How do you eat an elephant?
One bite at a time.
Your Photos Are the Elephant
Right now, your photos probably look like this:
Thousands on your phone.
More on your computer.
Even more floating around in the cloud.
It’s a mess.
And because it feels overwhelming… you don’t deal with it.
You pass your phone around.
Maybe print a few photos.
Once in a while, something makes it into a photo book.
But most of your memories?
They’re scattered.
Even I Ran Into a Problem
I do this for a living.
And yesterday—I couldn’t find a photo.
I was putting together a Father’s Day collage and went into Google Photos to find one specific image.
March 2010.
Then April 2014.
Nothing.
That moment of panic hits fast.
Where is it?
Where is the first photo of my husband and daughter?
The Reality Check
I went straight to my computer—my first backup system.
Year folder → Month folder.
There it was.
Safe.
But that led to a bigger question:
How many other photos are missing?
Answer: I have no idea.
This Is Why You Can’t Ignore It
If I can’t find a photo—and this is what I do every day—you probably can’t either.
Your system might not be as secure as you think.
And the longer you wait, the harder it gets.
So Here’s What We’re Doing
I’m walking through this process again—step by step.
Not just for me.
For you.
The goal:
Everything synced.
Everything backed up.
Everything easy to find.
Step One: GATHER Everything
Before you organize anything—you gather.
All of it.
Put everything in one place.
Yes, it might be a box.
Or five boxes.
That’s fine.
What to Gather (Physical + Digital)
Devices:
- Old phones
- Thumb drives
- CDs and DVDs
- Laptops and old computers
- External hard drives
- Cameras
Accounts (make sure you can log in):
- Google Photos
- Dropbox
- Shutterfly
- Walgreens Photo
- Box
- Walmart Photo Center
- Costco Photo Center
- iCloud Photos
- Flickr
- Amazon Photos
(You probably have more than you think.)
Your Only Job Right Now
Do not organize.
Do not sort.
Just gather.
Set a timer for 15 minutes and start pulling everything into one place.
That’s it.
One bite.
What’s Next
Once everything is in one place, we’ll move to the next step:
What to keep, what to delete, and how to actually build a system that works.
Start Now
Don’t overthink this.
Set a timer.
Start gathering.
Then come back and tell me where you’re at.
➤ Need help already? plcphotos.com/contact