Interview - Isabelle Dervaux, Family Photo Curator

Photo Credit: Tamara Gillon

If a photo is worth a thousand words what happens when you have thousands of photos? Most if not all of our clients ask us what to do with their photos. First, we want to get them all together and store them safely (not in a hot attic or wet garage) and then we can decide what “action” applies to the photos. For some simply keeping them safe is the next and final step but for some other ideas we spoke with Photo Organizer Isabelle Dervaux.

What do you do for your clients?

I help families make sense of the tens of thousands of photos they accumulate over time and create systems that keep them organized. We now take more than 3–5,000 photos per year. Those photos pile up, and given enough time can cause a certain amount of what I call digital anxiety. So you could say I also relieve them of that anxiety while I help them make meaningful projects from the pictures they love.

How did you get started?

It actually started as I began organizing my own family photos when we moved from San Francisco to New York. It was difficult at first to find all of those pictures—scattered among boxes of print photos and digital photos on hard drives, old laptops, and even thumb drives—and once all the photos were in a single location, to not get overwhelmed by hundreds of scans or entire collections that had been duplicated by accident! But there were also moments of joy, like discovering the digital photos of a weekend camping when the kids were young that I thought were lost and now miraculously appeared.

I developed my own methods to get through all the road-blocks and when finished with several projects, felt a real sense of accomplishment as well as a weight lifted from my shoulders. I realized other people must be facing the same issues with their own family photos that I had faced and started working with others to help them organize and find joy in their own photo collections.

If someone is interested, what is the process?

First, we schedule a free 30-minute phone consultation. We have a conversation about what’s important: do they want to organize their digital collection to make photos easier to find? Are they looking to design family albums for their young children? Are they concerned about boxes of old family pictures gathering dust? Once we’ve determined the challenges they’re facing, we set priorities and goals and I recommend a strategy that suits their needs.

I like working side-by-side with my clients—I often work at their homes, so we can share a more detailed view of the family, who the relatives are and what events are most important. We work in manageable chunks, usually once a week over the course of a month, but occasionally for three or more months if we’re dealing with a larger print collection or bigger project.

When tackling a digital photo collection, we start by tracking down every device and storage system the pictures may be found on. Once we’ve gathered and moved the photos to one place, we find a strategy that best suits the client and start organizing and curating their collection with a concrete step-by-step action plan. I teach my clients just enough tech shortcuts and insights to give them the confidence and tools they need to continue organizing their photos, and empower them to make beautiful slideshows and albums on their own.

What makes you different?

Beyond organizing their pictures and sorting out years of photos in a systematic way, our work together also becomes an opportunity to teach my clients about photography and design. I come to this work through a long career as an illustrator, and I love to share the same principles with my clients that I taught in my illustration class at Parsons School of Design. When we find great photos in the course of our work, we analyze what makes them so good—the light, the emotion, the composition, for example—so they can then go on to recreate those same conditions again, on their own. When my clients learn how to recognize their best photos, they also learn how to take better photos, and that reduces their need to edit later on. So the benefits of what I teach my clients extend far beyond the actual time I spend with them.

What is the storytelling aspect of photo organizing?

I’m always on the lookout for engaging, strong images that will provoke conversations and foster deeper connections between family members and friends. Photos are a means of communication. I teach my clients to really look at and read their images rather than just viewing them as one-off snapshots. The way images are edited, grouped and sequenced has a big impact on a photo album. When making an album, you’re making it for yourself, but you’re also creating it for others to view. That means creating a story arc and giving context to the time period, the people in the photos, and information that will keep the viewer hooked—you want them to keep them interested and turning the pages without yawning!

Can you recall any projects that stood out or were especially exciting—or challenging?

I once helped a client find a year’s worth of photos she thought she had lost, including pictures of her daughter as a newborn through her first birthday. I was so happy to help a mom get her daughter’s first year back!

Going through photos can be especially difficult if you’ve recently lost a close family member or friend. I have helped soften the process for clients who want to honor the memory of those who are gone—together we work on finding the most expressive pictures, and create photo stories by which to remember their loved ones.

On a lighter note, I work with many families who travel all over the world. I have gone to virtually every continent through my work, and I love discovering new places as if I were there.

Make it Go Away

When potential clients contact us, we ask them about their space challenges and one of the most common answers is one or all of the big three: attic, basement and garage. We call these areas “Make it go away” spaces. The habit goes past out of sight out of mind to reveal a deeper issue with clutter and how we deal with stuff. When we have homes for items, organizational systems make sense; however, for many household items when they don’t have a home they end up in the attic, basement or garage. You ever notice people don’t use “put it” that much, but rather “throw it” when talking about those make it go away items.

The Items in Question

Stuff we hide in the attic usually falls into two camps, those items we don’t know what do with in the first place and those items that don’t have an easy category. Think about your holiday decorations. That category is pretty straight forward. Items that don’t have an easily defined category usually have to do with the word “could.” Saving items for what if scenarios can lead to a clutter attic or basement. These items tend to be bulky like canoe oars or skis. Another challenge can be the “I feel I need to keep it” section. This is where that chair from your great uncle’s house comes in.

Solutions

Why does it matter if the attic or basement are clear, anyway? We not only want to use that storage space to keep items we don’t use often like keepsakes and seasonal items but one way or another you will move eventually and those heavy clutter zones make a stressful time that much more stressful. When it comes to excessive clutter most people get stuck even knowing where to start. The attic and basement require time, physical labor and a plan. A professional organizer not only provides you with special motivated time, experience, and a systematic approach we also bring the manual labor. Focus on why you are keeping the item in the first place. If the item isn’t expensive or can easily be obtained again maybe it is time for it to move on. Consider splitting a dumpster with a neighbor for a day of bulk removal helping each other lug that rusty antique creepy baby carriage down from the attic. Kicking the can down the road adds up in your valuable space if you are stuck indoors due to weather why not use that time to actually “make it go away”

Guest Post - Home Move: Making It an Enjoyable Experience

Home Move: Making It an Enjoyable Experience

Moving is not an easy task but it doesn’t have to be a procession of misery. Every now and then we are faced with this activity, and its frequency is especially familiar to roaming millennials that tend to move from one apartment to the other. Anxiety will not only make the entire experience feel longer, it will also make you less efficient and, even worse, open the possibility for mismanagement and lost items. If the long and stress-inducing shadow of a big move looms over your head, here’s how the move can be reassessed, making it an enjoyable experience.

Declutter before you begin

If you need to move, you just need to start packing, right? Well, it is not as simple as it sounds. Chances are, your temporary home is quite “lived in” and there are numerous items just lying around, and some have probably even turned into dangerous stumbling blocks. Before the big move, you need to declutter your home, and it can actually end up being a much longer and bigger task than you initially thought. Just start with the small things and start putting them into labeled cardboard boxes. Once you start packing things into a car or a van, these will go on top, so put them first in the area where they won’t stand in the way.

Jagged edges and sharp objects

Decluttering can last for several weeks, and in the meantime, you can think of ways to minimize the chances for injury during the move, as well as the integrity of bulkier items. You can use duct tape to “secure” these bulkier items to an extent and make the jagged edges safer. You can also purchase special types of Styrofoam coverings which can make matters even easier and safer. By properly covering and securing your bulky furniture, you are killing two birds with one stone – keeping yourself and indeed the furniture safe. You don’t need extra expenditure on your hands after the costly move.

Don’t be ashamed to look for help

If the entire project appears to be too overwhelming for you, don’t be ashamed to ask for help. Turn to your family members or friends to lend a hand and ask them if they can also put their vehicle to your service. Prioritize asking the help from someone who owns a minivan, because it will make the entire move much breezier. Still, there are solutions even if everybody’s too busy to help out. These removalists from Sydney's Eastern Suburbs, for example, offer an efficient move with no hidden charges and with astounding efficiency. Therefore, you are not exactly without options.

Don’t leave anything waiting the day before the move

All of your tasks related to moving, including the preparation of furniture and packing of smaller goods, should be done as late as the morning before the move. You need some time to clear your head before the main part of the job begins and, as the natural main organizer of the occasion, you need to be on your toes throughout the process in order to save precious time of everyone involved.

Check after you move

After all of the stuff has been moved to the new apartment or a house, go back to the old place and check it thoroughly before you hand in the keys. Look into the remaining nooks and crannies in search of possible missed items and – this is the extremely important part – check if all the remaining devices and appliances are turned off. The last thing you need is to pay excess bills or, even worse, the insurance of the household you have just left forever.

While uprooting your entire life and changing the backdrop of your daily activities can be an extremely stressful endeavor, especially if you are anxious by nature, it can also be a chance for a new beginning, the rite of passage to the exciting tomorrow and a new arrangement filled with opportunities. In the end, it is all about perspective – the point of view can turn a deplorable situation into something inspiring or at least something you are indifferent towards. The only truly important element that should be taken out of the equation is anxiety.

Lillian Connors can’t resist the urge to embark on a myriad of green living/home improvement projects and spread the word about them. She cherishes the notion that sustainable housing and gardening will not only make us far less dependent on others regarding the dwellings we inhabit, but also contribute to our planet being a better place to live on. You can check her out on Twitter.

Interview - Pretzl

Whenever one of our clients says, “what do I do with all this stuff?” one of our suggestions is to recommend focusing on experiences. This practice works especially well when it comes to feeling overwhelmed by children’s toys. We spoke with Olivia Leon from Pretzl about ways to easily find activities if you don’t want to add to the playroom.

For the busy person, what is Pretzl?

Pretzl is the OpenTable for kids’ activities, a site for parents to search through thousands of classes, camps and birthday party options and book on the spot. Without any fees ever, parents can search on criteria that matter most to them like the child’s age, location, activity type, day of the week/time, making it easier than ever to find just what they are looking for and discover new activities they didn’t know were out there.

Whether a parent is looking for a class or a camp for the summer, planning a child’s next birthday party, or just wants to try something new over weekend, Pretzl is here to help.

What is the company's origin story, how did you pick the name?

My co-founder and I were sharing our frustrations about how difficult it was to find new and different activities for our kids. We knew that there were amazing offerings out there, but no easy way to find them and compare options. We knew that there had to be a better way and Pretzl was born.

According to some historians, the earliest pretzels were dubbed “pretiolas,” meaning “little rewards.” We want to, “give kids the reward of amazing experiences and give their parents the reward of easily finding and booking those experiences.”

How is Pretzl different than calendar of event sites?

Most directory sites will list options, but parents can’t book the activity on the site. They have to go to the venue’s site or call the venue during the hours of operation. On Pretzl, customers can search through thousands of kids' classes, camps, birthday party options and events and book anytime day or night. Unlike man “calendar of event sites,” we don’t just list dozens of activities and happenings (which can become unwieldy and overwhelming for parents). We enable Pretzl users to filter and sort our thousands of offerings on criteria that matter most to them like date and time, location, age, activity type, etc. and then book on the spot. Lastly, booking through Pretzl also allows parents to keep kids' busy schedules organized all in one place.

What are some of the most popular events?

We are finding that there is no “most popular” event or class. Our bookings range all of the options one would expect - from Fine Art to Martial Arts to the Digital Arts and sports like Soccer, Tennis and Golf and all types of dance. But some our most popular bookings are the unexpected activities such as a Paleontologist Camp, an Earring Making Workshop and even an Ice Cream Making Class. We have also seen a spike in the demand for single day activities with the recent school holidays.