In The Beginning: Hulda Josephine Anderson Kramer

I remember the photos of my great-grandmother and her twin. The photo sat on a shelf by Uncle Jack's chair in my grandparents' farmhouse. To a child, the photos and the faces in there were mysterious and maybe a little scary. The strange hair and serious expressions were hard to understand.

Hulda Josephine Anderson Kramer

As I got older, I would look through my grandma's old photo albums. The nights were long when we visited the farm. No cable, kind of cold. I remember getting brave and asking to look though the photo albums. My grandma was happy to let me look. And I remember being being fascinated by the black and white collection mounted on black paper. Fancy dresses in wedding photos and formal portraits, as well as snapshots of children at play and families gathered. Few smiles but lots of photos.

And later, I learned that my grandma lost her mom at a young age, to appendicitis. Hulda Kramer only lived to be 40 years old. We know she painted and lived in Rockford, Illinois her whole life. Whenever someone in the family showed artistic ability, it was accredited to Hulda.. My mom now has the old albums that save the dozens of snapshots of my grandma as a young girl with her mother.

Hulda painting porcelain dishes

Hulda with my grandmother, Marjorie

This photo of the woman in the fancy hat, my great-grandmother, may be the photo that originally sparked my curiosity about family photos and family history.

#52ancestors

12 Days of Photo Gifts

Photos make the best gifts. Remember the handmade photo ornaments you made in preschool with your school photo in the center of a star or as the face of snowman? And are those ornaments still brought out and put on the tree years later? You bet!

This is my yearly list, with a few edits for 2024, of my favorite ways to give unique and meaningful gifts that make your photos, new or old, the star of the season.

Day 1: Holiday Cards

The Christmas card has been around almost as long as photography, both dating back to the mid-1800's. And custom photo cards became the norm with the transition of film photography to digital.

Whether it's a photo from a professional family photo session or a candid from vacation, designing and send photo Christmas cards is a simple gesture that connects you to the people on your Christmas list and beyond. Over the years, I've used Sam's Club, Costco, Wal-Mart, Shutterfly, Diversified Lab and Minted to print my Christmas cards. The choices and budget options are endless and the process is fairly simple. And if you order by the first week of December, you should have plenty of time to get them in the mail. But if you're like me and are just getting your family session finished, a New Year card can be a nice surprise after Christmas.

Day 2: Photo Ornaments

Commemorate the year's biggest moments or display your family portraits on a photo ornament. Heirloom photos are great for ornaments too! My next project may be to pick a few of my favorite photos from Christmas Past to display on the tree. Popular online photo labs have many options to choose from, like a classic brass frame or a metal double-sided ornament. You can always find ornaments frames and add your own photo like these fun and inexpensive frames. Or, you could go really old-school and get out the popsicle sticks and glitter to make a one-of-a-kind handmade, just like we did in preschool.

Day 3: Framed Photos

If you've been working on organizing your photos, you've probably found some hidden gems that deserve to be on display. A beautiful frame that holds a special photo may be the perfect gift for just about anyone. Formal photos are most people's go-to for framing, but a snapshot can be just as frame-worthy.

Day 4: Black and White Print Sets

Choose a collection of photos from a special event, trip or milestone. Print them in black and white at your favorite lab and place them in simple frames. This idea can work for every room in every house.

Day 5: Enlarge and frame a favorite travel photo

A beautiful beach

A winding mountain road.

An incredible city skyline.

Look through your photos, old or new, and choose a scenic view to make into art for your favorite travel companion.

Day 6: Desk or Wall Calendar

Birthday months of grandkids

Baby’s First Year

Seasonal Landscapes

Old photo or recent make for unique and thoughtful gifts for grandparents, new parents, or anyone who spends time at a desk.

Day 7: Photobooks

Everyone loves a photo album. The feeling of flipping through the pages and rediscovering photos and memories from years or decades ago.

Completed photobooks make wonderful gifts, but time isn't always on our side. It's hard to finish a book before Christmas; impossible if you're trying to include the whole year. So a gift certificate to a diy service may be perfect for some, while a gift certificate to have the book designed and printed may be a better for others.

I've created some truly unique travel photobooks for clients in 2024. Travel is one of the most popular topics for photobooks, but the ideas for making these books are endless.

Who do you know that would love to received a photobook this Christmas, New Year or Valentine's Day?

Day 8: Special Memories

Watch Me Grow or Remember When can be great inspiration for a photo gift.

These acrylics print frames are a fun stocking stuffer for all ages.

Day 9: Get yourself in the photos

If you're the person in charge of photos, I'll bet you're not in very many of them. (I'm not sure if selfies count). I am just as guilty as the next busy elf.

Christmas morning, I make a point to be part of the photos. I would set up my "good camera" and get out the remote. And take a ton of candid photos of our complete family enjoying those moments.

If you don't have a little a tripod that can hold your phone, I think it's time to ask for one. There are a million version of gadgets that can help you get in front of the camera, with your family and in your own photos.

Be visible in the memories. Your family will thank you for it later.

Day 10: 2024 Video

How many little snippets of video to you have on your phone? As I’ve been doing more video conversion, I’m becoming more aware of the videos I make and where they will end up.

I’ve started making compilations of the videos on my phone, by month or year, that I can stream on tv and watch in a longer session. I think these will become popular as our kids, the generation who knows video to either be on phone or streamed, have more video content to save.

Day 11: Preserve your Prints

Magnetic album. Tape. Glue. Acidic papers.

These are some common tools and album supplies that may be slowly damaging your print photos. If the photos and pages are discolored, it’s time to take a look at different storage solutions for your family’s older photos.

As you spend time with loved ones this holiday season, will you look through old photos?

I provide complete photo management services for digital, print and video. If thoughts of planning for the new year are already on your mind I would love to help you get your photos organized in 2025!

Day 12: Find the Memories

While it's not easy to wrap up neatly and put under the tree, taking care of your old photos and videos can be a perfect gift that will be loved by family of every age.

Dig out an old print of you or your parents as children and put it in a frame.

Compile a photo album of babies growing up.

Find the old videos and watch them together.

As you spend time with loved ones this holiday season, bring the photo album or the video camera. Snuggle in with the stories that old images bring.

Enjoy this time with family and friends.

If would love to help with any of your Christmas or New Year projects,

I'm just an email away at amy@recollectphotomanager.com

Or reach out on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/recollectphotos

Happy Holidays!

Amy

Why you need a Photo Manager

Do any of these reasons resonate with you?

1. You don't know where to start organizing your digital and print photos.

2. You aren't comfortable with technology or do not want to buy more equipment. Maybe the technology you need seems so old it won't work anymore.

3. You don't have time. Organizing your photos is not something that will be first on most people's "to-do" list. There are many other things that need to be taken care of first, so the photos have to wait.

4. You've started, but feel like you've gotten in over your head. Who knew you had THIS MANY PHOTOS?

5. You've already lost some photos and you don't want to risk losing more. This is the worst. Did you know that digital photos are more at risk than prints? If you don't have a good backup system, you can lose photos with a simple phone upgrade. Print photos get lost during moves, damaged in flooded basements or misplaced after years in storage.

6. You've inherited photos that you don't know how to manage. You don't want to get rid of them, but it's hard to know what to keep.

7. You're out of phone storage, so you delete. Making decisions about your photo collection just to save a few MB of storage.

8. You're moving. Whether you're downsizing or moving to a bigger place, it would be so nice if everything you want had the perfect place in your new home

9. You have photos that are damaged and need some TLC. Should you throw them away? Are they worth saving? Can they even be saved?

10. You're too sentimental about your photos and get sidetracked with the memories. This is hard and can make a simple task of sorting take 3 times as long as you stop and reminisce about every photos.

Photo management is a service for everyone and every stage of life.

-Retirees who are downsizing or young adults who are getting their things out of mom's basement

-New moms who are taking more photos than ever

-Parents of children at any stage, who are trying to manage the memories as their children grow

-Travelers who document their trips with hundreds or thousands of photos

-Children and grandchildren who want to preserve their family heritage

As your photo manager, I will help guide you to a custom solution for your photos. We will work together for the mutual goal of organized and safe photos that are easy to search and share.

Your photo collection took years to build, let's start organizing it today!

services: www.recollectphotomanager.com

email: amy@recollectphotomanager.com