I am the first to admit that although I really like new technology and software, I am really old school when it comes to how I take my photos. Up until this point, I almost always use a camera, and if it can be my DSLR camera, that's my preference. I grew up with a big camera around my neck (in high school as a yearbook photographer) and it's just what I'm comfortable with. My phone photos have been just snapshots, and often not very clear.
But this year I knew that my family was going to be heading to Florida for a huge family reunion, and I wasn't going to lug my big camera with me on the plane. I was going to be “stuck” with just my phone camera.
At first, I planned to upgrade my four-year-old Galaxy Note 5 so I would at least have a phone camera upgrade. But that didn't work out for me. So I was stuck with the Note 5 (my “computer in my pocket”).
So a couple of months before the trip, I started learning how to better use my phone camera. Novel idea, huh? I also found some ways to make my trip a little more “safe” for my aging phone.
The best thing I did by far was pick up a Calicase Waterproof Floating phone case. I had seen a friend post pictures from inside waterfalls and in the rain, and I figured that could work in the ocean to keep the water and the sand off of my phone.
We took a total of 101 photos at the beach that day, mostly in the surf. The Calicase actually does float well, and it came with a lanyard to wear it around my neck when I was out in the water. (My daughter took some of these photos – I swear my arms aren't that long.)
Enough about that.
I survived a 9 day trip with just my phone (and my husband's phone) for a camera. Between the two of us, we took 774 pictures. I have to say, ever since we got our first digital camera, my husband has been a “why take only 1 photo when 12 will capture it” kind of person. So, once I pared down the photos to share with family, I am now sharing just 309 photos. I did share more photos in the album than I would use in my book, but I wanted to give them options. Plus, since the trip was for a large family reunion on my father-in-law's side of the family, I shot nearly 100 photos just of the 15 different family groups (we were all color-coordinated … it was mind-boggling!).
The coolest thing, though, was that we had wifi at the house we rented, so each evening, my phone uploaded all of our pics to my Forever account and I didn't have to worry about losing them. I know I beat this drum a lot, but it is so worth saying. Just the sense of peace knowing that I won't lose the photos is really nice.
There was one more HUGE plus to my Forever account while we were there. I found out two days before the reunion that our family (meaning my husband's father's family) had to have a poster board with family pictures to represent their family. Since I have had all of the old photos from my husband's family stored in an album in my Forever account since I first bought the storage, I was able to pull up all of the old photos and have my mother-in-law and sisters-in-law pick the photos they wanted for the poster. Then I just quickly uploaded them to a local Walgreens and we had our poster. No one else in the family has these photos outside of my storage account, but I've been able to give all of them access to the album in my account, so they can access them any time.
I am so forever grateful to have this storage, to be able to access my pictures anywhere and not have to worry that something will happen to them. If you've ever contemplated storage and you have any questions, please let me know.
Hope you are having a memorable, fantastic summer so far!
