Digital is just amazing! Before you know it, you can take 500 photos & still have room for more on your SD card. Just the other day, 4GB card exceeded 1000 photos. yep. 1000. I took some super cute photos of my nephews...76 at Sean's first football game, to be exact.
#22, that's my nephew Sean...
And the same day I took 62 at Audra's Ice Cream Social
And when I went to Lake Powell with my brother & his family, I kept 269 of the photos I took.
I have come to the realization that I cannot afford to house nor pay for all of those photos to be printed. And while I completely adore my nephews & Audra for that matter, I do not need to have a bazillion photos from their events in my albums. That's what their albums are for. So I'm taking a tough stance with myself...only print the ones I love. Keep all the rest, but only print those that I love (unless it's Kendall's birthday & then I'll keep all 356).
So what's an obsessed shutterbug to do? Well, this weekend, for instance, every day I uploaded my photos into iPhoto (I use Picasa on my laptop, which is free from Google). I delete the super hidious photos...edit out a few zits...and then save them to a folder on my computer called "photos to upload to scrapbookpictures.com". (I'm not big on editing my photos...mostly because I don't know how to). I created folders for my niece Becky & Audra & burned the photos I took at their "events" onto cd's for them. I'm still keeping the photos...just don't need to print them all (this is my mantra...have to remind myself of it repeatedly). Then this morning, I uploaded my photos to scrapbookpictures.com so I can get them printed. It is so much nicer to do it from the comfort of my living room than the kiosk at Sam's Club. And lately, I've been printing the photos that I want for my photo album (most of them, truth be told) & then going back & ordering different size prints for my scrapbook pages.
Why do I like www.scrapbookpictures.com? Well, they're fast. The photo quality is AMAZING. You can order your photos in any size you want. 2x2, 3x3, 8x10, 12x12...the list is endless...and yes, 4x6 is there, too. They store your photos on their site, which is an additional back up for FREE. You just have to order prints once a year. They only charge $2 shipping. When you stand in line at Sam's to upload a couple of photos off a card that has over 1000 photos it takes FOREVER. The kiosk slows down to a snails pace & if you dare to try to edit a photo you might as well plan on another hour (this is for cards that have a TON of photos...it's pretty fast for cards with say, 100) Don't have that problem at home. I can upload in my jammies. Or hit upload & go cook breakfast...do the laundry...pet the dog. Oh, & Karen Russell told me to :) And I've never been happier. To get 15 free prints & try them out, either enter their site from the flashing icon to the right of the screen or enter code GFU153 at checkout. You won't be disappointed!
Now, lots of people print their photos at home. I choose to use a photo lab, such as scrapbookpictures.com or Sam's Club. I have an Epson 1400 that prints pretty spectacular photos, but I only use it for class projects & random projects. They aren't what I put in my photo albums...sometimes those class projects end up in my scrapbooks, so they are in my scrapbook. I just prefer that my photos go through a photo lab emullsion process. I think it makes a better, longer lasting print. And when they get wet, they don't bleed (they just stick to whatever surface they were near & tear to shreds when you try to peel it away...that's all). And the ink doesn't scratch off of them with the blade from your paper trimmer. But that's my personal preference. It's also my personal preference to have photos printed...not left on a computer which will likely crash & eat them all & then I'd be left totally upset because I lost all my photos. Would rather have a print any day.
