, and charges & restrictions apply. See offer details.
3 Based on the average class size of 1 teacher to 24 students, schools will get one free (after bill credits) qualified line for a teacher for every 24 lines for students that are migrated to or activated on the qualified services. Taxes and fees are extra.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Favorite Things I Bought in 2020

January 11, 2021 By Kelle

Favorite Things I Bought in 2020

So we can all agree that 2020 holds the prize for some of our country’s worst moments and low points. And while we trudged through it, we tried to make the best of what we could from new television series we binged to special moments with our families we’ll never forget. Then there were the little pleasures that helped make things better—a new lipstick color, a kitchen gadget that helped make all this home time easier, a favorite mug we bought that brought some joy to these Groundhog Day mornings. I rounded up some of our favorite things we bought this year to bring you this ultimate list of “Buying things can’t fix problems, but buying the right thing for the right reason can sure make life a little easier.” These are a few of my 2020 Favorite Things.

HOME FAVORITES

Supernatural Cleaning Spray
I purchased this as we were driving home from Michigan after the sponsored ads kept popping up in my feed. We had been away from home for so long, and I wanted some inspiration to deep clean my home once we returned—not to mention safer, more sustainable cleaning products. The entire cleaning set is a splurge, but then you only need to buy refills. The solutions are amazing—they all smell so good and make cleaning less of a chore. I use the glass/mirrors one the most (I use it on my counters too, so I don’t use the counter/granite one very much).

Always Pan
This pan is 100% what it’s cracked up to be. I bought it for Brett for Christmas because he loves his kitchen gadgets and his special pans. We use it every day for everything, and it is the easiest pan to clean. Plus, it’s so pretty!

Dig and Co Flat Sauté Set
Another Christmas present for Brett, I had been eyeing these for a while. They’re handmade from the most gorgeous wood tones and sold in my friend’s shop. And they’re so versatile!

 

Interior Define Asher Sectional
This was our biggest purchase this year. This couch completely transformed our living room, and I love it more every day. We needed some color and personality in our living room, and the entire space is happier now.

Commercial Manual Juicer
I’ve had electric juicers, hand held twist juicers and plastic citrus presses, but this takes the cake. It’s pretty enough to leave out on my counter and juices citrus better than anything else I’ve used. We make our own orange juice, grapefruit juice and can quickly juice limes and lemons for recipes now.

Eastfork Pottery Mug
If you follow my Instagram stories, you’ve probably heard me gush about this mug. I am very into a good handmade pottery mug and have collected some beautiful ones from traveling over the years, but this is the holy grail of mugs. There used to be a waiting list, but now you can snag one right from their site (they also have discounted seconds). It’s perfect—perfect shape, perfect height, perfect weight, perfect matte finish. I had two I named Mary Kate & Ashley, but Santa brought me a third for Christmas and she doesn’t have a name yet (what goes with Mary Kate & Ashley?). That’s how good these mugs are—you will personify them and want to keep them safe and maybe even make little beds for them so they’re comfy on their shelf at night.

Battery Operated Taper Candles
I ordered these after Anna from @inhonorofdesign posted how much she loved them, and they are the best battery-operated taper candles I’ve seen. I love the look of taper candles, but they drip too much (and unevenly with our air conditioning vents) to use them. I’ve had other battery-operated tapers, but they don’t look as real as these; and it’s too much work to pull them out of their holders to click them off and on. But these? They turn on and off with a remote! And they flicker and look so real. Now I have them all over the house (also so many of you have messaged me on stories that you bought them and love them too!).

Brooklinen Linen Sheets
We loved our Brooklinen cotton sheets already, but I had been wanting to try the linen ones. Verdict? They are deliciously luxurious.

Charcuterie Board
How much do I live my charcuterie board? Let me count the ways. I didn’t link to it because it’s a handmade one-of-a-kind, but I did find this shop on Etsy that looks like it makes ones just like it. Mine was hand carved by an amazing grandpa—Leroy—in Northern Michigan. I got to pick out the tree slab it was cut from and visited his garage while he made it. It’s 45 inches long, footed, has a live edge and no lacquer per my request (some of the ones on Etsy are way to shiny and lacquered, and it’s absolutely beautiful. We use it multiple times a week for cheese and fruit, buffets of sandwich fixings, s’more goodies, Movie night candy and popcorn displays, taco toppings, etc. And when it’s not in use, it sits on the middle of my dining room table with candles and a vase of flowers.

 

PERSONAL FAVORITES

Bath and Body Works Cedarwood Vanilla Spray
I love spraying a little bit of perfume after I wash my face and put my pajamas on—a nice little way to add luxury to my before-bed ritual, but I felt silly wasting my expensive perfume just to go to sleep. I went on a hunt for an inexpensive light fragrance and fell in love with this one, part of the Bath and Body Works Aromatherapy Sleep collection. I also bought the lavender vanilla, and they’re both absolute perfection—clean and cozy feel-good scents. I use it every night.

Charlotte Tilbury Foundation
I switched to this foundation this summer, and I’m hooked. Best foundation I’ve used—weightless with a flawless finish (and not shiny!).

Maison Louis Marie No 4 Perfume Oil
I went hunting for a Le Labo Santal 33 dupe and found this perfume oil which is cheaper and still has that intoxicating blend of earthy/spicy that I love—sandalwood, cedar wood, vetiver and amber notes.

Microfiber Face Towels
I use these to take makeup off and wash my face. They’re magic—you don’t even need soap! Everything comes off with warm water, and they’re super soft and easy to wash and reuse.

Peepers Reading Glasses
They’re one of Oprah’s faves, and there are so many styles to choose from. I love the bolder ones that make a statement. I have these ones in tortoise and clear..

The Grace Effect Candles
I LOVE my candles and am picky about how they smell, what they look like and how they’re made. Along came the Grace Effect who just happens to be my neighbor and dear friend. Their mission is everything—to create a company that can employ people with disabilities, something their daughter Grace (who has Down syndrome and is one of Nella’s best friends) can be a part of. And they’re doing it. I’ve watched Katie every step of the way as she’s created this company and am astounded by her drive, her business sense and everything she does. I’ve sat at her kitchen counter, smelling sample scents. I’ve tested the products. These are the candles I’d pick up in a fancy boutique and fall in love with—divine scents that fill a home with love and candles with a purpose we share.

These Noonday Collection Earrings
I love a good statement earring, and these are clean and classy enough to pass as every day earrings too—which is exactly what they have become for me. There isn’t an outfit they don’t complement.

Favorite Jeans
Hands down, these are my favorite jeans. I have them in both the dark worn and charcoal colors. I love the frayed edge and very subtle flair on the hem, love the high waist and button fly, love the little bit of stretch.

Summersalt Long Torso Swimsuit
This is another one of those purchases after seeing so many ads and reviews on it. It did not disappoint. In fact, I know several friends who’ve have bought Summersalt suits who agree—the most flattering, comfortable, well made suit. I have a really long torso and fight with suit wedgies because of it, but Summersalt offers an extra 1 3/4 inches of length on their long torso styles which makes a huge difference.

Bluetooth Headphones
I wanted good Bluetooth headphones for my runs without spending $100–and I don’t like the ear bud kind because they bother my ears when I’m running. I did a little research and found these with great reviews. They’re less than $30, and I LOVE them.

Sharpie Pens
My dad taught us growing up to always have a good pen on hand. I’m picky about my pens, and nothing makes me more frustrated than A: not being able to find a pen when I need one, and B: grabbing a pen to write something only to find it doesn’t write good. Enter one good thing to come out of 2020: I found my pen! The Sharpie gel pens glide like buttah—smooth as hell. I buy boxes of them at a time and tuck them in every pocket, cup, glove compartment and drawer I can think of. The world may be going to hell in a hand basket, but I’ll be darned, I’m writing with a good pen while it does!

KID FAVORITES
Hope and Henry Kids

I discovered Hope & Henry this year and have bought so many amazing pieces for the kids. They offer high quality stylish clothes for kids at affordable prices, using organic cotton and giving back profits to the makers who sew their clothes. Nella has this swimsuit, and the quality is impeccable.

Canon Ivy Cliq Instant Camera
I’ve linked our little instant printer several times, but they stopped making it. And as much as I love it for myself, it did require you to pull photos from an app on your phone or iPad which made the kids less likely to use it. Now that same printer technology is built right into this little instant camera which the kids have been LOVING (Santa gave it to Dash for Christmas). Photos print immediately (backing can be pulled off to turn them into stickers), and they’re much better quality than the Instax camera photos. A perfect beginner camera for kids.

Nella’s Nightgown
Nella is a huge fan of flowy nightgowns, and I’m always on the lookout for quality 100% cotton ones (that won’t wrinkle too much) with vintage vibes—think Wendy in Peter Pan. My mom found this one on Amazon. We loved it so much, we bought it in two colors (white vintage and lavender).

What did I miss? Do you have a product you discovered in 2020 that’s so good, you want the world to know? Do tell!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Everything You Need to Know to Make 2021 Your Year for Taking Photos and Keeping them Organized

January 6, 2021 By Kelle

Everything You Need to Know to Make 2021 Your Year for Taking Photos and Keeping them Organized

Happy New Year, Friends! We did it! We found the escape hatch out of 2020, and we arrived to the new year alive. This is the part of the movie where we’re all bloodied up from our adventure getting here, and there’s a triumphant theme song (preferably composed by John Williams) playing while we hug each other. Now that we’ve arrived, we have to put some systems in place to successfully make this new year our home, and I’ve volunteered to take leadership in an area that overwhelms a lot of moms: taking photos, organizing them and doing something meaningful with them. If that suggestion completely overwhelms you because you are so far gone, buried in a mess of thousands of photos you never thought to organize; don’t run! This is fixable. Come with me.

I don’t normally follow the calendar when it comes to inspiration for starting something new; but if we’re talking about organizing photos, it makes the most sense to have January as your starting point. This is your chance to start the year on the right foot! Whether you mostly just use your phone to take photos or you’re into DSLR photography and editing, this post is going to dig in to all the tips and tricks to help you be successful this year at taking photos and creating consistent, sustainable practices for editing them, storing them and doing something meaningful with them so your family can enjoy these photos for years to come. I have fizzled out on so many systems in my life, but this is one area where I’ve been successful, give or take a few hard lessons learned (back up your photos!).

I asked what you want to know about this topic on Instagram Stories and received so many great questions, so I’m going to try and organize this in an orderly fashion by your questions and themes. But I want to begin with the two most important tips that will help you be successful. No matter what system you set up to manage your photos, if these two tips aren’t followed, I guarantee you’ll fizzle out on keeping up with them.

1. Make it joyful, and understand your “why.”

If keeping up on your photos is always an arduous dreaded task, no wonder you get behind and feel overwhelmed! The reason I’ve kept up on my photos all these years is because I actually enjoy the process. I’ve created rituals around editing (Saturday mornings with my coffee and a good playlist before anyone else is up) to make it less of a task and more of something that brings me joy. I also understand and fully embrace why I do it—it’s not just to “stay organized.” Having photos sorted, displayed and in books so that we can easily look at them and remember our moments together has brought so much joy to our family and makes me feel so much more grateful for my people and the experiences we’ve had together. I swear my kids’ memories of places we’ve visited and things we’ve done are more vivid because of the photos they continually look at to remind them of what we’ve shared. Having photos well organized also makes it really easy to create photo gifts for loved ones, video montages for birthday parties, etc. Try and think about photo storage and organization less as a task and more as an opportunity to sit down and look at your memories—an invitation to joy and reflection. Create a little time each week (or every two—keep your goals doable) to move photos, edit (if you’re the editing type), and organize them; and make this time enjoyable by lighting a candle, playing music, bringing a glass of wine into your office, etc.

2. Lower your standards and make photo goals sustainable.

When Lainey was a baby, I went deep into the abyss of digital scrapbooking. I spent hours creating intricate layouts, journaling letters to her and writing stories to go along with every album spread so I’d never forget a detail about her babyhood. I took thousands of photos and saved every one. People used to tease me that I’d never be able to keep up with it once I had more kids, and they were 100% right. So many moms go in strong the first year with the first kid but five years later lament that they never pick up their camera anymore and are so buried in years of unorganized photos, there’s no chance they’ll ever catch up—so they don’t even try. Lower your standards! Don’t set yourself up for failure. I make one annual album at the end of the year that includes a year’s worth of memories, and I choose the simplest layouts—no text (although text is an option with the company I use). If I started putting text in my albums, I know I’d feel the need to keep it up. The project would turn into something much bigger and time consuming, I’d procrastinate about doing it—and then I’d get behind and be where a lot of you are. Simplify! Your goal is “Done,” not “Perfect.”

My Process for Taking, Editing and Storing Photos

Before I tackle your questions, let me give you a quick run-down of what my photo process looks like. I use both my phone and DSLR camera for capturing memories. I use my phone for all the candid shots where I’m not really thinking about composition, but I do use it for some of the “good shots” too, especially if I’m out and see a great photo op and don’t have my big camera with me. The albums I create are made mostly of those “best shot” DSLR photos, but I’ve included phone photos many times and they print just fine (I’ve helped friends make my same album with mainly just iPhone pictures, and they still turn out beautiful). If I’ve taken a lot of photos from one event (say, a day at the zoo, a trip, a birthday party, etc.), I try and edit them and get them off my card and onto my hard drive immediately (within a day or two of taking them). Other than that, I try and edit day-to-day moment photos once a week. Some weeks I don’t take enough photos to do that; other weeks give me a nice fifteen minute editing session at my computer. I store all of my photos on an external hard drive (I like this one) and back them up to a cloud service. I use Amazon Photos because I have free unlimited photo storage with my Amazon Prime membership, but there are many cloud services available. After every editing session, I upload all the photos I edited into Amazon Photos and name the album folder the same as how it appears on my hard drive. I pay a small additional monthly fee to store videos on Amazon Photos as well. My phone photos automatically sync to Amazon photos, and I’m pretty lax about how those are organized because I already have a great organization system for my DSLR photos and also—practicing that low standard thing. In fact, when it comes to my phone, I usually just dump all the photos on my phone into one big folder on my external hard drive a few times a year (I need to do it more like once a month). The folders are given very classy names like “iPhone Dump August 2020”. I know I can always search later by the date photos were taken based on their metadata. If your phone is your main source of taking photos though, you probably want to follow more of what I do for my DSLR photos. This is what my external hard drive looks like for DSLR photo storage:

 

I used to save every shot I ever took, but it turned into a ridiculous hoarding situation. You don’t need 15 shots of the same thing with slightly different facial expressions. The older I get and the more responsibilities I have to manage, the more ruthless I become with what I save and throw away in all areas of my life. I’ve managed to develop a pretty good curating system—only the best of the best gets edited. I use Lightroom to edit my DSLR photos and Color Story to edit phone photos. Because I’m a major photo taker, I know my children are well documented. I do not for one second waste time feeling bad about deleting photos of them because we are not hurting for photos in this house. I am more careful to save photos of people we don’t see very often—grandparents, cousins, friends and family.

Printing Photos and Making Albums and Books

As far as what I do with my photos, our main big photo project is an end of the year album that includes our entire year. We make this hardcover album from Pinhole Press (it’s beautiful—thick wedding album quality lay-flat page spreads). I fill it with the maximum number of pages (90), and it sits on our coffee table all year long. It gets picked up, loved and looked through almost every week. I start creating my album in January and create page spreads all throughout the year, so it’s never an intimidating process. That way I can also see how many pages I’ve filled to keep me on track (I try to be up to 45 pages by June).

I wrote this post last year all about our albums and the album making process if you’d like more information. I don’t make the kids their own album each year because it’s just not sustainable to do one for each kid, but I do make other little soft cover books and projects for them for special occasions now and then. We also make smaller photo books throughout the year like these board books we create for all the trips we take, and the kids LOVE looking back at these trip memories. Pinhole Press saves all your projects on their site, so I can always go back and order duplicate albums later.

I  print a batch of regular hold-in-your-hand prints maybe twice a year or when we need them for a project. I love the square prints from Social Print Studio for displaying or tucking into cards and gifts. If I need photos printed for a quick project, I just send them to Walgreens. If I’m enlarging photos for our home, I use WHCC or have my father-in-law print them (he basically has a printing lab in his office). I always love having a stack of recent photo prints on hand though, so I try to print a batch a few times a year.

Now, let’s get to your questions.

By far, the most frequently asked question is:

I’m so far gone, I don’t know where to begin. How do I catch up on past years? How do I deal with the 50,000 photos in my camera roll?

I liken this question to the challenge of cleaning a bedroom that is so messy, you don’t know where to start. In the case of a bedroom, I’ve found the best way to attack is to move all the stuff aside first—load it up in laundry baskets that you can sort through later, but get to the bones of the bedroom so that you can see the light in the tunnel. Change the sheets, make the bed, dust, vacuum, light a candle, start fresh. Over time, you can backtrack and sort what’s in the laundry baskets, but what’s most important is getting the bedroom to a joyful starting place. It’s the same with photos. Set yourself up for 2021 by creating your first folders for this year’s storage. Maybe create a 2021 folder with Jan, Feb, March, etc. sub folders within it. Take lots of photos this week just for fun—corners of your home you love, your pet lying in a sliver of sunlight by the front door, your kids reading on the bed, a vase of flowers on the kitchen table. Drop them in your first labeled folder of the year and feel good for where your headed! As far as that giant mess of photos? Dump them in one folder to start (if they are on your phone, you may need to offload them in batches because of how long they take to download. I’d suggest connecting them directly to an external drive and exporting them there). Then, when you have time, you can slowly start to organize them into sub folders. Work with the most present and move backwards. So if your 2020 photos are one big heap of a mess, start by creating a 2020 folder for all of them. Within that folder, create one sub folder at a time. Give yourself a number so it’s not too overwhelming (kind of like the 15 minute shakedown I do to clean my kitchen). Tell yourself you’re only choosing 20 favorite photos from each month to put in subfolders. You can always add more later.

How do you narrow down your selections for what goes in the album and not feel the need to include or print every single photo you ever took?

Time has helped. I used to struggle with this and included way too many photos in albums. But then the good ones don’t stand out. I try to have the big moments and events always represented (events, vacations, birthdays) and then lots of my favorite photos of day to day life.  Here’s another good tip I’ve used for years: Create a “Favorites” folder at the beginning of the year. Whenever you take a shot you really love—one that truly embodies your family or a favorite moment or really beautiful photography (the “framers”), save a copy into the favorites folder. Whenever I’m looking to print photos to frame, include in a gallery wall or represent my best work, I can quickly pop into the favorites folder and find one. My favorites folder also inspires my creativity. When I’m not feeling very inspired to photograph, I can always spend a few minutes scrolling through favorite photos I’ve taken and feel a surge of creativity and inspiration return.

Do you have any editing tips for beginners?

Keep it simple! I don’t use a lot of filters or make a lot of changes to my photos to keep the editing process quick and enjoyable. In Lightroom, I make minor adjustments—brightness, fill light, sometimes temperature or individual color adjustment—but it’s super quick. And whenever I’m editing a batch of photos that were taken in the same light, I copy and paste edits to keep the process rolling. The simpler you keep your edits, the more likely you’ll keep up with it throughout the year.

About how many photos do you include in one year album?

I actually just counted the ones that are in my 2020 album—200. Some layouts are spread out with several photos on one page spread. Some page spreads are just one beautiful photo across two pages (for the best photos that I want to shine). I have 6-7  favorite page layouts in Pinhole Press that I reuse throughout the entire album.

My photos are mostly iphone only. Can I make an album from my phone?

Pinhole currently doesn’t have a phone app set up for this, but many other companies do. I would still suggest creating an organization system on an external hard drive where you can access, organize and do things with your phone photos from a desktop. I find it much easier to manage that way (plus, they’re safer on an external drive than on your phone—but back them up anyway!). If you transfer your favorite phone photos into folders on your computer, you can easily create a Pinhole album. Other album/book sites I know a lot of people love that have different options: Chatbooks, Popsa, Artifact Uprising.

Do you have an organization system for photos on your iPhone? 

Because I use my DSLR so much and iPhone photos are extra fun backup for all the casual day-to-day life stuff, I don’t organize my phone photos with as much dedication as I do for my big camera photos. I will, however, say that I started creating albums for my phone photos last year, and how have I waited so long?! If you’re iPhone only, I’d highly suggest you create 12 albums right this second in your phone for favorites for each month: January 2021 Favorites, February 2021 Favorites, etc. When you take a photo you love, add it to the appropriate album. Then at least when you’re going to create an album, book or print photos, you can pull right from the organized favorites albums rather than scrolling through 200 screenshots, 52 blurry kid selfies and shots of parking lot spots you didn’t want to forget.

How do you find interesting in the mundane?

As far as photography goes, find inspiration in the work of others! There are so many photographers who are masters at capturing beautiful photography of mundane moments and things. Follow them! Subscribe to their work. One of my favorite photo inspiration books for capturing the mundane is A Year of Mornings, a photography project shared between two moms across the globe who took one photo of their morning every day for one year. The images are stunning and completely expanded my perspective on things that make beautiful photos—light hitting the pocket of an apron hanging in the kitchen, a bowl of eggs on an old farmhouse table, a pile of colorful kids shoes by the front door, a cardinal in the window. I always challenge myself to capture beautiful photos outside of my children because I don’t want my love of photography to hinge on their presence. They’re going to be grown and out the door someday, and I don’t want my love for this hobby to wither when they leave. There is so much beauty in the world to be captured. Don’t forget to take photos of flowers, kitchen still life shots, corners of your home, scenes on neighborhood walks, etc. Include them in your favorites folder and yearly albums. Another photo book I love that always inspires me as summer gets closer—Summertime by Joanne Dugan. The images of simple summer pleasures are timeless and inspiring. Also, Click magazine is my favorite magazine subscription—a delicious buffet of photography inspiration. I am giddy when I open the mailbox to see it’s arrive.

One last thing! If you are buried under mounds of photo prints from the past that you want to organize and digitize, we’ve used Legacy Box, and they are amazing. They send you a box (shipping prepaid) to fill with your photos—prints, film, VHS tapes, even slides—and they digitize everything for you and send you all your prints back as well as a thumb drive with your new files, a digital download and a watchable DVD set.

I know that was a lot for one post, but hopefully you’re inspired to start fresh this year. Photography and having our moments preserved has brought me so much joy. I don’t want overwhelm keeping anyone from digging in.

Filed Under: Photography, Uncategorized

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