One Hundred Thousand Photos in Your Pocket
So many photos
When Steve Jobs introduced the iPod in 2001, he said it all by offering to deliver "1000 songs in your pocket." It was the promise of unlimited music at your fingertips, anywhere you were, all the time. And it launched the experience of mobile media. iTunes and the iPod let you import a huge collection of music and mix it into custom or curated playlists, listen to favorite tracks on demand, or just pick an album and enjoy it the way the artist planned.
Apple Photos is the same thing, but with pictures and video.
Just as the iTunes music experience grew beyond vinyl albums and CDs, visual media has been changed forever by the portability, the range of viewing experiences, and the power of Apple Photos that cuts through the clutter to help you enjoy your favorite pictures in an unrestricted, easy-to-find way.
Combined with the iPhone and the ease with which we create new pictures each day, it’s not surprising that we’re regularly seeing Photos Libraries of twenty to fifty thousand pictures, and an ever increasing number that top 100k.
Someday we will all be there.
Which is why we have to think about our photo management differently.
Buried in our genetic code is the habit of measuring photo overwhelm by the number of shoeboxes. So many photos equals so much closet space or that much bigger storage locker. It’s also the time it takes to cull and organize the collection by hand so you can find things. There’s a pressure to not only preserve physical space, but to apply a structure that makes finding photos not only convenient, but just plain possible.
Once in the digital world it’s a much different place and plays by different rules. Space is virtually unlimited and gets cheaper (per gigabyte) every year. Albums are not limited by available pages, but by the choices we make, and the photos in them can live multiple lives without committing to any single date, memory, or experience. More like how we think, in fact; no more need to stay neatly inside the lines.
So maybe we should think about Apple Photos Libraries more like iTunes. When we all get to 100k images, is that really a sign of rampant disorganization or of a rich and interesting life? More can be better; richer if we want. We will still need to organize and cull and trash photos that have passed their expiration date, but now we have more freedom to treasure those random moments and experiences that might have been deleted in an analog world. Maybe a beautiful leaf, or our old cat sleeping in the sun, or a slo-motion clip of the kids doing a hand stand. Cool.
Because SO MANY photos is just so many photos.
So here are some tips that will get you comfortably to your own enjoyable 100k.
Learn to use the Photos timeline (Years, Months, Days, All Photos) instead of chronological albums.
Learn to search for photos instead of browsing.
Edit your new photos at least once a week to remove the true junk.
Add a description (iPhone & Mac) or keywords (Mac) to photos as necessary to help search.
Whenever you upgrade your devices (Mac, iPhone, iPad) get at least double the space you are using now for photos and videos.