# The Ultimate Guide to Storing, Managing, and Enjoying Your Photos  ## Introduction and the Challenge of Photo Management - The author notes that photos are highly valued and meaningful, yet require a lot of storage space, making them a challenge to manage in the digital age. - The author shares their personal experience of struggling with photo management, having tried various methods including manually loading photos onto a hard drive, using [[Facebook]] albums, [[IPhoto | iPhoto]], and [[Flickr]]. - The author recommends storing photos in [[Google Photos]], which securely stores them in the cloud and allows for automatic uploading and backup via the [[Google]] Photos app. - To simplify the process, the author suggests turning on the "Backup" setting in Google Photos, which automatically uploads photos and videos from the phone to the Google Photos account. ## Using Google Photos for Storage and Backup - The author also recommends choosing the "Storage saver" backup quality, which stores photos at a slightly reduced quality, and turning off "Use mobile data to back up photos/videos" to save data. - Additionally, the author suggests turning on "Partner sharing" to automatically share photos with a significant other. - The author notes that [[Google Photos]] automatically organizes photos in various ways, including by date, people and pets, places, and things in the photos. - To find specific photos, the author recommends using the search bar and typing in a keyword or location. - For a more manual approach, the author suggests curating photos into albums, such as vacations and celebrations, which can be shared with others via a link generated by [[Google]] Photos. ## The Importance of Photo Projects and Creating Photo Books - The author emphasizes the importance of having a concrete project in mind for photos, such as creating photo books, to give them meaning and beauty in one's life. - The author notes that additional storage may be needed with [[Google One]] to store all photos over many years, and provides a link to current pricing. - Creating a photo book is a hands-on project that helps make photos more manageable and meaningful, allowing them to be a part of daily life and evoking feelings of gratitude and connection to loved ones. - The author has been creating photo books for years, dedicating a few hours to the project, which yields a high return on investment and has become a crucial part of their Annual Review process. - The goal of creating a photo book is to review the past year's memories, gain perspective, and feel connected to the good things in life, making it easier to make decisions about the future. ## The Process of Creating a Photo Book - To create a photo book, the author sets constraints, such as limiting the time spent to 3-4 hours, only considering photos taken during the year, setting a deadline, and only using their own photos. - The author follows a three-step process: taking awesome photos, choosing the best photos and adding them to an album, and creating the photo book. ## Taking Awesome Photos - When taking photos, the author has learned to take fewer photos, focusing on capturing one good photo per event or moment, and prioritizing photos of people and meaningful milestones. - The author's approach to taking photos has allowed them to be more present in the moment and avoid the pressure to document every single detail. ## The Benefits of the Photo Book Project - The photo book project helps to silence the inner critic by providing visual evidence of the amazing moments in life, promoting gratitude and appreciation. - By reviewing the past year's photos, the author feels overwhelmed with gratitude and gains a deeper sense of perspective, making it an essential part of their Annual Review process. ## Selecting Photos for the Photo Book - To create a photo book, it's essential to narrow down your selection of photos to a manageable number, with the author recommending no more than 100 photos to represent a given year. - This process can be challenging, but it's crucial to "embrace imperfection" and remember that you're not throwing away any photos, just elevating a select few for easier access. - To make the selection process more manageable, the author suggests choosing photos in passes, starting on January 1st and moving forward, without dwelling on any particular photo. - The first pass should take no more than an hour, with subsequent passes taking around 10-15 minutes, and the goal is to reach 100 photos without worrying too much about organizing them in chronological order or perfecting every detail. ## Creating the Photo Book with Google Photos - Once the album is created, you can turn it into a photo book using [[Google Photos]], which offers limited customization options, making the process less overwhelming. - The author recommends choosing the smaller, square size for the photo book, which doesn't require high-resolution photos, and adding captions, selecting a cover image and title, and then ordering the book. ## Other Ways to Make Your Photos More Present - In addition to creating photo books, other ways to make your favorite photos more present in your life include making prints and displaying them, curating a photo slideshow, and creating a photo calendar. - The key to making these creative projects successful is to start with a distilled selection of photos, as having too many photos can be overwhelming and make it difficult to enjoy them in any form.