How Do YOU Organize Your Photo Collection?

[Maria_Pavlovna]

I just regular paper. Once used color (for paintings) and that was a pain and very expensive too. Just use b&w ink.

[Kassafrass]

Can you imagine if these photos were normally in color? lol

I think maybe someday I'll do that for the colorations I'm particularly proud of.

[Kassafrass]

This would take so long to explain I´ll make a picture if I find a little time. it will be much better to understand!

I'm still wondering how you do this!

[KarinK]

There is only so much trust we can put into technology, and with that in mind I am currently working hard at backing them up and keeping them in multiple places. Should my laptop die on me (please no please no please no please no please no please no please no...) I will have them uploaded to two-three online sites in which I can retrieve them. I am also currently looking into getting a flash drive that I will use for royalty photos and royalty photos ONLY.

I'm not familiar with photo sites so I can't say anything about that topic, but I would recommend getting a flash drive. IIRC, it cost me about ten euros to buy one that has room for my Romanov folder three times over. My first computer crash cost me some files that had been infected and taught me to be very careful. I had another crash this spring and was able to recover just about everything that had been on my computer (including my photos) thanks to external devices, so I definitely felt it had been worth the investment.

I have a poor printer, but the idea about binders is very nice. I don't own any of the Romanov photo books, but maybe I should think about making one of my own with my favourites.

[Kassafrass]

If you do decide to purchase a Romanov photo book, might I suggest "Nicholas and Alexandra, The Last Imperial Family Of Russia"? It's full of photos of their paintings and drawings and uniforms and personal objects as well as some scans of their actual photo albums. The captions are informative as well and take cues from authors like Massey. It's a gem, really.

[KarinK]

I'd definitely buy a photo book if I was lucky enough to find it in a used-book store, but the ones I've seen on Amazon tend to be so expensive that I haven't yet been able to commit to such a big purchase. From the small available preview, the one you mention looks like it's beautifully done.

[Kassafrass]

Upon saving and organizing more photos, I have run into a bit of a problem. Consorts. Normally I put them in the country of their birth, but it gets difficult there.

I have a photo of Maria Fyodorovna with Xenia - where do I put it?
A photo of Queen Marie of Romania with Mignon - where do I put it?

What do you guys do?

[KarinK]

I do things the other way around (Maria Feodorovna associated with Russia and her sister Alexandra with England rather than Denmark, and so on). Royal families tended to be multinational and I thought it was easiest to focus on the country where the members were most important (Marie, for example, was just another princess in England but a queen and a famous figure in Romania; her more obscure daughters mostly get mentioned in relation to her rather than their non-Romanian husbands, so I group them with Romania too). In the case you mention, I'd have Maria with Xenia in a Russian folder and Marie with Mignon in a Romanian one. And a photo of Maria and Alexandra would go in the Russian folder for the personal reason that I collect Romanov photos more extensively than Victorian/Edwardian ones.

[Aliss_Kande]

What I do in the case of women who marry into another royal house, I have them in their country of birth UNTIL they get married, when they switch to their spouses.  So for Maria Feodorovna, she would be under Denmark until 1866, when she married Alexander III.  Alexandra remains in Demark until 1863, when she switches to England.  Empress Frederich (Vicky, Queen Victoria's daughter) stays in England until 1857 when she married Fritz.  That's how I do it anyway.