Scattered photos and digital clutter make it easy to lose precious memories. Without action, they risk being forgotten or destroyed.The longer we wait, the harder it gets, and disasters or time could erase them forever. By taking small steps and getting help, you can preserve, enjoy, and share your memories for generations.

Bonnie Hillman Shay is a Certified Photo Organizer and founder of Mariposa Photo Organizing based in the Chicago area. She has been a photo organizer for 17 years. Bonnie loves helping her clients reconnect with their photographic memories and to tell their story which is part of their legacy. Clients tell Bonnie that she works magic, and they are so grateful for what she does. Bonnie’s business tagline is “Curate Your Photos, Preserve Your Legacy.”

In this episode, Bonnie shares a step-by-step process for organizing and digitizing photos to preserve memories. She emphasizes the benefits of professional scanning, including backup, restoration, and easy sharing. She also encourages starting now, using small steps, and seeking help to make the process enjoyable and meaningful.

What you will learn from this episode:

  • Learn a clear, manageable process for organizing and digitizing your photos.
  • Discover insider tips on professional scanning, restoration, and outsourcing.
  • Avoid overwhelm and get practical strategies to tackle photo clutter without feeling stressed.

“A curated collection of photos is a gift that keeps on giving; iIt’s not just a one stop deal.”

– Bonnie Shay

Valuable Free Resource: 

Topics Covered:

03:27 – What led Bonnie to start a business specializing in photo organizing

05:08 – How she never struggled with disorganized photos

05:40 – Explaining the first two steps in photo organizing process and why the need to discard some photos

07:47 – Sharing the third step in photo organizing and highlighting the benefits of scanning

09:48 – Why not scan the photos yourself and what you should do instead

11:07 – Vetting for reputable scanning service companies, check this out: https://thephotomanagers.com

12:27 – What it is like editing digital photos versus printed ones

14:09 – How to ease the overwhelm in getting started with gathering all the photos together 

14:54 – Why organize your photos now rather than waiting for a later time

17:40 – Action step to help you reduce the mental overwhelm of an undefined project

18:25 – What makes photo organizing worth starting now

Key Takeaways:

“You do an editing and you let go of photos to make sure that the best and the best are available to tell your story and be shareable.” – Bonnie Shay

“I want to tell people that all of us who are in the business, we’re in this with our head, but we’re mostly in here with our heart. We want people’s precious photos to be kept, safe, and secure and shareable.” – Bonnie Shay

“It’s like an insurance policy to have your collection captured and that you had the chance to see it.” – Bonnie Shay

“Don’t think of it as just a to-do and that you’re trying to get to the end result of having a finished collection. To me, part of the gift that you could give yourself is the journey, is going down memory lane and reconnecting with your story.” – Bonnie Shay

“I know time is hard to get in our world with our busy schedules, but it’s such a gift to be able to go down memory lane and reconnect and add a richness to your life that maybe you hadn’t realized in a long time.” – Bonnie Shay

Ways to Connect with Bonnie Shay:

Ways to Connect with Sarah E. Brown:

 

Full Episode Transcript:

Bonnie Shay 00:00

I always tell people when I start working with a client that I want them to be expecting, it could be a bittersweet process because you’re going to see your story in photos and there might be people in the photos that are no longer here. There might be things that just might bring up emotions that you hadn’t thought about in a long time.

Sarah E. Brown 00:25

Hello, everyone. Welcome to the KTS Success Factor Podcast for Women where we talk about challenges senior female leaders face in being happy and successful at work. I’m your host, Dr. Sarah E. Brown.

My guest today is Bonnie Hillman Shay. She is a certified photo organizer and founder of Mariposa Photo Organizing based in the Chicago area. She’s been a photo organizer for 17 years. Bonnie organizes, edits, and scans her client’s lifetime of printed photos that for years may have been hiding in boxes, spare bedrooms, attics, and basements. She wants her clients to have access to their family photo treasures so that they can enjoy them and share them with their children, grandchildren, and generations to come. Besides making them safe from unexpected disasters. Bonnie loves helping her clients reconnect with their photographic memories and to tell their story, which is part of their legacy. Clients tell Bonnie that she works magic, and they are so grateful for what she does. Bonnie’s business tagline is: ‘Curate Your Photos, Preserve Your Legacy.’ Welcome, Bonnie.

Bonnie Shay 01:54

Glad to be here. Thank you, Sarah.

Sarah E. Brown 01:57

Good. So I met Bonnie at a conference a couple of weeks ago. She did a really great talk on what to do with the boxes of photos that you have stored around, and I told her the story that every time I go into the basement to do laundry, I walk past these big boxes that came out of my mother’s house when we were downsizing her. They’re filled with photos and it’s completely overwhelming to me. And I walk past that to do laundry, and I get a simultaneous fear of dread and guilt and complete overwhelm because I have no idea how to even begin to tackle that project. And her talk helped me so much. So that’s the context for how we met and what we’re going to be talking about today. Because this kind of problem can actually affect us at work because it’s nagging. It’s nagging in the back of our head. And so many in my audience are in the sandwich generation. And I was telling Bonnie about this. We’ve got older parents that we’re taking care of and younger kids that we’re taking care of, and we’ve got all of the photos associated with that and then Bonnie’s at, and we’ve got the mix of the hard photos and the digital photos, and we’ve got to blend all of that. So, I just want to know, Bonnie, how did you get into this business?

Bonnie Shay 03:27

Well, 17 years ago, my former husband and I went our separate ways, and I needed to come up with my own business because he is a photographer. I ran the business, and he was the artist. So I have known my whole life, Sarah, that I have the organizing gene, I think DNA science someday is going to find this specific gene for organizing. So I became a residential organizer and one of my first clients, I went to her house and you go room by room and we figured out our plan to organize and systematize and tidy up. So we came across the hall closet that was filled to the brim with VHS tapes, albums, photos, negative slides, every media you can imagine. And she says, ‘Bonnie, can you help me with this?’ And I said, ‘Yes, Sue,’ because I have the organizing gene and I’ve been telling people stories through event photography for almost 25 years. So right then and there I had a specialty in photo organizing, and I did residential organizing until eight years ago when I just wanted to dedicate my life and my heart to printed photos because those were at the highest risk of being lost or damaged. And we want the stories behind them to be captured. So that’s how I got into business.

Sarah E. Brown 04:38

Well, it’s interesting that you bring up the organizing gene. I don’t know whether there’s a gene or not, but in the personality assessment that I use, that’s the basis of this, it really comes out as a very strong preference and strength. In some cases, it comes out as a need. So it’s very interesting. So I do think there is a bit of the innateness element of that. So that’s very interesting. So did you ever have your own problem with boxes?

Bonnie Shay 05:08

Not really because I was fortunate that my parents were very organized and systematized in our video and film and printed. So they were all in albums. So I never inherited a whole collection that was sort of out of sorts. And then married to a photographer, I was organizing and telling our story through photos from day one in that my kids, like, we have a lot of photos of our kids, which we’re very blessed to have.

Sarah E. Brown 05:32

Hmm. So what do you tell people like me to do with these boxes in the basement? How do you even get started with that project?

Bonnie Shay 05:40

Well, that’s the age-old question because it’s an emotional challenge, possibly, because I always tell people when I start working with a client that I want them to be expecting, it could be a bittersweet process because you’re going to see your story and photos and there might be people in the photos that are no longer here. There might be things that just might bring up emotions that you hadn’t thought about in a long time. But to me, step one is to gather those photos together. So you’re already saying maybe they’re all right there in the basement, but in a lot of people’s homes, when they’ve lived in the same home for a long time, they may be in spare bedrooms, closets, attics, all over, and they’ve lost track of where they are. So that’s number one is to pull them together.

And then number two, it’s basically an editing process. We want to put them in a chronological order because we want things to tell our story as time goes on. And then we do a lot of editing, Sarah, because even if I had a magic wand to wave over your boxes of photos and they’d be perfectly organized and perfectly everything, there are probably more photos there than are necessary to tell your story. And we like to have the best of the best and to tell the essence of your story. And we don’t want to dilute the story. We want each photo to speak to you and tell you some piece of that history. And I always say, Sarah, that a box of photos or a whole collection is like a jigsaw puzzle. And the challenge is to pull that jigsaw puzzle together in the way that you want it to be told, the story.

Sarah E. Brown 07:11

So if step two is editing, do you actually throw the pictures away?

Bonnie Shay 07:16

Hold onto your seat, yes, I do say it, ‘Let some of them go.’ And when I try to put a spin on things in a positive manner, I suggest people not think about that they’re throwing memories away, but they’re actually editing and letting the best memories come to the surface and be telling the story.

Sarah E. Brown 07:34

Okay, so if we’ve got step one, that is, getting them all out, or getting them in chronological order. And step two is the editing process. What do you do then? What’s next?

Bonnie Shay 07:47

Next is you do one final pass to decide what you want to have scanned to tell the story. And some people say, okay, I’m not going to scan all that I edit it down to, but here’s the collection. And then we have them scanned. And now the beauty of scanning, Sarah, is threefold. One, your photos are now backed up because God forbid anything should happen to a printed photo, we don’t have a backup like we have typically on the pictures that we take with our phone and our current day. So that’s number one, they’re backed up. Number two, technology is on our side. And if a photo has deteriorated or discolored over time because it wasn’t kept in a climate-controlled or a safe place, magic, it’s like a magic wand with color correction. It brings it back to its original form, which is just fabulous. And number three is, it’s now a digital photo. And you can do whatever you want with it. Like share it with your siblings, your parents, your kids, email it, text it, it’s now shareable. And so not just you will have it, but you can share it with your loved ones.

Advertisement 08:54

Hi, this is Sarah Brown again, the host of the KTS Success Factor Podcast for Women. I hope you are enjoying this episode and gaining some tips and inspiration on how you can be happier, more successful, and experience less stress at work. If you would like to learn more about how you can empower the women in your organization to do the same, simply click on the show notes to see how you can connect with me. As an added bonus for my podcast guests, you will see how you can book 30 minutes with me to explore how you can implement a scalable, self-coaching program for the women in your organization. Simply visit bookachatwithsarahebrown.com. Now, back to this informative episode.

Sarah E. Brown 09:52

So you’re suggesting that with scanning, there’s actually some correction process going on, as well.

Bonnie Shay 09:58

Absolutely, yes. That’s all part of the scanning process.

Sarah E. Brown 10:01

So I guess you’re suggesting that we not scan them ourselves.

Bonnie Shay 10:05

I’m glad you asked that, Sarah. Yes. It’s not that you can’t, but I’ve met too many people who have bought scanners at the consumer level of equipment. They start and it’s so time consuming, they give up because it’s not just going to be done in an afternoon. And the color correction software isn’t really very powerful at a consumer level. So I would say, especially your audience, who I think are people who delegate and outsource stuff that they’re not good at or they don’t want to do, find someone local. Don’t ship your treasurer of photos anywhere. Find someone local and bring it in. Make sure they scan it in-house and they will do the scanning and they will do the coloring correction and some other adjustments if you need it. And deliver you a flash drive that will have your collection of beautifully scanned photos.

Sarah E. Brown 11:01

So how do you know whether somebody is reputable and going to do a good job and not damage your photos in the process?

Bonnie Shay 11:10

You want to know, make sure they’ve been in business for a while. I guess you could check Google reviews. I guess I’m spoiled because I have three places in Chicago that I’ve already vetted and I know they’re good to go. I’ll also share with your listeners that The Photo Managers is my professional association. We have annual conferences. It’s been around for 17 years and we have people all over the world, mostly in the States and Canada, but we’ve now spread out to the international realm. And you could go on that website and search for someone by state in your area. And to me that’s already vetting it. Because if someone’s a member of this professional association and they do services besides scanning, your step one, you could also just Google in your town for photo scanning and check each of the businesses that have done well. And lastly, I’ll say, Sarah, if you feel a little iffy, like if it’s reputable or not, take a sample in. Take 10 photos in and see how they come out. You can just sort of see the results and see if you’re happy with the quality.

Sarah E. Brown 12:14

Okay. And the name of the organization to vet these?

Bonnie Shay 12:19

It’s thephotomanagers.com.

Sarah E. Brown 12:22

Thephotomanagers.com. Great. Thank you. So how does this process differ if you’re working with digital photos?

Bonnie Shay 12:30

Well, on the digital side, there’s one pro and one con that I can jump out and tell you that digital, typically the dates, they’re already dated. So you have the chronological order that we were already talking about in the print. The downside is the quantity, right? Back in the day we maybe had hundreds of printed photos and now we have thousands and thousands and thousands. But it’s a similar vetting in terms of if you want to edit them because you don’t want 30,000 pictures on your phone because you’re not going to enjoy them. You’re not going to really relish them. So you do an editing and you let go of photos to make sure that the best and the best are available to tell your story and be shareable.

Sarah E. Brown 13:13

Okay. So how do you tame the anxiety and overwhelm to even get started on this process?

Bonnie Shay 13:20

Well, think of it as a mountain of photos. And let’s go back to the printed photos. It’s a mountain of photos and you don’t know how to climb a mountain. You don’t have the equipment, you’re not trained for that. And so we try to break it up into steps and small chunks of the process. So that’s why I have this general process to have people flow through it. And you just want to realize that it’s not going to be done in a day because especially if you’re working with a lifetime of photos, it’s accumulated all over a lifetime. So you want to take some time and schedule some time on your calendar and also know that you don’t have to be alone to do this. You could try to do it with a friend, a sister, a sibling because, think of it, as we know, Sarah, when you do something with someone, even if it’s taking a walk through your neighborhood, it’s a little more fun than doing it all by yourself.

So you could have a buddy do it with you. And then of course, as I already mentioned, you can find someone, a professional that could help you. And lastly, I’ll throw in that some of the professionals, some of my colleagues, they’ve come up with courses, they have videos and courses, or they offer coaching. I’m not really a coach. I actually do the work with my client or on my own, but there are some people that want to teach others to do it. So there’s all sorts of resources, I would say. And the photo managers would be the great place to start to get some assistance if you’re getting stuck or feeling like, ‘Hmm, I can’t do this by myself.’

Sarah E. Brown 14:46

Okay, so is there a reason why I should start this project now as opposed to just waiting until I retire and I’ve got a whole bunch of time or more time than I have now?

Bonnie Shay 14:57

Exactly. I don’t want to be a Debbie Downer, but as we see natural disasters happening around our world. And I have colleagues who live in Florida, in North Carolina and they’re posting so many things on Facebook because they’ve tried to avoid having clients or potential clients lose their photos in a disaster.

Sarah E. Brown 15:19

If I could interrupt and just say as of this recording, we’re waiting on Hurricane Milton to roll into Florida. So that’s why this is a pertinent and timely comment. So sorry for interrupting. I just wanted to make that comment.

Bonnie Shay 15:36

Yeah. And I want to put out to people that all of us who are in the business, we’re in this with our head, but we’re mostly in here with our heart, that we want people’s precious photos to be kept, safe, and secure and shareable. So that’s number one that let’s just get, it’s like an insurance policy to have your collection captured and that you had the chance to see it. And that leads me to reason number two, that I’d like to show people, I try to, when I work with people or advise them, we might just have organize our photo collection on a to-do list, a checklist, a task list, and you just don’t get to it because maybe you’re overwhelmed or not sure how to do it. But it’s a to-do. And I try to put it in a perspective to people that don’t think of it as just a to-do and that you’re trying to get to the end result of having a finished collection.

To me, part of the gift that you could give yourself is the journey, is going down memory lane and reconnecting with your story. An example, Sarah, when I’m working with clients and they’ve seen a photo for the first time in 30 years, they’re like, ‘Oh my god, that’s my best friend Susie. This was in second grade. We were going on a field trip.’ The whole story unravels. They take a quick picture with their phone and they text it to their friend, Susie, who lives on the other side of the country. So right then and there, it was a gift. So to me, I’d like to emphasize that it’s the journey. I know time is hard to get in our world with our busy schedules, but it’s such a gift to be able to go down memory lane and reconnect and add a richness to your life that maybe you hadn’t realized in a long time.

Sarah E. Brown 17:14

And for me, with those boxes in the basement that are overwhelming me, they all came from my mother who is 95 and still alive. And if I pull stuff out and don’t know what it is, I’m running out of time to ask her, what is this? So I can see that I really do need to get started with this. And often getting started is half the journey, sort of like working out, getting into your workout clothes and taking that first step is half the effort right then and there.

Bonnie Shay 17:43

Right. And I’ll point out Sarah, that I told you step one is to gather all the boxes of photos that might be in various places of people’s homes. I find, and this, I’m sure you can relate in any project, when you don’t have a sense of the size of the project and you don’t do it, it grows in your head. It just grows and grows and grows. So I find that when you at least, let’s say, take your dining room table and just put all the photos from your house on there. Oh, it might be a lot of photos, but at least you have a visual. And you’ve taken step one, right? You’ve taken step one to that process.

Sarah E. Brown 18:18

Bonnie, what did I not ask you that I should have to inspire my listeners to take action and get started with this important project?

Bonnie Shay 18:28

Well, I think I’ve advised people that it’s not a black and white process. There’s ups and downs and there’s emotions and it’s hard to be subjective on your own collection. And so I think that’s why having someone help you, whoever that is, a friend, a buddy, a professional or a family member could help you and add joy to the process. So I feel like people have known about residential organizing for a long time. It’s just been in our world and I feel like we’re still wanting to make sure people are aware of our services. And I’m not here to sell, but just to sort of say, it’s a real challenge. It’s a real profession and it’s a real place where people are stuck and not sure what to do. And if you even just need, besides our podcast, some tips to try to get going, it will be a gift to you. And I always say, a curated collection of photos is a gift that keeps on giving. It’s not just a one stop deal, it’s whatever. Maybe you have an occasion that you can use as a deadline to say, ‘Oh, it’s mom and dad’s 50th wedding anniversary, or it’s so and so’s graduation.’ And you can use that as sort of a tipping point to say, ‘Oh yeah, let’s start it. Let’s not wait anymore.’

Sarah E. Brown 19:42

And on that note, where would my listeners find you if they want your help or have more questions?

Bonnie Shay 19:49

Absolutely. I’m at mariposa, which is, M-A-R-I-P-O-S-A, photoorganizing.com.

Sarah E. Brown 19:58

Great, mariposaphotoorganizing.com. Bonnie, thank you so much for being with me today.

Bonnie Shay 20:06

You are welcome. Glad to have it and get the word out there.

Sarah E. Brown 20:10

Thanks for listening to the KTS Success Factor Podcast for Women. If you like what you are hearing, please go to iTunes to subscribe, rate us and leave a review. And if you would like more information on how we can help women in your organization to thrive, then go to www.sarahebrown.com. You can sign up for our newsletter, read show notes, and learn more about our podcast guests. Read my blog, browse through the books, or contact us for a chat. Goodbye for now.

Sarah E. Brown
Sarah E. Brown