Our current technology allows us to easily determine when a photo was taken. Digital cameras export the date as part of the metadata so you can find the date for your pictures by simply hovering your mouse over the photo. It’s easy to determine when this photograph was shot.
I (Katie) would be able to get the same information by looking at the EXIF data for this photo uploaded in my flickr account.
Just go to the drop down menu under “Actions” and select “view EXIF info”
As you can see, I took this photo at 5:45 p.m. (Mountain time) on April 28, 2011. Thanks to current technology, we can find out when a picture was taken – IF it’s a digital photograph. That information is also available to us IF we are looking at the photo on a computer or examining the EXIF data in a flickr photostream.
What about if the photo is printed? What if it’s not even a digital photo to begin with? What if the photo is used on a scrapbook layout? The only way to know what date a photo was taken on is if you include it. This may seem like a simple thing (or even a tedious chore), but by including the date with your photographs and layouts, you ensure that the information lives on. You may think you will remember, but you will forget! Even if you are lucky enough to retain a perfect memory, should someone have to rely on having you next to them to understand when the photo was taken? Too many times we have to act as detectives and piece together when a photo was taken by looking for clues in the background, or trying to guess how old someone is in the photograph.
I love this layout and I love this photo of my Dad and brother. I’m not sure when the pictures was taken. My Mom isn’t really sure either. We can both try to guess by looking at my Dad. We can both try to guess by looking at my brother. My Mom knows a time frame it would have to be after because the glass bricks in her bathroom were an addition to their house, after a remodeling project. It would take a lot of guesswork to figure out the date, but we could still get a ballpark figure if we tried. After thinking about this, I’m motivated to pin down a general date and add it to the page so no one else has to wonder when this sweet scene happened.
Another layout I love, with some favorite pictures of my son. There’s no date information (no journaling either, but that’s a different post). How will anyone else know when these pictures will taken? Someday, I will even struggle to remember that this was Easter weekend of 2009. Just a simple little date on the layout would save everyone so much work later on!
Another missed opportunity on journaling, but at least this page has a date. It’s small, and barely noticeable, but it’s there! At the very least, my kids will be able to figure out how old they were in these pictures.
Are you beginning to see how important just a little date is? By including a date, you at least have a reference to figure out when the picture was taken. Even if you don’t include anything else (and you know I hope you will add some journaling) - at the very least, remember to include a date!
Need some ideas and inspiration for dating your layouts? Here are some fabulous resources:
- 10 ideas for dating your layouts from Log Your Memory
- Save the date from Suzy Q Scraps
- 9 quick ways to date your digital layouts from Sir Scrapalot
A date might just be the most important embellishment you put on the entire layout!
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you are so right katie!!! i’m working on a photobook for my dad’s 70th birthday and i have very few dates. my grandmother was good at putting dates on photos and (in the absence of journaling) it really helps me make a connection with the picture and put the story together, thinking about what year it was and where they might have been in their lives.
Wholeheartedly agree, Katie! I think back to when I was just a journaler — the date was ALWAYS at the front of my entry. Couldn’t write without it. Now, even if the date is the last thing on my layout (it is that way sometimes!), I still don’t save without it!
I do love how digital technology is making it easier to figure out dates on things, like you mentioned — I was working in iMovie last night (love my Mac!) and there is an option to print the date and time on the bottom corner of the screen Remember those old video cameras where you could do that? It looked tacky and you couldn’t really toggle it on and off very easily. I love that this “feature” is now embedded in the data of a video and you can read and hide it at will! Technology is so cool.
The credits seem to be private. Can you tell me what kit you used in the last layout – thanks!
Katie thanks for your great posts this weekend and again today!
Was a winner announced for the $10 digichick GC from Thursday? I’ve looked all over and can’t seem to see it anywhere.
Thanks!
I agree with you on the dates! I have some layouts of my oldest as a toddler that I really wish I had dated (and she is only 7 now – how quickly we forget!!) On an unrelated topic – would you please send me a pinterest invite? Thanks.
One thing I like about Shutterfly prints as opposed to Snapfish is that they include the date taken on the back of the picture. Maybe I should write to Snapfish and suggest that they do the same! Thanks for the reminder!
Along with the date I try to add the name(s) of the people in the photos, for me that is the minimum I need to include.
Oh, you are so right about having to be a detective
I am in the (very big) process of scanning all of my family’s old photos/negatives in to the computer and I am trying to tag at least the date as I scan them . But it’s difficult to determine on many of them. Luckily, some photo processors put a month/year on the back of the photo so I can at least determine when they were developed. The old envelopes we used to have to fill out to get film developed have a space for the date, but I’m finding that we almost never filled in that section (or maybe just the month/day with no year…ugh!) Sometimes I’ve used those envelopes to determine that this store went out of business, so these photos must be before that date…it’s crazy! So yes, definitely date those photos/layouts!
On a side note…in doing all of this I’ve been inspired to create a layout about those old envelopes and film tubes to remember what we used to have to do to get those pictures out of the camera…it’s so funny to look back on. It seems like forever ago, but really it hasn’t been that long
Great post, Katie. I need to learn more about metadata and EXIF. I probably should be putting more information into my layout jpeg metadata as well? I think one tricky thing about this hobby is that it combines memory keeping as well as a creative outlet. Sometimes we lose the memory keeping in the process of expressing ourselves. Thanks for the reminder.
So true! I feel that putting a date on a layout is so important, yet I just got around 30 layouts printed and at least five had no date. I just forgot or got caught up with other elements on the page. A good reminder.
I must admit, I hardly ever put a date on a layout or actual names … I’m planning to print my square layouts on a landscape format, adding names and dates, occasions next to it.