Guest blogger, Shelia Merkel, gives her tips for making sure your travel photographs capture your journeys to create memories that last for you and future generations.
Photos make the best souvenirs – they don’t take up any room in the RV! By documenting and capturing your travel memories, you will easily remember all the miles and destinations enjoyed! However, how many of us have hundreds (or thousands) of photos that we are not sure where it was taken or who that person with us is? Or we have a bunch of scenery and random photos that become lost in the cloud and forgotten.
When I am old and can’t travel anymore, I want to be able to look back at my “miles of memories” with a smile and a memory. And, I want to share those photos, memories and travel stories with my loved ones as part of my legacy. With a little planning, you can create more meaningful digital keepsakes.
To step up your game, here are five great tips to capture your RV travel memories (and all others!).
Tip # 1 Take Photos-4-Info
Take photos to capture the specific details of your trip. This is a real timesaver and will help you avoid hunting for this information later. Even with the date and places captured by your phone, it is smart to get a few shoots that give the rest of the story. Photos of the restaurant sign and the menu will help you to remember that place where you had a memorable meal. Hiking trails start to look alike unless you take photos of directional signs and trail markers.
Signs, Signs, Signs… they help you tell the story! Consider snapping a few pictures of:
- State Park signs
- Hiking trail signs
- Restaurant signs and menu (take a pic of your food too!)
- Campground maps with your site highlighted
- Tickets and brochures of any excursions
- Receipts that show the cost of things like where you stayed, special outings
- Historical monuments signage and markers with historical data
Tip #2 Take a Variety of Travel Photos
We tend to snap lots of scenery and photos of natural landscapes. Why? Well because our world is downright beautiful! It’s hard to resist capturing yet another gorgeous sunset. By all means, keep doing that but also think about the type of photos you may want to for your travel album or coffee table book. Learn a few tips to improve your photos and practice by taking lots of different pictures. If you take the same type of photo or all landscapes, it might get boring!
Capture photos that show the fun side of people too. Most people tend to “let their hair down” and relax when traveling, giving you a great opportunity to capture their lighter side. Try these ideas to get a nice variety of photographs:
- Candid shots like the hubby grilling and the kids playing ball
- Peaceful moments like having your coffee in the morning or while reading a novel
- Image of the main activity of the day like your excursion or even browsing local shops
- Interesting details you find like colorful birds or fascinating statues
- Ordinary daily activities like you making dinner or setting up your rig
- Picture of your rig in its campground or an unusual setting
- Group shots of everyone traveling with you
- Selfies of YOU
- Images of your pet in this new environment
Tip #3 Daily Delete & Mark Your Favorites
This is the secret sauce! Spend a few minutes reviewing your photos. Pick the time of day that works for you. I like to do it at the end of the day to help me wind down. You may prefer to do it while enjoying your first cup of coffee to start the day or over lunch as a break.
Spend about 15-20 minutes a day doing the following steps and you will have an organized album that captures your great memories.
- Delete unwanted photos/videos
- Multiples of same scene or image – You don’t need five pictures of the parade or flower display, keep the few that tell the story and are best
- Duplicates – Take lots of shots at different angles of the subject, but only keep the best ONE
- Blurry and bad photos – need I really say more?
- Mark Your Favorites
- Use your phone’s app to flag your favorite images so it is easier to find them when ready to share them or create a photo book or gift.
- Organize Your Photos
- Most phones have the ability to create albums on the mobile device. Create an album for each RV trip or activity and avoid scrolling to find them.
- Add keywords/tags depending on your phone app. This is especially helpful if you want to create albums based on a person or a type of activity such as all your hikes or all the kids’ activities.
- Upload Photos
- Find a place on your computer or a hard drive to upload your photos so you can easily work on them
This last step is key for me to ensure that I easily create travel albums and gifts. My favorite tool is the FOREVER memory-keeping platform to store our travel photos, videos and notes about each place we visit. I really appreciate how easily I can add notes to remember the details.
Tip #4 Write About Your Travel Memories
We all assume we will remember all the good things we enjoyed, but reality….The key to good memory keeping is documentation. If your location setting is on, your mobile device can give the exact place the photo was taken. That will help when you are doing a search to find specific photos from your Florida trip. However it doesn’t give you all the details!
Capturing the STORIES behind your photos is priceless. Even if you don’t enjoy writing, you can capture a few details to help you remember later. Here are a few ways to document details about your trip:
- Get a journal and set a routine to capture notes for the day. This can be a pretty travel journal that captures all your trips or one per specific destination. It can even be a simple spiral notebook where you jot a few lines a day.
- Learn how to use your phone to add a caption to your photos. For Iphone users, simply swipe up to get to the information for the photo (can also tap the little info (i) button. Type in a few words right under the picture. For androids, it takes a few more steps:
- Open a photo in google photos
- At the bottom of the photo, tap Edit (three horizontal line)
- Tap the Markup icon (squiggly line). You can also select the color of text from this screen
- Tap the Text tool and then enter desired text.
- Select Done to save it
- Another option is to use your smartphone calendar to create an event and add a note for the day’s events or the notes app on the phone.
Pick a method that is easy for you and start a habit of capturing notes, names, etc. to help you remember the story behind the picture.
Tip #5 Share your Photos Along the Way
The last, but perhaps most important step – share your favorite photos while you are traveling. Sharing is the fun part and it is a great way to stay connected with family and friends. You can share a single photo or your whole trip collection via email, text, Google or on Facebook. Another reason I really like using FOREVER is that I can easily create books of photos or gift items like ornaments to share the beauty of this country and my travels!
By following these steps and ideas, you can get into a daily routine so photo organizing is a fun part of your day, not a dreaded task. And, by taking a moment each day to look back on your day and reflect on the highlights, you will strengthen the memory and have a lovely few minutes to relive the joy. What more can we want from our travels!
Shelia Merkel is a professional photo organizer and RV adventurer. She is founder of The Memory Montage and loves to inspire memory keepers to save, organize and share their photos and stories. Find her at www.thememorymontage.com
Leave a Reply