Simple Steps to Organizing your Personal Photos
Have you been looking for a simple way to organize your personal photos? Every year, I build a calendar for the grandparents and photo books for our family to enjoy. In the past, I have spent the majority of my time gathering photos.
A few years ago, however, I started a simple folder system that has made it so much easier to put together these projects. It can be done on a Mac or a PC and it won’t take a lot of time at all.
I start with a folder that just has my name “Elizabeth Simmons,” then I have a folder under that titled “jpegs” (this can also be titled “Personal Photos” but my photographer brain likes jpegs), then I have a folder with the year, “2026,” then the month, “February 2026.” Every time I take photos on a vacation, or have professional photos done of our family, the photos go in the corresponding month folder. When I begin my project on a platform, I simply go upload all of the folders from that year. It takes less than two minutes.
What about the iPhone photos? This is a good question, as most of your photos that will be going into these projects will be stored on your phone. If you have a Mac, you can go to the Photos icon and click on the ones that you would like to upload. It’s a separate step from the photos stored on your computer, but still does not take a lot of time. Don’t have that icon? Go through your photos and AirDrop your favorites to your computer. If you keep your camera roll clean throughout the year, this will be a shorter step. Did you ask a complete stranger to take photos of your family while on vacation? Delete the extras right away- there will likely be way more than you need. Or, instead of scrolling Facebook or Instagram while you are waiting in line, use that opportunity to clean up your camera roll.
On your PC, you can select the start button and open the photos app. Simply click on the photos you want and select “Import.”
Setting up this folder system now will save you so much time in November. Don’t worry about past photos, just start today!