A few weeks ago, after the launch of the new SmugMug, I decided that it was about time I posted the hundreds of family photos I had taken over the past ten years that my family had never seen. They were images of my family that I had glanced at after importing onto my computer, but many of them never quite made their way to someplace my family could view them. Since I live far from home, the only chance they will see them is if I post them online, so I created a private gallery and went to town selecting and uploading the files (Lightroom makes stuff like that take so little time!). And, because I finally have a home for my family images, I also have a place to share future images.

We all have photos like these: those that are still sitting on our computers, collecting virtual dust from never having been shared online or even in print. I probably have hundreds of other images (mostly landscape) that I could dig up, process and share online. Some of them are images I just never got around to editing, or maybe they’re photos I just didn’t think were that good until I take a second (or third) peek at them. I’ve been actively looking through my Lightroom catalog over the past month, just to see what I could find. In fact, the image in this post is from a hot-air balloon festival from last year; I have several photos from that day, and have only posted one or two of them. This is one I just recently edited and finally brought to life online.

So, what are you waiting for? Go, right now, look through your old photos and find one—just one—that is worth sharing. Searching and finding beautiful photos worth sharing is a fun experience, kind of like a mini treasure hunt. And finding buried treasure is always incredibly rewarding.

A few weeks ago, after the launch of the new SmugMug, I decided that it was about time I posted the hundreds of family photos I had taken over the past ten years that my family had never seen. They were images of my family that I had glanced at after importing onto my computer, but many of them never quite made their way to someplace my family could view them. Since I live far from home, the only chance they will see them is if I post them online, so I created a private gallery and went to town selecting and uploading the files (Lightroom makes stuff like that take so little time!). And, because I finally have a home for my family images, I also have a place to share future images.

We all have photos like these: those that are still sitting on our computers, collecting virtual dust from never having been shared online or even in print. I probably have hundreds of other images (mostly landscape) that I could dig up, process and share online. Some of them are images I just never got around to editing, or maybe they’re photos I just didn’t think were that good until I take a second (or third) peek at them. I’ve been actively looking through my Lightroom catalog over the past month, just to see what I could find. In fact, the image in this post is from a hot-air balloon festival from last year; I have several photos from that day, and have only posted one or two of them. This is one I just recently edited and finally brought to life online.

So, what are you waiting for? Go, right now, look through your old photos and find one—just one—that is worth sharing. Searching and finding beautiful photos worth sharing is a fun experience, kind of like a mini treasure hunt. And finding buried treasure is always incredibly rewarding.

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Nicole is a photographer, published author, and educator specializing in Lightroom, Photoshop, and photography. She is best known for her books on food photography but is widely versed in various photographic genres, including landscape, nature, stock, travel, and experimental imagery.

2 Comments

  1. Danette August 20, 2013 at 10:19 am - Reply

    I am the designated family photographer for a large (and I mean really large) extended family. After each gathering I usually drop box the files and leave them there for two weeks. I have only done this for the past two years. What a gift it would be to give access to the older shots as well. Hmmm maybe a winter project.

  2. John Garghan August 20, 2013 at 3:53 pm - Reply

    Having 2 brothers and sisters I decided to scan and upload my parents photos to a Flickr site so now we all have a copy and further more and most important they are backed up online. and then it occurred to me that also on these photos are my cousins who because of the old school nature of taking a photograph and then getting the film processed when it was full they would I’m sure have never seen themselves on these images so I have extended the project. its time consuming, at times hard and very emotional, great fun and so worthwhile.

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