How many photos do you have on your phone right now? If you’re like most moms, you probably have way too many to count. But don’t worry, that’s okay. It’s part of being a mom and wanting to capture every little moment.
Do you feel like you should really do something about all those photos? I know I do. I have way too many pictures of the same moment, and even when I have already gotten the perfect snap, I still keep on clicking. Most of the time I know that I won’t ever need all these photos or even do anything with them, but I just can’t help myself. How can we get a handle on this?
One thing I have started to do is what I call the Five Finger Rule. For every bunch of photos I have taken, I choose five that I like the best and then delete the rest. Why five? Because that’s a handful–quite literally. We have five fingers, so it’s easy for me to count which ones I want to keep as I scroll through photo after photo.
When you know that you will have to sort through all those pictures, you’ll naturally be inclined to take less. You’ll force yourself to pay attention to the quality of the pictures that you do take.
I know what you’re thinking: No way! I can’t do that! I can’t delete a picture of my precious baby. But let’s be honest. Will you print them all out? Upload them all into a photobook? Of course some you will, but the rest will either zap the memory on your phone, or sit around unused on a hard drive somewhere.
So give yourself permission to sift and delete. Choose five photos of your child to keep, and have fun with it!
