i want you all to print your photos this year.  whether they are from your dSLR camera, your iphone, your point and shoot… i don’t care – but they need to be printed.  i am challenging you all and whoever can complete the task and send me a photo of your finished product at the end of 2018 will go in a drawing to WIN a free portrait session.

you all know i preach it – PRINT YOUR PHOTOS!  it is soooo important that we have printed photographs for our children and our children’s children to pass along.  it can be such a daunting task to go through the years worth of images to figure out what ones you’er going to print, how you’re going to print them, through what company… so many decisions!!!  i have a challenge for you.  start organizing your year NOW.  get on your computer and make folders like i have listed here.

one folder for every month.  throughout the month you can throw your images in that file – or do it all at the end of the month.  i guarantee it will take you no more than 15 minutes!!  start it early so that when the end of 2018 rounds the corner you don’t feel like you are drowning in a years worth of images!!  ideally – you can organize images within that file by the date they were taken.  I take it one step further and like to organize by the date they were taken and naming the event they were taken at.  I also throw in a miscellaneous folder where i throw in the random days where i took one or two images.

my family yearbooks tell our story – and when we look at them my kids ask us to tell them the stories about what was happening.  i can tell you – this will make all your hard work worth it.  when your children to have a photo album telling the story of your year together as a family – they will cherish it.  they can bring it with them for years to come – tell their stories to their children and their children’s children.  what more could you ask for?  i love looking at the stack of albums on our end table – the kids look at them all the time, and that tells me its worth it.

so there it is – my 2018 challenge for you.  PRINT YOUR PHOTOS.  in the upcoming weeks i’m going to be sharing some of my favorite ways to print my photos – so make sure you stay up to date for some really fun ideas – and share yours in the comments below also! everyone (myself included) is always looking for new ways to print for their families.  and just remember… if you can complete this challenge… and by the end of 2018 you send me a snapshot of how you documented your days – whether it be volumes from artifact uprising, chatbooks from instagram, a photo book from mpix, or some other idea you come up with – you’ll be entered to WIN a free portrait session. 😉

here’s my most recent love… our 2016 family album.. 🙂

your family’s story is worth telling, and reliving… for years to come.