New Years Resolution HOW TO: Sort, Organize, Print your family photos by Stacey Panassidi

It's January 4th already and I don't know about you but I often have files filled with pictures from the previous year of my own family and friends that I haven't had a chance to sort/organize/print . Part of my new year's resolution (besides working out regularly) is to get my personal photos in order! So where to begin? How about the beginning. Rather than make yourself crazy, take it one month at a time and work on it once a week. 

Here is an idea of my sorting/organizing/printing flow:

1. Take the 1st of each month to work on the month priors photos
2. I make sure that month's images have been backed up, if they haven't, I back it up on my external hard drive. 
3. I review my images from that month and decide what I want to print, what I want to save and what I want to delete. Yes, I delete images, sometimes my images are blurry, or don't tell the story and I don't keep them. 
4. I put a folder on my desktop labeled to print and all to print photos go there. (I recommend printing with mpix.com)
5. Each month I upload to mpix.com and print those images. 
6. I have slip in albums that I load those pictures into (my kids at ages 12 and 15 still love flipping through a photo album, looking at the computer is just not the same!)

Besides what I take with my BIG MAMA DSLR camera and my point and shoot, I also have a ton of pictures that I take on instragram w/ my smartphone. (You can follow me at @spanassidi) and I found the coolest thing for printing instagram pictures! It's called Printstagram and they have some really cute products! I just printed a 365 calendar and I love it! Check out printstagram here http://printstagr.am/, I definitely plan on printing more with them. 

Last thing I do is figure out what images I want to display around my home. My favorite artwork for my walls is my family. I love canvas, I don't have to worry about framing, I can just hang it immediately and enjoy it, a big plus for a procrastinator like me!  I just ordered huge 28x28 canvas' for a small wall in my kitchen from this year's holiday pictures, but you can see here canvas's of my dogs, last year's holiday pictures and other favorites hanging around my house. It makes me happy to see my family as I go from room to room. 



















So there you have it, not so hard to sort/organize/print and ENJOY! Before you know it will be Jan. 4, 2014, so get started today!

Stacey Panassidi is owner/photographer at The Memory Studios in Marlboro New Jersey. She is a Mamatography Photo Workshops Affiliate and teaches photography to moms in her area and soon, online.