Category: Photography

Memory Keeping, Photo Organization, Photo Organization Coach, Photography, Scrapbooking

Point, Click, Print, Share

Jane Sadek

MEMORY SHARING: FOREVER – SIMILAR, BUT NOT THE SAME

What’s Similar?

Most of us have gotten photos printed online or at the local drugstore. Many of us have used the fish or the fly to create Christmas cards or Graduation announcements. There’s lot of places to create photobooks, calendars, coffee mugs and such. And while there are horror stories out there of missed deadlines, poor quality and lack of customer service, the truth is millions of people, everyday, use these services and are satisfied with the product they receive. So, why should I get you to change to FOREVER?

Well, First & Foremost, There’s ME!

I don’t want to get you to change to FOREVER. I want you to change to ME! The Fish, the Fly and all the rest of them are big online corporations focused on volume and profits. To accomplish what they’re focused on, they have to have competitive pricing and their quality has to be acceptable. But they’re impersonal and they’re not local.

On the other hand. I’m local. You know me. You see me at the grocery store. We belong to the same organizations. I’m focused on affordability and one of the reasons I represent FOREVER is their quality, which is superior to anything I’ve seen. Shop local is a thing! I eagerly offer my services to you. Give me a chance!

So, Who in the Hell is FOREVER?

Let’s say you want to shop local and support me, but a part of you may be thinking, “but I’ve never heard of this FOREVER.” Until a few years ago, neither had I – and do you want to know why? FOREVER spends zero dollars on advertising. Someone I trusted told me about it and it took a while for me to embrace it. Even after I got the whole “storage you own rather than rent” part, I clung to my traditional scrapbooking and regarded the whole “Create & Print” thing with skepticism. It didn’t help that I wasn’t much of a personalized photo gift person. My first year with FOREVER, I still sent out cards from the fish!

Try It, You’ll Like It!

Reluctantly, I stuck my toe in the water – first with a photo book. (The first I’d ever made, by the way.) Then I got a personalized planner, then Christmas cards and soon I was off to the races. Then my customers started making things I’d never considered, like calendars and blankets. Those were cool, too.

Over time, almost by osmosis, I began to realize how superior FOREVER print projects really were to everything else offered out on the internet. I certainly loved everything I made, but more impressive was how thrilled my clients were – clients who had been using the competition for their projects and were in awe of the quality and ease of FOREVER.

What’s more, FOREVER offers better quality at a savings. Don’t believe me? Well, it’s the truth. Think about personalized print providers in the same way you do airlines. When you get online and start comparing prices, it’s easy for Airline A to appear cheaper than Airline B in the initial comparison – but then there’s luggage fees, seat assignments, boarding policies, seat size and a zillion other things that mean you’re not going to be able to compare apples to apples. And if you’re part of a loyalty program with Airline C, that starts a whole ‘nother comparison.

Same thing here. You go online and try to decide who has the best deal on, let’s say, photo books. First, we all know everything is on sale all the time. You almost couldn’t pay full price if you wanted to, but they sling around savings percentages, like a gunfighter slings bullets. But guess what – the savings are only on the “standard” book! Like the airlines, everything else is a la carte, so the savings don’t extend to other things like extra pages or premium paper or a lot of things. FOREVER doesn’t charge extra for “premium”. Their “standard” products are what you upgrade to with other companies. What’s more, when it comes to extra pages and other added features, whatever the initial discount is, it applies to everything in the project, including extras.

And the loyalty program? Don’t get me started. This blog post might go on forever (pun intended).

All, I ask is you try it! One photo book, coffee cup or calendar. Compare the process, compare the prices and compare the product that arrives at your home. Here’s the link to get started: https://www.forever.com/ambassador/jane-sadek/create-and-print/

Memory Keeping, Photo Organization, Photo Organization Coach, Photography, Scrapbooking

What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You! Part I

Jane Sadek

MEMORY PRESERVATION: THE PROBLEM WITH FREE

Sampling the Status Quo

Chances are you use one of the companies on the chart above. You’re probably getting the service for free – or at least you were in the beginning. And whoever you’re using they’ve probably sweetened the pot with features like free facial recognition and automatic tagging. Why in the world would you consider paying for permanent storage from a company you may have never heard of? Well, maybe I can give you a few reasons.

Guarantees the Safety of Your Files

Have you read the terms and agreements of your cloud service? Probably not. You just assumed a big household name like Amazon or iCloud, would do the right thing? Right? Wrong!!

Virtually every other cloud company besides FOREVER actually informs you in their terms and agreements you are merely being granted a license to use their cloud space. By uploading your images there, you agree to release the licensee from any liability. They are free to delete, compress, share or transfer your images as they see fit. In fact, they probably will also warn you to have your images backed up elsewhere. Is that what you thought you had signed up for?

Perhaps you did know that stipulation, but you thought that was just the way things are and you had no idea you had any other options. Well, there is a cloud provider who will guarantee the safety of your images for your life plus 100 years. It’s called FOREVER.

No Data Mining

Do you know what data mining is? Remember when Facebook got into trouble for sharing information about their users? That’s data mining. Most (virtually all) cloud providers offering free or cheap storage data mine. They tell you they data mine in the terms and agreements, because that’s how they can afford to offer you free cloud services. You’re the product, not the customer. When they offer you other “free” stuff like facial recognition and automatic tagging, it comes along with you giving them permission to mine your data even more specifically than they could without these services.

Perhaps that’s OK with you. I didn’t see any harm it in when I was a captive audience to their services – but now I really understand the way it works and I want no part of it and I certainly don’t want them having any part of me.

No Advertising

As to Advertising, most of us have gotten used to it, so it may not be as compelling a reason to consider FOREVER as some of the other things I told you about today. We’ve gotten almost to the point we don’t even see the ads at the top, bottom and sides of our screens. You’ve probably got a pop-up blocker on your computer. Who cares? Right?

Well, once you have experienced a cloud without any advertising, you’ll care and when you couple it with the relief of secure storage that won’t be data mined, you start to understand how FOREVER is very different from whatever cloud storage you’ve been using.

You think about these things I’ve told you about today and next week, I’ll reveal a few other things you might not have realized about your free/cheap cloud service.

DESTINATIONS, Fashion, Photo Organization, Photo Organization Coach, Photography, Restaurants & Bars, Road Trips, Scrapbooking, Shopping, TRAVEL, Travel Planning, United States

What a Girl Loves!

Jane Sadek

MEMORY MAKING: OUTLET SHOPPING & MARGARITA DRINKING

Woman wearing a crown in a McDonald's
Me wearing the Traveling Tiara

WHY ARE YOU WEARING A CROWN?

So, one of my all-time favorite networking groups is Polka Dot Powerhouse . My particular chapter had a little thing they called the Traveling Tiara and I’d been selected to wear it for the next month. Most of the women get it and they don’t do much with it. Not me! I carried it everywhere I went and posted lots of photos. This first one was at a McDonald’s somewhere between Dallas and San Marcos.

SAN MARCOS OUTLETS

The next stop was the San Marcos Outlet Mall and we got there just as the stores were opening. We were girls on a mission. Deb needed a Brahmin bag. The last time we’d been down this way, back in 2015, I’d convinced Deb she should invest in a Brahmin. It was a little out of her intended price range, but she did it and she loved it. Eight years later, she was still carrying her Brahmin during the fall and winter, but now she needed one for spring and summer.

We parked out front and went in to handle all their stuff. I helped Deborah pick out a beauty from the clearance department and then went to see the billfolds. I didn’t really need one, but it was about the only item in the store I might fit into my budget. Eventually, I became aware of the fact that Deb’s purchase was not going smoothly. In fact, I’d handled all the billfolds several times and Deb was still waiting to check out. There was only one lady in front of her, but the cash register was down.

We waited a little longer, but nothing was happening. Finally, our stomachs let us know it was nearing the lunch hour, but Deb really, really wanted that bag. At least she did for a while and then she decided maybe the hold up was a sign from God. She’d put the bag back on the shelf and if we had time, we’d stop back by on the way home. If we had time and the bag was still there, then she was meant to have the bag.

GRUENE’S GRISTMILL

To begin with, for the uninitiated, “Gruene” is pronounced like the color, green. It’s a lovely little shopping and eating town right next to New Braunfels and the Guadalupe River. The Gristmill is a wonderful riverside restaurant that I try to eat at every time I pass by on nearby I-35. It’s like getting kolaches in West, you just do it.

Is it the best food you can get in Gruene? No, but it’s good enough and while you wait for a table (you ALWAYS have to wait for a table) you sit in their great little beer garden and the margaritas are marvelous. The Gristmill did not disappoint. It was a gorgeous day for the beer garden, so I enjoyed my margarita while we waited for a table.

I can’t remember what we ate, but I bet it included the onion rings. We love them and used to always get them. (Now I’m gluten free, so I wonder what I’ll eat next time! I won’t be having my usual burger either.)

HEADING ON DOWN THE ROAD

Next stop was Shana’s house where we got situated for our stay. Deb took a nap and I marveled at her cat who looked just like our Princess, who we’d lost not all that long before this trip. So, it almost seemed like I was seeing a ghost! FYI – the top one is Princess!

Joyce’s conference was going to begin at 7, so the nap ended and we got back on the road. Doors opened quite a while before we got to the Alamo Dome, so we didn’t exactly have optimal seats, but we enjoyed the opening festivities.

Afterwards, we made our way back to Shana’s, so we could turn around and do it all the next day. I hope you’ll turn around and read my blog post on Wednesday. We’ll be doing some Memory Keeping and on Friday, we’ll Memory Sharing!

DESTINATIONS, DFW Metroplex, Memory Keeping, Photo Organization, Photo Organization Coach, Photography, Scrapbooking, Shopping

Let Your Linens Do the Talking

Jane Sadek

MEMORY SHARING: THROWING IN THE TOWELS

FOREVER’S Latest Thing

Photo Books and Coffee Mugs have been popular ways to share memories, but FOREVER has come up with something a little out of the ordinary for your next photo gifting, to yourself or others: Towels! And guess what, the fish and the fly don’t have them.

Three Options & You’ll Love Them All

BEACH TOWEL

Let’s start big – a big 30″ X 60″ beach towel big. If you choose to use the Create & Print feature on FOREVER, there are two pages of templates for you to personalize, including one called The Big Picture, where you can fill the whole towel with a picture you love. If you use one of the other fun templates, you get to personalize them with colors, fonts and orientation. Add your name to be sure no one can claim it. If you can’t find what you want, let me know and I can design it in Artisan for you and I’ll have a blank page to start with.

The towels have a poly front with the print and a cotton terry back, but that poly front is not one of those water repellent polys you might have tried to dry off with in the past. It’s soft and absorbent it dry you off quickly and comfortably. The towel are machine washable and you tumble them dry.

GOLF TOWEL

These waffle weave wonders will please all your athletes, not just golfers, but their design is based on the traditional golf towel with a grommet and metal hook. However, add it to your gym bag or any other sports bag! You might even want to hook it from your scrapbooking tote. Don’t let that “golf” word deter you.

This towel is 16″ X 25″ and it’s a cotton/poly blend which is durable, absorbent and convenient. Like the beach towel there are all kinds of designs in FOREVER’s Create & Print templates for you to customize or you can start your design from scratch in Artisan.

TEA TOWEL

Tea towels are a great gift for many occasions and something we all need for ourselves. You know those tea towels that have hilarious sayings on them. Have you ever wished you could change the wording just a little bit to fit someone you know? Well, now you can.

Looking for the perfect wedding gift? They’ll love seeing their name and or monogram on personalized tea towels. And housewarming gifts? Their name and new address, right on the towel. And how about recipes? Think of this as a whole new way to share that recipe you’ve become famous for.

Waffle weave, like the sports towel, and the same size, but without the grommet & hook, you can make these up in both vertical and horizontal designs. They are a little larger than a standard placemat, but imagine a meal where your guests find their place by finding their face and the placemat goes home with them as a party favor. Cool, yes?

I just ordered this one and I can’t wait to take it to the next potluck I attend. I’m thinking I’ll be having them standing in line to order their own! Thanks for sharing memories with me and come back on Monday for a little Memory Making!

Memory Keeping, Photo Organization, Photo Organization Coach, Photography, Scrapbooking

A One Stop Digital Shop for Memories

Jane Sadek

MEMORY PRESERVATION: IT’S ALL THERE!

The Way It Seems

To the casual observer, which is most people, Memory Preservation has many sectors. It seems as if cloud storage comes from one place, media digitization comes from another and genealogy comes from some place else completely. Then there’s a whole world for print. You print photos here, Christmas cards there and calendars someplace else. Video streaming is another area of expertise. Most people don’t have an idea where to begin.

And there are some big names in the business – Google, iCloud, Amazon, Legacy Box, Ancestry, Snapfish, Shutterfly – the list continues. They’d be good right? Everyone knows them.

The Way It Is

In reality, there is a single company which offers all these things and even more:

  • Permanent cloud storage you own and superior media digitization
  • Restoration and colorization of faded and damaged images.
  • Professional genealogy support and training for amateur genealogist.
  • A media migration program developed and heartily embraced by professional photo organizers and genealogist.
  • High quality, but affordable, print offerings, second to none.
  • The world’s premiere digital scrapbooking software, digital art and an incredible online community of camaraderie, support and training for digital scrapbookers.
  • Private video streaming with auto-play and no ads.

Are you wondering why you didn’t know they exist? Well, at the very inception of the company, it’s founder decided FOREVER was going to be different. Instead of setting aside a huge amount of their capital for marketing, they instead invested in the best technology available, because at the core of the company would be cloud storage people owned rather than rented and instead of the average Memory Keeper going to multiple companies to get the services they needed, they’d be able to get what they needed at the very place they stored their precious memories.

FOREVER is not even structured like the usual for profit business, where the point is to create income for the board of directors and stockholders. Instead, the board of directors are responsible for creating a profit to support the business, while providing a benefit to their customers. The benefit is permanent cloud storage which is owned rather than rented and remains available to the owners of the storage and their descendants into the future, long after the initial investment is made, without any additional rent or fees. Currently FOREVER guarantees that benefit for the owner’s lifetime plus 100 years, but the goal of the company is to provide the service forever. Profit to maintain and promote the company is generated from all the other services offered by FOREVER to complement their core service – personal cloud storage for your memories that you own.

That’s not the way the rest of those companies operate. The focus of those companies is their bottom line, especially those offering you free or cheap cloud services. If you read their fine print, you’ll see their goal is to mine your photos for information they can sell to advertisers. You’re a source of income. Not a customer! And if they do upgrade you to a higher level of service, that service only lasts for as long as you continue to pay them rent.

If you’d like to make your life easier, by consolidating your Memory Keeping activities into one service and you’re tired of being taken for granted by companies who use you rather that serve your needs, then we need to talk about FOREVER. Call me for an appointment at 972-971-5263 and I’ll buy the coffee!

Memory Keeping, Photo Organization, Photo Organization Coach, Photography, Scrapbooking

Fridays are Fun Days

Jane Sadek
Let’s get creative!

Memory Sharing: Fun for You & Fun for Them!

CHOOSE YOUR FUN!

Let’s face it, Memory Keeping can be a chore. It’s better than cleaning a toilet, but uploading, sorting, tagging and such can be a lot of work. Of course, there are those wonderful moments when you see a photo or video that floods you with happy memories and those where you relish telling a story in the description, but most of the time it’s a job.

However, when it comes to sharing your memories, that’s a whole different thing. Something as simple as posting a memory on social media or sending it directly to someone with a text or email, can make your day and the day of those you share with. You can up that game with digital photobooks and a wide variety of photo gifts from FOREVER (or maybe even a scrapbook from Creative Memories).

Oh, but I can hear you telling yourself that you’re happy with Snapfish, Shutterfly, Minted, ChatBooks, SmugMug, Mixbook, Walmart or your local drug store. To that I would say, “Are you sure?”

CHOOSE FOREVER!

My job on Fridays is to woo you away from whoever you’ve used in the past and introduce you to the absolute best. Most people dislike change and it’s just easier to keep using whoever they’ve been using in the past when they come up with future jobs. I say you owe it to yourself to at least take a peek at my Friday posts and be sure you’re really getting the best prices, service, quality and selection from whoever your go-to provider is.

DO IT YOUR WAY!

Perhaps the most important difference in FOREVER and the other guys is that each of them offers their products their way. You fill in their blanks and that’s your option. With FOREVER you can do it your way. If you run into trouble with the other guys, good luck getting a customer support rep to help. With FOREVER, just contact me. I’ll help you out of your conundrum.

Enjoy Auto Print that allows you to load your photos and have a printable photo book with hundreds of photos in seconds. You always have the option of making edits, but it really is as easy as 1-2-3.

Create & Print provides an overwhelming choice of templates for pretty much anything you might want to make from coffee mugs to beach towel and from blankets to photo books. If that sounds a lot like those other services, that’s because you really haven’t done a side-by-side comparison of the results. If you had, then you could see the superiority of the products you get from FOREVER for practically the same price.

For most of you, that’s all you need to know – unless you’re a serious crafter and you want to do it your way! My favorite way to make photo books, stationary, wall décor, calendars, drinkware, blankets, puzzles, coasters, ornaments and magnets is Artisan 6, a digital scrapbooking software that goes far beyond any scrapbook page. What’s more, Artisan 6 is supported by an online community of crafters, digital scrapbookers and the people who train them to do it better called pixels 2 Pages. I could go on, but I’ll save it for another day. I hope you’ll join me then.

This sunset reminds us that memory media will fade away
Memory Keeping, Photo Organization, Photo Organization Coach, Photography, Scrapbooking

What to Expect on Wednesdays

Jane Sadek
Look for Wednesday blogs if you have a Memory Mess

Memory Preservation: Why It SHOULD Matter to You

I HAVE A HARD JOB!

Getting any message out these days is hard, because there are so many people out there shouting at the top of their voices, trying to get your attention. With everyone screaming at you at once, it’s hard to get a word in edgewise.

You’re busy, I get it. The last thing you want is one more person telling you something you absolutely must get done right now.

Besides, you might have already “done something” about your memories. You think you’re done and if you’re not, then you don’t want to hear about it.

And you probably think you already know what it is I’m doing. The most frequent assumptions run from hosting scrapbooking classes and selling stickers to professional photo organizing, but that’s not exactly what I’m up to. The funniest assumption was that I work with memory care facilities in some capacity, but I don’t.

If you do know what I’m doing, you presume what I’m offering is exactly the same thing you already get from someplace or someone else that’s a more common household. It’s a misconception, but it’s a common one.

Memory Preservation Posts

What I actually do is come alongside people with Memory Messes and help fix them – the Memory Messes, not the people. I know you’re busy! That’s why I offer to step in to help do whatever needs to be done to preserve your memories for the future, and that looks different for everyone I meet. That’s what I’m going to address in my Wednesday posts.

Everybody’s Memory Mess is unique, but what they all have in common is that their memories are at risk.

Take the people who think they’ve already “done something.” These are the people who are probably the hardest for me to reach. They’ve already spent time and/or money on this and they’re done. The problem is that they are only almost done, if their goal was to preserve their memories for the future.

The easiest people for me to reach are those who KNOW they need to do something and are already thinking about what that is. They know there has to be something they can do, but they’re also scared to death of taking on a big job that’s going to cost a lot of money they don’t have. That’s where I can help the most, but getting them to move from worrying about it to doing something isn’t easy.

So, on Wednesdays, I will share a little information about Memory Preservation and how I might be able to help you. I offer both traditional and digital Memory Keeping Solutions. I can help you whether you want to do it yourself, you just need a little help or you just want me to make it go away. I hope you’ll join me!

Footsteps in Sand
Memory Keeping, Photo Organization, Photo Organization Coach, Photography, Scrapbooking

Blogging’s Back!

Jane Sadek

A RETURN TO BASICS: LOOKING FORWARD

Reality Check!

I got distracted! That’s the bottom line. But a recent call from a new customer got my attention. She found my website on the internet. This website, whose blog I’ve been ignoring for about a year and a half now. She had a custom scrapbooking job for me, which reminded me that my love of scrapbooking was what started this business.

I sat there, for a while, basking in the sunshine of all the beautiful custom scrapbooks I’ve done and how much my clients love them. Then I had to have an uncomfortable conversation with myself. “Hey Jane, if doing custom scrapbooks is the part of this business you love best and the part which brings you the best profit, why aren’t you working harder to get more of that business. Why do you spend all of your time posting stuff about FOREVER?”

After a heated discussion about how much I love FOREVER, which is very true, I had to do a reality check. My primary FOREVER customers are my best friend, my cousin and myself. I’m grateful for them and I love doing Memory Keeping with them, but other people are not exactly crashing through my door for digitization, storage and such. If you take FOREVER out of the equation, my best customers are and have been custom scrapbook customers. And how did most of them find me? Through my website.

So Here’s What I Am Going to do About That!

I won’t bore you with all the marketing wisdom I’ve gained over the years, all of which I put on the shelf and ignored for a while, but what I will tell you what I am going to do about it. I’m coming back to blogging. Blogging supports my website and that’s where I get my best customers.

But what to blog? Well, when I mentioned to a few people I planned to return to blogging, they were very excited and told me how much they had been missing my travel blogs. That was gratifying and I decided to call posts related to travel Memory Making posts.

During Memory Making most of us create and collect memorabilia and media. Preserving those Memories is really the second step to Memory Making. So, Memory Preservation posts will be my second blogging focus.

The third part will be Memory Sharing. From traditional scrapbooks from Creative Memories to Beach Towels and Wedding Invitations from FOREVER, I know of so many ways to share the memories you make – both with the people in your life today and for future generations.

That’s it – Memory Making, Memory Preservation and Memory Sharing! I hope you’ll tune in and be a part of the conversation.

DFW Metroplex, Memory Keeping, Photo Organization, Photo Organization Coach, Photography, Scrapbooking

FOREVER’s Free Historian Trial Rocks, Too

Jane Sadek

MEMORY KEEPING 101: WHY YOU SHOULD TRY HISTORIAN!

Historian Software

In reality, FOREVER doesn’t say much about Historian these days, because they have plans to incorporate much of what Historian offers into your storage – things like facial recognition, for instance. Only there’s no date offered for when the storage upgrade will happen, so I think Historian is a great program now and FOREVER allows you a 30 Day Trial to find out if it is for you.

Historian is a desktop program. It’s a place to sort through your photos BEFORE you take them to your permanent storage account, so you won’t have duplicates and outtakes filling up your GBs. It automatically bundles things into the year they were taken and has a timeline at the bottom, so you can easily focus on the year you want to organize.

I mentioned facial recognition and it’s a wonder, but then again so is the star rating system. As you go through your images you can give them 1-5 stars so you can quickly see which are the best.

If you’ve got a great picture with poor quality, then you’ll love the Auto-fix feature. A photo can go from mediocre to spectacular with one click. You’ve also got a lot of other editing tools at your fingertips for cropping, fixing red eyes and so forth and so on, but the Auto-fix feature is marvelous.

When I’m working on a custom album, facial recognition and the album planner are my friends. Tagging people in photos is a huge time suck, but so important. You’ll need to spend a little time training it to know your people, but once it knows, it knows What a boon.

The album planner is particularly important for me, because I’m not sorting through the photos to save in my storage. I’m sorting through them to fill the pages of a scrapbook or photobook. It’s easy to move them from the cabinet I’m working in to the album planner and from there, just a click or two to put them in a print project or order copies.

I like it for scanning, too. When I scan from my printer, I sometimes have a hard time finding it on my computer. Using Historian to initiate the process means the items scanned will be in Historian and much easier to find. I love it. 

Some people, who have more time than money, might run all their photos through Historian (or at least a lot of them) during the 30 Day Trial. If you love it at the end of the trial, it’s only $129.99 and yes, it’s eligible for Club Dollars and Club Discount. (After a recent price change, it is no longer included on monthly deals.)

It will be at least a year and maybe more before the upgrade to storage is done and even then, many of the improvements will be add-ons to basic storage. According to how you use your account, Historian might be a better deal than a Facial Recognition add-on to your storage, but if you’ve got work to do with photos on your computer, it will be worth every penny to get it done now and not wait to see the upgrade. YOu can check it out, here: https://www.forever.com/ambassador/jane-sadek/historian .

DFW Metroplex, Memory Keeping, Photo Organization, Photo Organization Coach, Photography, Scrapbooking

FOREVER’s Free Valet Trial Rocks

Jane Sadek

MEMORY KEEPING 101: WHY YOU SHOULD TRY VALET!

Valet – For Those Who Are Already Organized

For most people who are interested in FOREVER’s permanent online storage, the biggest obstacle to getting it done is their Media Mess, but there is another group. Their obstacle is that the images on their computer are already organized in folders and perhaps tagged. 

There was a time when I would explain to these people that safe is better than at risk, even if it requires a little extra work. And besides, if you’ve got it organized on your computer, part of the work is already done. They’d just need to bring it over in smaller batches.

I was one of those people who had already organized their photos on their computer before I found FOREVER, so I was speaking from experience, but that didn’t really make it much better. Moving a photo cache of decades and keeping the already instituted organization to it was daunting.

Then Came Valet! 

My first purpose for owning FOREVER storage was our real estate photography company. We’d killed one external drive and lost about 12 months of photos. I needed safe. Besides, I was up to date on my scrapbooks, so even if I lost my personal photos, I hate a physical backup.

Then we sold the company. I needed to get the archive to the new owner with all the organization and tagging intact. Thankfully, as if they’d done it just for me, that’s when FOREVER introduced Valet. It was designed primarily for professional photo organizers, but an amateur version was offered at a reduced price.

My first Valet operation was to download the archive from FOREVER to a disk, so I couldn’t use the free demo, which only allows uploads, not downloads. I had to invest in the software, right off. 

We’re talking years and years of real estate photography, but it was done so fast I was amazed and I knew was never going to migrate files from one place to another without Valet. Once the new owner verified he had our stash, I saved some of the archive for the sake of nostalgia and started deleting the rest. I couldn’t wait to upload my my personal photos.

Valet was brand new to FOREVER, so I admit I was a little apprehensive about migrating from my computer to FOREVER. From FOREVER to a disk was one thing, this was something else. Other Ambassadors were raving about it, but I couldn’t help but be skeptical. To boot, even though the photos on my computer were organized, I had some ideas about how to reorganize them, which would take better advantage of FOREVER’s features.

The day came for the migration and just as it had been with the real estate photos, Valet finished the job in record time – even though I’d moved the cache over in several batches rather than just letting Valet do it’s thing. I’m sure if I had moved all of it right as it had been, things would have been fine, but I do love the new organization.

So Is Valet Something You Need?

If the photos on your computer are organized and you want to move them into FOREVER, then Valet is the best way to do it. Spend some time getting it just like you want it – maybe adding photos from your phone or other devices. Then when you get everything just so, get the free 30 Day Trial version of Valet. I’m guessing you’ll be through in a couple of hours, but you’ll have 29 more days to play with it. As I said, you can only upload with the demo, but for most people, that’s all they really want and you probably won’t need Valet again after the job is done – standard or pro version.

Or Maybe You Will!

Perhaps you are the family historian and while all of your photos are organized, you are also collecting items from others. If this is you, according to the the size of your family and the state of their files, you may, you may be able to use the standard version to help. As long as you are uploading to your own FOREVER account, you can log in on any computer and do so. The pro version is for downloading to and from other FOREVER accounts. 

The Future of Valet

So, Valet just came out in May, but improvements are already in the works. While the current version is focused on images stored on devices, they are working on making it work with other cloud formats, so that if you have at risk images on Google Photos, Dropbox, i-cloud and other places, bringing them home to FOREVER will be a one step process. I love Valet just the way it is, but I’m really excited about that improvement. Believe me, I will keep you abreast of any developments I learn of. In the meantime, you can try Valet with this link: https://www.forever.com/ambassador/jane-sadek/valet .