That's an ominous thought for sure, because you can see the circle of the hurricane right there. Time is of the essence. Act now. Just wait till you see some of the pictures. I've seen video of a camera that was positioned at eight feet on a road, and that camera is now going underwater.
Welcome to Live with Mollie. It is Tuesday, September 16th, and I'm here with my friend Krista Kowalczyk, who has written a book, Beyond the Storm. I just want to welcome you here, Krista. We are live! Hello and welcome. One of the things that has happened just yet is something is live in the back room. So let's see if we can figure that out. I think it might be something with making sure that we're going live. Occasionally, I leave the YouTube video on and then I can hear it in the background. So let me just bring you back on, Krista, and we're going to see if that works. Okay. Here we go. Yeah. Sorry, I was hearing an echo for a second, but I think we're good.
Hello, hello. I cannot imagine what life was like for you when Hurricane Ian hit. I know you've had to recount your story so many times, but those images—just to see that—make your heart race. I cannot imagine what that was like. In your book, I know you were expecting the storm, and then it hit, and you were out in the street. Then the first responders arrived, and that's when you started to hear just how bad it was. What was that like?
First, that video just gives me chills. It really does. And the one thing I always like to point out to people is that while you see those images, you need to understand the size of it. It wasn’t just one community or one island in a video. It would take people an hour to drive from one destroyed home to another. That’s the span of how far it went. The size of it was, to this day, really hard for me to comprehend—just how much impact that had on this region.
We were cut off. The storm just went on forever, the day of the storm, and it took away all our communication. By the end of the day, we really didn’t have a way to communicate to find out what exactly the situation was. The next morning, literally before the sun came up, my whole neighborhood was out in the street trying to assess the situation. A first responder came over—he had been up all night. The storm had calmed to a point where we could go outside, maybe around 9 or 10 p.m. It was dark out, there was nothing we could do, so we didn’t really know what was going on until the next morning. The storm was over, the sun came out, and this first responder told us about the work he had done all night—things I don’t even really want to talk about, honestly. They were disturbing, heart-wrenching moments. That’s when the full scope of it really set in.
Looking at this first responder, who I know has dealt with car accidents and home fires, I could tell he had seen things before. But the look on his face—he looked like he had seen a ghost. He was shaken, and that image will never leave me for sure. I really felt that your book, and It's Beyond the Storm, just came out in June. I, you know, as I read through it, I it's like part Florida history. I think it's almost like a part travel guide, personal memoir. That's a leadership guide for the youth and the young people, you know, across the country who helped you.
And there's a few important tips for saving pictures in there. Like, it's not it's not your every day like, oh, just go organize your photos. There is, so many stories in here that really, really, you know, touched me. And as a, photo organizer, you know, we when disaster happens, I hate when people are like, well, are you going to go tell everybody what to do? And I'm like, well, it's kind of too late now.
And, you know, the people who see some of the images that I'll share, or that you've shared, even on national television, I still think the sense of urgency kind of diminishes as time passes. And so I'm on a mission to help promote your book and help people see photos. :00 - :03 Unknown You know, any day you can save a couple here and there. Yes. Yeah. You know, I have to tell you, Mollie, I when one of things that really inspired me is that there are some fabulous deep dive books, and yours is the best of the best.
If you want all the details, you want to deep dive. You want this whole project on and you know you want to do You are like you're the Bible of getting photo organized, but I. I thought of this from the beginning as the book you read before you read Mollie's book. Like this is the this is tell. I want everybody who reads this to realize how hurtful, how painful it is to have no photos left, nothing of your history left, how much pain that is, and motivate people to start thinking about it.
And even if it is just a few photos or just a little bit to take action and and get your book with the deep dive into everything you're going to do. I should probably I have a link with, your book and my books in, and I'll share that later. Reading, you know, is is such an important thing to do these days. And the thank you for calling out my books, too. But, I, I just you take what you read and then do something with it today more than ever.
Like, family photos are so important, and I, I really appreciate that. So let me just share a few photos of the work that you had done. And these are photos that you've shared in other places. So let me bring them on. And, here's a couple pictures. What was going on here? So this was a home, I believe they had got about ten feet of water in this home in North Fort Myers. And, they were just, I mean, taking everything to the curb, every single item in the house, including the appliances, everything that was left in the house, got taken out to the curb.
That's an ominous thought for sure, because you can see the circle of the hurricane right there. Time is of the essence. Act now.
Just wait till you see some of the pictures. I've seen video of a camera that was positioned at eight feet on a road, and that camera is now going underwater.
This.
Welcome to live with Mollie. It is Tuesday, September 16th, and I'm here with my friend Krista Qual Tech, who has written a book, Beyond the Storm. And I just want to welcome you here. Krista. We are live. Hello and welcome to. One of the things that has happened just yet is something is live in the back room. So let's see if we can figure that out.
I think it might be, something with, you know, making sure that we're going live. Okay, okay. Occasionally I leave the YouTube video on and then I can hear it in the background. So let me just bring you back on Krista, and we're going to see if that works. Okay. Here we go. Yeah. Sorry. I was hearing an echo for a second, but I think we're good.
We're good? Yep. Hello? Hello. I cannot imagine what life was like for you when Hurricane Ian hit. And, I know you've had to recount your story so many times, but those images, you know, to see that, it's just just makes your heart race. And I, cannot imagine what that was like. And in your book, I.
I know you guys were expecting the storm, and then it hit, and you were out in the street, and then the first responders arrived, and that's when you started to hear just how bad it was. What? What was that like? First, that video just gives me chills. It it really does. And, the one thing I just always like to point out to people is why you see those images.
But to understand the, the signs of that, it wasn't one community. Or you look at one island in a video, it's I mean, it would take people an hour to drive from one destroyed home to another. Just that's the span of how far that went. So, the size of it was really just, I mean, to this day, really hard for me to even comprehend just how, how much impact that had on this region.
But, we were cut off. You know, the the storm just went on forever, the day of the storm. And it just took away our all our communication. So by the end of the day, we really didn't have a way to even communicate, to find out, you know, what exactly is the the actual situation. So it was the next morning, literally before the sun came up, like my whole neighborhood, we were out in the street kind of trying to assess the situation, and I'm a first responder and come over who had been up all night.
So the storm kind of came to a point where we could go outside. I don't know, maybe around, 9 p.m., 10 p.m.. I think it was about ten. So then it was dark out. There was nothing we could do. So we really didn't know, you know, what was going on to the next morning we wake up, it's the storm's over the sun.
You know, the sun comes out that day, and this first responder came over and told us that work he had done all night. And how, which I things I don't even really want to talk about, to be honest with you, but just very, some, some just disturbing moments and, like, heart wrenching things. And that's when the full scope of it really set in.
And looking at this first responder that I was speaking with, who I know has dealt with car accidents and home fires and he's you seen things. I'm sure he's seeing things. But the look on his face, he looked like he had seen a ghost. He looked just shaken. And, that that image will never, will never leave me for sure.
I really felt that your book, and It's Beyond the Storm, just came out in June. I, you know, as I read through it, I it's like part Florida history. I think it's almost like a part travel guide, personal memoir. That's a leadership guide for the youth and the young people, you know, across the country who helped you.
And there's a few important tips for saving pictures in there. Like, it's not it's not your every day like, oh, just go organize your photos. There is, so many stories in here that really, really, you know, touched me. And as a, photo organizer, you know, we when disaster happens, I hate when people are like, well, are you going to go tell everybody what to do?
And I'm like, well, it's kind of too late now. And, you know, the people who see some of the images that I'll share, or that you've shared, even on national television, I still think the sense of urgency kind of diminishes as time passes. And so I'm on a mission to help promote your book and help people see photos.
You know, any day you can save a couple here and there. Yes. Yeah. You know, I have to tell you, Mollie, I when one of things that really inspired me is that there are some fabulous deep dive books, and yours is the best of the best. If you want all the details, you want to deep dive. You want this whole project on and you know you want to do it.
You are like you're the Bible of getting photo organized, but I. I thought of this from the beginning as the book you read before you read Mollie's book. Like this is the this is tell. I want everybody who reads this to realize how hurtful, how painful it is to have no photos left, nothing of your history left, how much pain that is, and motivate people to start thinking about it.
And even if it is just a few photos or just a little bit to take action and and get your book with the deep dive into everything you're going to do. I should probably I have a link with, your book and my books in, and I'll share that later. Reading, you know, is is such an important thing to do these days.
And the thank you for calling out my books, too. But, I, I just you take what you read and then do something with it today more than ever. Like, family photos are so important, and I, I really appreciate that. So let me just share a few photos of the work that you had done. And these are photos that you've shared in other places.
So let me bring them on. And, here's a couple pictures. What was going on here? So this was a home, I believe they had got about ten feet of water in this home in North Fort Myers. And, they were just, I mean, taking everything to the curb, every single item in the house, including the appliances, everything that was left in the house, got taken out to the curb.
And this is just, this is my husband is in the photo here. A couple other friends. Just people volunteering to help, bring everything. Take everything to the curb. Because everything. Everything was destroyed. It was crazy. When you walk this home, a lot of work. Obviously, the carpeting has been pulled up and everything already. A lot has been done already.
But when you walked in, it kind of like had this look like if you would take in the house and, and just gave it a shake and set it down, everything was upside down, tipped over in the room. It didn't start in, you know, I know people. The refrigerator was in the bedroom. I know people that don't know where the refrigerator was.
That's how much force that water had. So this is just cleaning up, you know, ever taking everything, just taking the cabinetry. Right now, they're taking out to the to the curb, you know, to the trash. Wow. And I see the photos, you know, that some of them are in frames in the corner of the, the picture here.
Yes. So that's just photos. They collected from around the house. That some of them, you know, they were water damage, they had mud on them, you know, or, or quite messy, but they had started collecting them, in hopes of maybe being able to salvage some of them. Well, and at what point did you realize you were going to be helping and, and for people who don't know you, the reason why we met is because, you, you actually volunteered and worked like crazy.
You and your family were helping people recover what they could during that storm and, like, the whole year following, and I. But you still have photos that you're helping people with. So you're sure at what point did you get involved? So day two, you meet the first responder. How did that happen? So it started with, my friend.
Okay. So first off, I'm I'm a lifelong photographer. I, I've owned my business for almost 30 years. I have a bachelor's degree in geography. So taking pictures has always been my life. I never nothing like what you do. I've never thought about organizing pictures or other people's pictures at all. It's not something that ever occurred to me, really.
But then as I saw people collecting the the first family, actually, it was my neighbors father. So that was the first home I went to, and she had started collecting these photos that were around the home and asked me if there's anything I could do. And I was like, well, I know some some basic tips to this stuff.
I, you know, had to take these classes in college on photo restoration going back many years. But I remember some of the things and I know some basic things about it. So that's, where it started. But I realized from talking to her and then talking to the neighbors in that community, that most people had no idea what could be done with the photos.
So that just kind of made me think, like, let's, let's do some posts on social media, because like I said, it was a it was everybody in my community. So I just went to even my own personal Facebook page and just said, hey, hey, guys, like if you know anybody, these are things that can be done with your photos while you're taking everything else to the curb.
Don't throw the photos out yet. And, just started telling people the things they could do. One thing that was, is anybody who's lived through any kind of disaster understands this. When you have a home fire or tornado flooding, whatever it is, everything is urgent. Everything, everything needs to be done immediately. So, I started just offering to literally take people's photos, seeing strangers photos, saying, just give me your photos.
And, it's sometimes I think back, I don't know if I've talked about this before of that, but sometimes I do think back to under normal circumstances, would people like, take their like, collection of photos and hand it to a stranger and say, good luck? I don't even have your phone number, but okay. You know, it was.
But that was the situation. I mean, it was a crisis mode and people were just desperate for help. So I just kind of went door to door and got one person to say, hey, call this person. And so I ended up just filling my car and my entire house with mud damaged, sludgy, gross photos. That stunk a little bit, but I did my best to wash them and mostly just digitize them and get the memory back for people.
So I just, for know that was the one I, I the left pictures from your home you used and I'm sorry, I, I was I put another picture. This is an example of when we saved photos after a fire. We hung, dried them. But you lay them out flat, and they were all over your house. Every flat surface had photos on it.
I. I tried to leave a little space carved out for my husband, eat dinner, have his breakfast in the morning on our countertop. But yeah, we have a dining room table, a kitchen table, the whole bar. I even my garage was filled and folding table set up. Baking. It was every space that I could, I could have was was just post photos trying to to get them cleaned up.
A lot of my objective was to get them cleaned up enough that I could digitize them for them, because I don't know if you can ever get rid of that. The mold that was on them, you can wash it off. But I think the best thing is to get that digital. That's what I did. And then the digital copies you developed a network of people to restore them.
That was that was amazing. Yeah, I just, I went to my alumni association, photo groups, different photography groups that I'm a part of on Facebook and just said, hey, this is the situation here. I'm overwhelmed with these photos. And this is three years ago. I wasn't as good as it is now, too. So, it just took a little bit more time to do some basic restoration then.
Then maybe. I think that now, every day, like, darn, if this had come out, you know, if we had these tools three years ago accessible, it might have been a little bit easier. But, Yeah. So I, had a ton of people volunteer to all over the country, every corner, of the country, people were volunteering and I would just send them the digital copies.
They would do their magic and send them back. I even had, one lady who's like a, like, works for magazines. She does, like, catalog work into some really, like, high end, like, just amazing. And here she is like, you know, retouching somebody a bar mitzvah photo. And I was like, wow, that is just like, how sweet is that?
That this woman is offering these skills that, that, you know, these big companies are paying her a lot of money for her talent. That's that's quite impressive. And she's offering it to a family here in Southwest Florida. I mean, I really think that's sweet. So this is just, like a question that just came to me.
Are you prepared for the next time a disaster? It's to be a go to rush. Yes and no. I don't know if you can ever be enough. Physically prepared. I mean, we've done all the things we can emotionally prepare, you know, so, you know, I just saw something posted recently, like yesterday or something. This is the only time in I don't 80 or the first time in 80 years that I probably am off a little bit of my exact numbers here, but it's the first time in eight years that there isn't an active hurricane happening right now.
Did you see that as well? Yeah, which is crazy because I don't know. Just the way things have been lately. I thought, this is it. Like it could be this year. Fingers crossed we still have time to knock on wood. It's not hurricane season right now, but actually, we're still two weeks away from when Hurricane Ian, you know, soon, in two weeks will be the three year, marker of when the storm hit.
Unbelievable. In your book, you, I and I, I have it open to this page because I love this story. You kept somebody's photo, and and I have done that over the years. You know, our family has given a picture because you just start feeling connected. And this is, what you wrote. This is about Bud from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
And you you were looking at the photo and imagining the life that he led. You actually googled up some answers about his, you know, he served in the US Navy as a Seabee during World War two. You knew he was married for 62 years. He was he passed away in 2013. And the photo, the family felt you would get more enjoyment out of it than they would.
So they let you they graciously, you know, let you have that. And we always would have the digital version of it anyway. But having a physical photo really means something. You, you wrote here wondering about that photo the moment it was taken. Could he have imagined that a stranger who was yet to be born for another 30 some years, would eventually display it on her desk?
The photo the photo has value to you, but in a different way then to him when he might have mailed it back to his parents. And it's so thought provoking and you wondered, you know, where will all of our photos end up someday? I know a stranger's desk. Just tell me a little bit more about your attachment.
You know, to this this photo. Yeah, I you know, I, I really love that photo, considering it's, you know, not somebody I've ever known or. I have no connection to, but I do, a few things strike me about it when I was going through, I mean, literally thousands and thousands of photos, I saw a lot of similarities.
There was a lot of similar pictures in a lot of military pictures, a lot of older military pictures that came through. But this one in particular was different than the other military photos. The, the fact that it's in the casual fatigues, you know, it's this profile. It just it really struck me. It was like no other photo that I had, come across as I was going through these photos.
So I love that. I love the the hand coloring to it. So I just thought, I don't know, something about the photo had like an artistic quality to it almost. So I, I just love that about it. And when I was meeting with the family that this photo had had, they had this or that, thousands of pictures, we went through so many of them and digitized tons of photos for them and really got this, all this, all organized for them.
And we went through and I just pointed out some of my favorites and got a few stories, which was really neat about the different story, about the different photos, but this one in particular, I, I told them that I was like, I just love this picture has a great quality, so make sure you take care of this one.
It's really neat. And, we went through the rest of the photos and then at the end, the woman I was, I was speaking with, she's in her late 80s at the time. She said, you know, I, I don't, you know, I've lots of pictures of this is you know, my uncle, but, I've lots of photos of them.
I don't have any use for it, and nobody else would want it. Why don't you keep this photo if you really treasure it that much? And I was like, well, you know. Absolutely. I'm like, are you sure? But, so yeah, she insisted. And I do. I keep the photo. And so now to me it represents you, the entire project, the work I did.
So, you know, it is more to me than than just the artistic quality that I love about the photo. It is, brings me back to that time when I was working on these photos and had a house with every flat surface covered in pictures, I, I really, I just feel a little choked up about it because, you know, this is a man who is photographed serving his country.
And Chris, I mean, that's what you did. You served these people. And, I, I just really moved by it. I, I love that you just mentioned that it was hand-colored because when I got this, I was like, there's something off about the picture, like the coloring. And I didn't get it until you said that it was hand colored.
This is chalk art, right? That, you know, I'm not sure the, I'm not sure the the coloring method. I never really I should look into that more and get more of the history of the actual print itself. Considering all of the investigation I did of uncle, but. Well, we get portraits here and we'll have the black and white version, and then the the chalk does what we call it the chalk version.
And this really actually does look chocked to me, now that you mention it. But I've never I'm still not 100% sure because I don't see it. It's so detailed, the coloring and the shading of the brown. I'm not I'm not certain. So I'll have to. Someday when we're together, I'll have to look at it physically inspired me to I might have to do or if anybody else has any any tips out there this year about the the history of a photo like that.
I just wondered in general, just because I had not seen any other photos like this one in the casual fatigues and the. Yeah, okay, the profile, I don't like I, I curious if anybody else has seen similar photos. Or if you come to me, it was very unique and, which I should mention, we are live here today and you can certainly chime in if you've got a question for Christa or myself or just a thought to share.
And if, if the history of this strikes you or, you know, throw a comment and, we'll share it. In fact, we have a comment here. From Flighty Lens. Makes her think of the her. I'm assuming makes her think of the ways she's used to her dad's old photos and what strangers will see them because of how you've used them.
Dad's old photos. Very cool that you had this thought process about the photo. So, thank you for for sharing that. And, I just can't stress enough how important it is to get into the pictures that your parents and your grandparents have or aunts and uncles who might have inherited photos like, their stories. In fact, about a month ago, someone, brought me in a box from a garage that was out in California, and he called me, and he's like, there's a Civil War diary in here.
We don't know who is. It is, but maybe you can figure it out. And the box was like a super big, mess. And so we went through all of the all of it. The pictures, the documentation. There's genealogy that had been done back in, like the 60s and 70s. And when we mapped it out, we figured out that the person with the diary, which, by the way, there were two, portraits inside of it with the name on there, didn't recognize the name at first, but then when we were able to organize it all and map the family tree out, we figured out it was our client's great, great great uncle who
actually died, killed in action. And the end of the diary says, you know, this is written by so-and-so. He was killed in action, and it was returned to the family to be stored in a garage for decades. And it's, you know, going to be really interesting now to transcribe the notes in that diary, the garages, in the attics.
Go dig, because, you know, you could find a picture like Krista had here. And, it matters to remember these people, especially, especially aunts and uncles who had no children and, you know, their lives mattered. They were a big part. And this gentleman's service mattered. And, we're going to find out more about this. Krista will come back to you someday.
Yeah, I I'm here for it. I want to know everything there is to know about it. For sure. One other story that I really enjoyed, reading about was the, sorority pictures. Were you in a sorority house? You I yeah, I was, I was in Delta Phi Epsilon, right, in Rochester, New York. Yeah. You're going to have to share a picture of that from some time.
So you had a, a picture sitting somewhere. I forget exactly where. And your daughter saw it. Yeah. So she says, oh, I want to tell the story. Yeah. This is really. I mean, we laughed so hard over this. I went to visit my family. So I'm in Florida, my family all lives in Pennsylvania, and my dad still has boxes that I've left there from from college, some old stuff.
So I'm up visiting. I leave through box. I find this old sorority composite photo. So it's those photos where you're wearing, like the black velvet robe. So there's nothing fashion wise you can tell, like it's just the same robe they've been using for 100 years. Who knows? So I had this composite. It literally says proof across the front of it.
And I thought, wow, this is pretty neat. I should take this with me. So I took it home with me that, that after that trip brought it back to Florida and just sent it on my desk. And, I am a little bit of a procrastinator. I do procrastinate sometimes it's out of my desk for, I don't know, 2 or 3 months.
It was forever, but I had it kind of propped up in the corner so you could see it when you walked in. And my daughter came home to visit. Now she lives about two hours away, and she came in, and at that point she was in college in Miami. She was also in a sorority in Miami then, and had also done those composite photos like they've done for years and years.
And she comes into my office, she came home, comes into my office, and before she even said hello to me, I think she saw this photo across the room propped up on my desk, and she goes, mom, how did you already get my sorority composite photo? She hadn't even seen it yet. Hers. I'm like, that's me. Like, that's not you, that's me.
But she was so completely convinced when she saw this photo that it was the one she had done. And it really drove home to both of us how we, you know, we hear a lot of people say, oh, you look alike or, you know, you have similar features. But we died laughing because the two of us. It was really funny how that photo made the connection for the two of us at how we really are similar.
So seeing each other at the same age in a black robe, that could have been any time that timeless fashion, really, really was it was funny. We fooled her into thinking that I was her so, that was just a really funny moment. But reminder about photos like, they they do more than just share the story. Sometimes they make you realize something.
There's connections. I believe it so firmly. My, My son went to Badger Boy's state a couple years ago, and I had been a badger girl state in high school. I cheer and we have photos of, you know, both ends of it. And I just challenge, you know, you and other people out there to be in your pictures enough that you can put those things together because, yeah, like our families really benefit when we share and talk about memories and stories, especially with little children.
I've, I've read that, kids who talk about family stories, like significant amount of it, have better feelings of connectedness and belonging. The resilience is higher. And in this day and age, our youth really needs, those stories to be told and shared so they can see how they fit and may not even be motivated, you know, to do something like, I don't know if your daughter situation was more isolated because you or.
But it's important to think back though. And, you know, it seems like common sense when you say that out loud that of course, you feel more connected to, your family if you were talking about them. But using the photos to, creating that connection. Yeah, I love that for sure. So, I, I'm hoping that people, you know, get a sense of, you know, the impending doom of disaster or other situations that can steal your memories away.
And you've here heard what Krista has described, you know, in the process, and then see how photos can really, be a bigger part of your life. And organizing should not be, something that you dread, like I have. I probably shared this a zillion times, but I love it. One of my friends said I would rather clean toilets and work with my pictures, and one of our clients, she she came in.
I'll never forget that. She's like, okay, I'm ready. I, I did have to take us in, but, I'm ready. So we have, a few things coming up because September is save your photos month, and this is a fantastic opportunity to take advantage of a few, events. And I'm going to just share a couple things. First is let me just get over to my little website.
You know, I always have to kind of figure this out. We have let me just. Where do they go? Krista. We're going to just add a scene here, I guess. And I'm. I just think that's so funny. Technology gets me to. So we just have to find here, stick with me. I'm gonna, It is exciting.
That is, say, your photos month. There's so many things going on, and I really hope everybody participates in, in one of the events that we're chatting about, there's so much to learn and it doesn't have to be overwhelming and daunting. It really be, is is a process that simple if you have the right tools to do it.
And so, yeah, the right method. All right. I figured it out. Thank you for covering for me there. So, the first event, starts on Friday, September 26th through the 27th, and I am posting a link in the chat where you can register for this. We have, it's just simply a time to work on your pictures.
We're there to answer questions. Is this time, it's my friend and, a two Zach, who helped me start Pixologie. She and I will be having, the boot camp Friday night for three hours. We will answer questions, give guidance. We have both a virtual attendee and an in-person attendee option. And, I would definitely think about it.
Last year, Krista did this with me. However, she got double booked this year. And we have, to share what she's going to be doing. And I, will just share the screen. So the photo managers who started the Save Your Photos month, long time ago, we participated in this, but, they have every year save your photos month.
And I don't know, Krista, do you want to describe a little bit about this? I'll scroll through the the option. It's one day. Of course, it's the same day as ours. So you have options? Yes, lots of options. But definitely anybody that's that's local to you there. Mollie, I think having the opportunity to work hands on with you is I mean, you are the photo guru.
You are the person I go to with questions. So anybody who has that opportunity I really think needs to, take you up on that because you are definitely you have a method for teaching that is that is wonderful. As far as being, yeah. I don't think, you know, somebody who's not tech savvy or somebody who doesn't know the technology and, maybe does feel it needs to take a Xanax first.
You are the calm the know how the the all of that. So I think anybody that's in person should definitely join you or join your, your virtual event I'm actually going to be talking about in my, unfortunately the same day, but in my event, I'm going to be talking about something that's a little bit different. It's a new presentation I'm doing, but I'm super excited about it.
So I'm doing what I'm calling a grab and go box or grab and go memories. I talked to so many people who, they wanted, they want to get the whole thing organized. And people that have been following me on social media for years or I, you know, chatting with or I mean, they say, oh yeah, I'm planning to get to that.
I just haven't gotten to it yet or I'm going to be doing it. And my concern is just that as time goes on and people are doing nothing, that they are putting those photos at risk and maybe, maybe were once maybe just looking at it from a different perspective of let's not make it the whole project. Let's not do every single photo, organize every photo.
Let's talk about methods that we can make it just the VIP pictures, the most important, the ones you'd be most devastated to lose. And, I'm going to talk about just how to select those pictures, how to do it quickly, how to, store them and have them ready so you can have a box that can go with you if you need to evacuate.
It's it's going to be generally more safe from a storm. So I'm focusing more on, I guess, photo organizing lights. I'll click like the the quick kind of quick gloss over. So I've created an entire workbook that people will be able to take and and use to, to follow this method. Very cool. And there's a lot of awesome, speakers in there.
So you, you would go for the whole day and I think it's like $79 or something. So, if you want more education and options and all of that, I think this is a good option if you want to actually work on your pictures. We certainly will, talk about, you know, what a folder structure should look like.
And, you know, we'll have assistants right there to keep you going. And that's what I have found is that so often people, will go to the education, they'll read the books, but then they don't do the work. And, and that's why I'm really committed to making sure that the work happens. Now, don't be overwhelmed by that, because we have fun when you're in a group setting.
All right. So this is these are opportunities for this month. And I'm going to, you know, root for you that if you do nothing else this month, just save last month's photos. You and you can just start with one small task. Absolutely. Yeah. So if you're, like, still thinking, okay, that's too much, too overwhelming. Christa and I have put together and I really Chris to put this together so so that our own projects are, brainstorming child together.
We have a crew is, February 16th through the 21st and coming up in five months, and it's five months, like shipping and this is really and to to have fun together. All right. And and learn a few things about photos and be in some warm weather. I'm going to just paste the information in the, chat here.
And it's, it is showing up in our YouTube channel. So, that is the best place to watch our podcast anyway. The there's classes when we're at sea and, and I think we're just going to have a lot of fun. And when I think about having fun, I've got to go back to photos. So let me let me share you.
I love is this is pictures from 1994. Thankfully, the Welcome Aboard sign says it. I had just graduated with my Bachelor's in Social Work and we went on, my friend and I went on a cruise. It's the last time I've been on a cruise, so it's like 30 years. Oh my gosh, you're dude, you are overdue for.
So, And you. What is funny about these photos is I threw away all the other pictures, and I'm kind of sad now because even in 94, you weren't taking a zillion of pictures. You just had the ones that were printed. So I know there was a picture of me holding a turtle and, you know, things like that.
And I think they're gone. But, but I did it looks like I got the main places we were in, which one of them was Cancun, and that is one of our locations, I think Cancun cost about. Oh, Cosmo. Oh, Cozumel. Yes. I was in Cozumel, too, but it doesn't show it here anyway, you don't need to know that so that this is like, okay, standard pictures back then, you know, you didn't do too much goofy, and then I want to show you this photo.
Like, this family looks like they're having the time of their life. And look who's down there in the center. Krista. Krista is one of the most fun people I have met. And the two of us together. I think we'll have a great time and. Oh my gosh. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah, I love to laugh. So I'm excited. I'm just excited about, you know, I will say this.
What, like, you are the one who told me, I don't know, early on when we had met the people in the photo organizing community are generally super kind and super just just nice, genuine people. And as I've gone meeting other people that are professional photo organizers, I'm finding that too. But I think it goes beyond just the photo.
It's people that care deeply about their memories, and they're nostalgic. They're a special breed of people. So I'm excited that we're going to have this group come together that are all people that care about. They care about their photos, they care about their memories, and they want to have fun. So I just think it's going to be a blast.
I'm really, really excited. Me too. So you guys maybe you'll join us. We've I've got a link there and I would certainly be happy to talk to you if you have questions. So speaking of, questions, I know Lori has one. I'm going to get to you in a second. This is this is, just a comment again from Flighty Lens.
She dreads it. She used to not do it. She still dreads it and does it. Before she changed her mindset, she lost an entire hard drive of pictures. Very horrible. That is a technology disaster. Thank you for sharing that, story. And, this is a question. Lori. So good to see you here. I hope you are doing well.
You're asking what is the sweet spot for saving photos? Like how many? So I think there's two questions that we have to answer. One is the old pictures and one is the new pictures. And I don't know, Krista and I. I think we might have diverged on this. How many photos do you think people should save? All of them.
Every single photo. No, no, I, I know I'm definitely more of a, picture aholic. And I do say more than I think you would slap me on the wrist. It's on my hard drives. Well, I, I think I she's help. You've helped me open my eyes. And I've had situations where I have been too quick to delete pictures or throw them away.
Like those pictures from my 1994 cruise. What was I thinking? And and, Lori, you're saying you don't want too many, but you don't want regret. So I would say, and this is broadly for whether you have print or digital, if you hesitate, just keep it. Don't spend any more, don't spend any more emotional energy on it.
Just keep it. Something might prompt you later to, maybe delete some of them, but I am of the opinion that if you hesitate, just keep it and move on. We don't want to be slowed down by that. The other tip that I would say is stop taking so many photos, because if you take fewer, you have less, stress trying to figure out what to keep.
And that has helped a lot of my clients out. And that would be it's not answering the question how many? There's no right or wrong answer, but I, I have a formula that I, I just tell people about. It's, it's a formula you can give or take. But if you take let's just say 30 pictures a month.
That's not you know, you know, let's, let's say, let's just say like, I'm going to just take August, all right? I took 600 photos on my phone when I deleted the unnecessary stuff like the repetitive pictures, not all the repetitive pictures, but most of them. I was down to about 300 and then I saved like the family ones was probably around 150, which is a lot for me in my life right now.
But 150, if you have 100 photos a month that are your family keepers, that's 1200 in a year. So if you played that for three seconds, it's like, I don't know, it's a long time to play through all of that. But if you favorited 30 a month, that's where my 30 came from. If you favorite 30 a month, you would end up with 30 times 12 is 360.
You could end up, with a good batch for a slideshow that's actually watchable. You could get through it all and make a 50 page photo book with the memories of the year. And you know that that's, just a guideline. Now, every family's different. And I have people who are taking, thousands of pictures and videos in a month, and that's not sustainable.
You just you'll never catch up if it's, you know, that many. So I'll turn it over to Krista if you have any other. Yeah, I so I do take a lot and I, I, I definitely have a process where I delete the, the junk pictures, but not nearly as literally as you do. My the way I look at it though is I really focus on my favorites folder.
So I put a lot of effort into making sure the less that I'm deleting the junk, but more more effort I'm putting into making sure the favorites are marked properly so that I can't do like the steps you're talking about. And so I would say, first off, just making sure you're okay if you're not sure what to delete or what I mean.
A favorites folder is really a powerful thing. I have a funny story that, actually one of my kids, that's one of my clients that, baby, two years ago, they were engaged and they asked me to do their engagement photos, and they wanted to recreate a photo, and it was them in kindergarten. And the funny thing with this particular photo of them together in kindergarten was that they were just coincidentally in the same class, I believe, and they've gone to the beach on a class trip since we're, you know, close to a beach.
And there was a snapshot taken of the two of them together. They weren't close. They didn't really know each other. They went separate ways, didn't even see each other again. But thankfully, that snapshot had been saved because then they met up again 25 years later, and, we're using this. They brought it back to this photo. But I think in in a normal world, these two kids that weren't even really friends, that got a snapshot during class, it might have been a quick one to throw in the trash.
So I don't know. I think about things like that sometimes where, you know, I do keep maybe more than I should. You know, I don't need seven pictures of those two kids either. If I have a picture of the kids in the class of the beach, you know, one picture of the beach, one picture of the kids together, you know?
But I don't just throw out as liberally as I think you have to have. And to put. I mean, everyone's doing that favorites folder and really religious about it and making sure that they're they're doing that as a process. Those photos will always live alone as an organized group. So just out of curiosity, when you say favorites folder, is that a folder on your computer or is it in your you're an Apple user.
Is it on your phone. It's. Yeah I'm, I mark my favorites all the time on my phone. So I'm constantly doing it that way. But then I also have that on my computer. I this is kind of my own goofy method, but I have different levels of favorites. I actually have one folder that is my all time favorite photos, so I have a favorites favorites.
It's like 200 photos from my entire life, and actually pictures of my dad and his childhood. I mean, it's my everything in one little folder. I just feel like if I need these very VIP full pictures, I have those in a folder. But then I have a favorites for each month as well. I love it, I love it.
All right, one last question before we wrap up. I did get some phone calls over the past few weeks because in Milwaukee, we had severe, severe flooding, a lot of damage. I think FEMA's involved up here as well. And one of the questions that came up was, someone called here and she's like, I've got this batch of photos there from my daughter's adoption, my only copy.
They are stuck together like a block. And she wanted to know if they could be saved. When we've had this happen and we don't really work with storm damaged photos anymore. But when we've had it happen, we recommend. Or we used distilled water in a just a Tupperware container, and you put those pictures in there if they are modern pictures.
And these were printed in 2000, printed with the modern print techniques. You can soak them and the, the, the ink won't run. So you would put the, the block of pictures in the distilled water for a few hours, check and see if anything peels up. I think this batch we, we left it for 24 hours or more, and we're just slowly peeling the ones that would come up.
And we we were able to save most of those. So that's a one, tip I saw on Reddit that other people were just using plain water. But that we just happened to I think we saw some to use the distilled water, I don't know, did you come across any of this kind in your work? Yeah, I did come across a lot of them.
I my biggest tip, we did the same methods that you're talking about, but my, my tip would be to address it as soon as possible. Even if they seem like they're dry. But it's only been a week or two. You're much better off than eight months later. They just get harder and harder, and after time, it's going to be like a cement block.
It just becomes more and more challenging to try to separate them. So I would say that's the kind of situation you want to address right away. And I have talked to many people now since the storm that have had, you know, flood in their basement or, you know, just want to know. And I'm like immediately just spread those photos out so they're not touching each other.
And that's the best thing you can do, even if you can't address cleaning them up or you know what you're going to do with them, just spread them out as quick as possible. Because in the first day of that, that water damage, they'll just come right apart easily. But with every day pass that they get drier and drier.
So I would just say address it as soon as possible. And I also tell people because like I said, I know, when you've had flood damage, whether it's a flood in your basement or, you know, a hurricane damage, whatever, you're overwhelmed by, you know, all of the things coming at you. Don't be afraid to ask people, you know, ask your friend.
This is spreading your photos out for you is something anybody can do. And you most people want to help when there is a situation like this. So asking, you know, your your cousin, your aunt, your your neighbor, you know, do you mind helping me for an hour? Or people are asking, what can I do to help you act?
Just give them that big box of photos and say, spread these all out. And and that is it will make a world of difference. You can salvage photos that have been through water if you do that. Well that's a great idea to ask other people to help. And I know people want to help and they feel helpless and this is an important part that needs to get addressed.
And the speed is important and since you mentioned that, it reminded me this particular, project that came to us was photos that were in a fire and the fire recovery company put them all in a basket and put them in a locked, like, a locked, storage unit in that was not air conditioned in July.
So we got it in three months or no, three weeks. Just three weeks later and there was significant mold. So in it, if you can't do it right away, freeze them, you could freeze them and then thaw when you're you're able to focus on it. So just that topic, saving photos from, a fire is what I will be talking about next week on the podcast Live with Mollie.
Next week is going to be about saving photos after a fire and, in line with, save your photos month. So with that being said, I don't see any other questions. I just want to thank you, Krista, for all that you've done. And joining me here today. And she is the one who, found me. And I'm I'm ever so grateful that our paths have crossed.
It is true. This field is full of people that are warm and wonderful and want to help. Absolutely. Well, you had you have such a great YouTube channel. It's so informative. And if anybody from my community is watching, definitely subscribe to my YouTube channel because I just fell in love. I was on an airplane at the time and I fell in love with your content.
I think I binged, half of your videos, and one weekend and, I just, I had to reach out, so I'm so glad we did connect. Thank you. All right, then, I will be posting links in the show notes afterwards. For those of you who may not have seen them in the chat. And, thank you so much, everybody, for spending time with us.
And we will see you the next time. Okay? Take care. Bye bye.
