Kathy Stinson “As Photographer”
One subject predominates in the photos I’ve taken since last April.
A few months before this affectionate ball of fluff’s arrival in our home, I got into the habit of, once a month, going through the previous month’s photos, deleting those undeserving of storage space, and putting 5 of the ‘keepers’ into a “Best of [Year]” Album. I’m embarrassed to admit that Of the 60 photos in “Best of 2025,”Arlo features in 17, and he wasn’t even here for almost the first third of the year.
You can see some of the 17 on my IG page. Here are a few in which Arlo does not appear:
Apparently I have over 13,000 photos in my Apple Photos Library. If only I’d started the monthly weeding and selecting years ago! I mean, who has time to sift, or even just look at thousands of photos in search of the gems?!
Happily though, my Lock Screen, customized to randomly change the photo there every hour, reminds me of some. A few months ago, it occurred to me that, since it would be hard to locate the originals, I could screen-shot them as they appear. Now, when I do my monthly weeding, I sort the screenshots into their own Album so I can easily revisit them when I’d like to be reminded of experiences I’ve had or of creative editing I don’t indulge in as often as I used to (but maybe I should!)
A few screens that felt worth capturing when they popped up:
Sometimes I accept Apple’s suggestion for a group of photos to revisit. When I do, the time spent going down that rabbit hole is always satisfying.
How do you most enjoy revisiting photos you’ve taken long ago?Have you been reminded recently of a pleasing capture or edit that you’d forgotten about? What did it conjure up for you? How did it make you feel? How do you manage your digital photos? Please feel free to share!
Share this post:
Kathy Stinson is the author of the classic Red Is Best, the award-winning The Man with the Violin, and the GG shortlisted The Rock and the Butterfly. Her wide range of titles includes picture books, fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. She has enjoyed the privilege of meeting with her readers in every province and territory of Canada, in the United States, Britain, Liberia, and Korea. Currently president of CANSCAIP (the Canadian Society of Authors, Illustrators, and Performers), Kathy lives in a small town in southern Ontario.
Great post, Kathy! Thanks for sharing.
I just checked my own digital photo stash, and I’m closing in on 20,000! I need to do some paring down for sure. However, I do create albums within the photo app, so mostly I can find pics pretty easily, which is helpful since I use many of them as subjects for my art.
My photos have basically been filed by date, which often isn’t helpful. When I have a little time to spare, I’m sorting them into more meaningful folders, such as Food & Drink, Objects, etc. This not only makes it easier to find one if I’m looking for it (who can remember when they took that picture of a golf ball abandoned in the park?), but hopefully it will also be easier to detect duplicates as well as those photos that really aren’t, as you say, worthy of storage space. As I intend to share my digital albums with family members, it will also help them to find what interests them. I don’t delude myself that others will be all that interested in those that don’t include people!