Yes, you read that correctly – take fewer photos for scrapbooking. Why, you ask? One reason is to make your scrapbooking a bit easier and sometimes quicker for those times when you feel that there’s no time to scrapbook anymore; that getting caught up is tough; or that there are too many photos to even know where to start when you do find the time to scrapbook. Here are two reasons that taking fewer photos can help you with your scrapbooking.
It’s déjà vu all over again
Is there an event or place that you visit yearly or even more frequently? For example, visits to Adventureland and/or the State Fair are awesome experiences to scrapbook, and, sure, this year, your kids are a year older and riding more rides, etc. You take a lot of photos during your visits, too; however, the photos start to look alike after your third State Fair experience. You feel more, “huh,” than “wow” when you review your precious photo prints.
To bring “wow” back to your photo memories -- and scrapbooking -- from such fun events as the Fair or Adventureland, Disney World, etc., try taking fewer photos. The first time your kids ride the rides or hug the characters, snapping three-hundred digital photos to make sure you capture every single precious moment is not a bad idea. The second or third time around, though, try capturing only the most special parts of your repeat visits. Was this the year you finally had the Princess breakfast at Disney World? Are your kids finally old enough or brave enough to ride the roller coaster and have fun doing so? What did you do different at the State Fair this year that you’ve never done…eat more food on a stick? See more animals? Win a blue ribbon? Take photos that showcase these things and fewer photos of those things that make you say, “been there, done that” again and again.
One picture is worth a thousand words
You’ve heard this expression before, and you’ve also heard “less is more.” Never were truer words spoken. What do you truly want to remember when you’re taking event photos? Is it the Easter egg hunt, or is it your child’s joy with a basket full of found treasures? Your partner’s look with paint on his nose from all that kitchen renovation can be more scrap-worthy than a photo of the finished paint job. The two or three best photos in the huge stack you took on the first day of school will speak volumes on a scrapbook page and will be easier to work with than trying to squeeze 17 photos across two 12” pages.
Scrapbook pages are not necessarily meant to feature only one photo, as life cannot be captured totally in one photo, this is certain. Snapping photos more deliberately, however, can help your memory-keeping and scrapbooking without cheating. And to take this idea one step further, scrapbooking fewer photos can help your efforts even if you cannot fathom taking fewer photos. Your additional photos, those not scrapbooked, can be put in pocket pages that fit in your scrapbooks, kept in photo file boxes or decorative separate photo albums. You will still get to celebrate and create with photos you love, but not be taxed with the overload of photos from a single event.
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