Photos + Stories Go Better Together: A Conversation with Cathi Nelson, CEO of The Photo Managers
Heather Nickerson, Artifcts
September 20, 2023
Reading time: 6 minutes
One of the great things about being in the ‘stuff’ business is that you never know who you’ll meet! Over the past few years, Ellen and I have had the joy of getting to know and working with Cathi Nelson, Founder & CEO of The Photo Managers. We met Cathi by way of Matt Paxton, who told us upfront that she is the end-all, be-all expert on all things photo managing and organizing. Several years and many conversations later we wholeheartedly agree!
In honor of Save Your Photos Month, we thought it would be fitting to highlight one of our many conversations with Cathi, who really is the undisputed expert on all things photo organizing.
Heather Nickerson: Tell us a bit about yourself! What led you to get into photo managing?
Cathi Nelson: Reflecting on my career, I realize there has always been a common theme: My love of photography and storytelling. Prior to starting The Photo Managers, I spent 17 years teaching people how to create meaningful scrapbook photo albums. I hosted large events where hundreds of women would come and spend the entire weekend working on albums for their families. Walking around the room, I realized this was more than people cutting photos into shapes and adding decorations. This was a way for people to share their legacies, and photos invoke memories and stories.
By 2009, I noticed a significant shift in the photography landscape. The rise of digital photography meant that fewer people were printing their photos, and this change impacted my business. The turning point came when a customer asked how much I would charge to organize her digital and printed photos. It was at this moment that I realized there was a growing need for assistance, and I started a business called Photos Simplified.
Nickerson: So you started your own, wildly successful business, why not stop there? Why start The Photo Managers? You were obviously very busy with your own work, raising your family, and authoring your book! What prompted you to create a global network of like-minded professionals?
Nelson: The response from clients to my new business concept was overwhelmingly positive. As other scrapbooking professionals and residential organizers started learning about my success, they came to me seeking guidance in starting their own photo-organizing businesses. I realized that to ensure this emerging profession continued I would need to create a code of ethics, certification, and best practices, thus The Photo Managers was born. I chose a membership model, and over the years we’ve grown into a global community of hundreds of professionals dedicated to preserving and celebrating the rich tapestry of memories in our digital age.
Nickerson: And then you did it again with Save Your Photos Month (SYPM)! Tell us a bit about how and why you started SYPM. I think a lot of people take for granted that SYPM is the month of September, except it wasn't until you built it!
Nelson: I launched Save Your Photos Day for the first time in 2014 as a one-day event. The concept grew out of viewing news stories about people being united with lost photos from Hurricane Sandy and the Joplin Missouri tornadoes. I would watch the news and it was so heartwarming to observe how people rose up to help, bringing food, water, clothes, and kindness.
Once the initial shock wears off a new wave of recovery efforts evolves, finding and restoring lost photos. Hundreds of volunteers have helped in these communities, carefully washing and restoring photos. Their efforts pay off when a family that has lost everything is reunited with even one precious photo. Thus, the concept of International Save Your Photos Day began.
The original concept was to save thousands of photos in just one day. Yet we found that one day just wasn't realistic and realized, why not make it a month! So, in 2016 we rebranded it to Save Your Photos Month and each year we expand the variety of topics, classes, and conversations. Today this is even more important as the news is full of extreme weather disasters that impact family photos and priceless belongings.
Nickerson: Any tips for our Arti Community Members who are feeling overwhelmed by digital and physical photos? They know they want to do something with them, but don't always know where to start or what to do.
Nelson: First you aren’t alone if feeling overwhelmed. Most do, including me! Second, it didn’t take a weekend to create all those photos, so it does take time to sort through and organize them, but it’s worth it!
Here is a quick summary of our 5 tips for photo organizing.
DEFINE YOUR GOAL, what would success look like?
GATHER EVERYTHING and ACCESS what you’ve got. This can be as simple as “3 hard drives,” “4 iPhones,” and “5 boxes of printed photos.”
SORT and CATEGORIZE—sort the photos into categories that make sense to you. Categories might include location, date range, events, products, or something thematic like “landscapes.” Edit your collection as you go, discarding or deleting duplicates and any blurry or “not so great” images.
If you have any printed photos or slides, now is the time to scan. Decide if you want to do it yourself or hire a professional to do it for you.
SHARE . And the options are endless … Artifcts, photo books, websites, slideshows, even the collection itself!
Nickerson: When should you consider hiring a photo manager?
Nelson: When life happens! I just hired a photo organizer myself because my son was getting married, and I wanted to create a video montage of his early years and his fiancé's early years set to music. I just didn’t have the time to scan the photos or sort through hundreds of images. It was so worth it! So, my advice is don’t put this off, hoping someday you’ll have the time.
Nickerson: We've heard our own Arti Community Members say—when they first learn about photo managers —"Ooh, they're like magic photo fairies, how cool." We know they work magic with photo collections large and small, but what are two or three things that make photo managers so special?
Nelson: This is a great question, and I have thought a lot about this over the years. There are two common traits I see in professional photo managers. They are curious about history, stories, and people, otherwise they wouldn’t want to look at someone else's photo collection. Plus, they are usually lifelong learners, because technology keeps changing and to be successful you have to keep up.
Nickerson: Do you have any particular project that you especially liked working on over the years? Something our members may be able to relate to?
Nelson: I really like working on themes and using photos to tell stories. A few years ago, I created a mini photo album as a gift to the important people in my life. I added a few photos, the story of how we met and what I appreciated most about each person. I then sent it to each of them as an invitation to a party to celebrate my milestone birthday and the gift of friendship.
Nickerson: What's next for you and The Photo Managers?
Nelson: The need for professional photo managers is only increasing and I recently formed an Advisory Board of members to help us envision the next 10 years. When I started this over 15 years ago, I never dreamed that I would build something that would live long beyond me. I feel a great sense of responsibility to ensure that this profession continues to thrive for the members and the customers we serve.
Nickerson: Last but not least, you know all about Artifcts. How do you think Artifcts could help photo managers with their work?
Nelson: I love Artifcts because early on I realized that photos are just one piece of the puzzle. People also keep letters, children's artwork, babies' first shoes, medals, and other objects. Having the ability to share those items and stories for future generations fits perfectly into what I intuitively observed all those years ago. We are a people of stories, and we tell our stories and what we care about through photos and keepsake items.
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You can learn more about The Photo Managers and even where to find a Photo Manager to help you based on where you live by going directly to the official website.
Today we’re excited to share a trio of new Artifcts features with you.
Over the course of eight in-person conferences during 2024 and approximately 80 hours of interviews, we discovered ways to fine tune your Artifcting experience to support you even more both during and after you’ve created those Artifcts.
As always, we placed ease-of-use and privacy at the heart of each new feature.
Thank you for being a part fo the Artifcts journey. Let’s explore the latest from Artifcts!
Private Notes
As it turns out, sometimes you want to share your Artifcts with others, but you want to include details in your Artifcts that you’d prefer to keep to yourself. So, what’s one to do?
Now at Artifcts you have an optional field titled, 'Private notes.' It’s exactly as it sounds. Whatever you type there will not be visible to others if you share the Artifct. The exception of course is if you give someone “Full Control” over your Artifct (versus the default “View” access or other “Edit” access).
This new field is on the “Full form” when you create or edit Artifcts, directly after the “Story or Description,” making it a natural extension of what you have to say about anything you Artifct.
Customizable Reports
It was professionals in appraising and estate management who first approached us about downloading customized reports on Artifcts. Later, this request was seconded by professional home organizers and move managers. Finally, individuals, several of whom were working on their wills, asked for the same.
Now you can create custom reports, no matter your “why.” When you click 'Download,' you’ll be prompted to select the fields and related files you want to download, too, ensuring you can download only the information you need, when you need it.
As shown below, we’ve simplified matters by choosing the Artifct title and description by default, offering a "Select all" option, and reducing your download size by allowing you to exclude photos, videos, and documentation when you do not need them.
Artifcts Up Next Report
We consider this saving the best for last: the new Artifcts Up Next report.
The truth of the matter is that at the end of the day, digitizing the stories and financial value by creating Artifcts addresses one set of needs, but you still must deal with the physical stuff in the room, sorting it and often re-homing it, too.
When you Artifct, there’s just one optional field we show you on the 'Quick form' because we think it’s that important. It’s called 'In the future.' As the name suggests, we urge you to consider what’s next for everything you Artifct. Your options are:
Sell. You can even set a custom reminder and Artifcts will email you.
Bequeath. Adding details to whom is optional.
Donate. Here, too, adding details is optional.
Keep in the family. We hope your “Description or story” offers a compelling reason.
As you wish. Meaning, “I won’t haunt you. Don’t keep it in storage for the next 30 years on my account.”
It’s too late. Enjoy the memories. I already got rid of it. Do not go looking for it.
When you download the new Artifcts Up Next report, it will give you a checklist of all your Artifcts, sorted by the ‘In the Future’ category. You can then work through the list yourself, with family, or with an organizing, estate, or move management professional to get the ‘stuff’ where it needs to go next.
This is just a snapshot of a sample report, showing the Bequeathed section, guideline, and the type of Artifct information you'd find listed.
We have an open door!
Is there something you wish Artifcts could do or help you with? Is there a feature driving you a bit crazy or confusing you in any way? You can write us a Support@Artifcts.com. And be sure to catch up on past product updates, too!
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Helpful resources as you get started and continue enjoying Artifcting:
If you want to elevate an item to heirloom status, Webster’s dictionary says pass it down, generation after generation.
But solidifying an object’s place in your family history requires a little more tender loving care than that alone.
For every heirloom, we recommend you:
Preserve essential facts. What is it? How did you come to possess it? And closely related, where did it come from? Which side of the family?
Be specific. Why should anyone care about this object? The why is critical. Why does it matter to you and your family?
Create awareness that this object even exists. If you’ve tucked it away or added it to a shelf or cabinet, never pausing to share its origin or story, no one will be able to raise their hand to say, “Yes, I want this” when the time comes to pass it down. Instead, it will easily slide into the discard pile.
These points all build up to a key conclusion: You need a story for the heirloom.
Your story might be a poignant 5 words, “My father gave me this.” And knowing you, and that your father passed away when you were only 9 years old, your family understands a lot in those 5 words.
Or your story may be much longer and follow a beginning-middle-end story arc, pulling in the reader as you evoke in them the emotional or sentimental value and appreciation for the item that you feel.
Here are two very different examples of family heirlooms and their stories, one a traditional family heirloom, the other a modern heirloom, an object acquired now that the owner hopes will last for generations more.
The knitting needles with no story
Elizabeth is a passionate genealogist. Her globetrotting, history and life loving self has seen a lot and collected even more. While her home and the mementos within may be a living testament to her fascinating life, she is also a family keeper.
Despite being a genealogist, she’s inherited heirlooms without necessarily giving much thought to their origins or their futures.
Case in a point: her beloved knitting needles. Elizabeth brought her knitting needles to an Arti Afternoon, an event with one of the founders of Artifcts during which participants share items show and tell style. Elizabeth volunteered to go first.
“I brought these, because I love them, but they don’t really have a story.”
Our co-founder Ellen nodded, encouragingly. “Objects don’t have to have deep stories to share them and Artifct them. It’s enough to let your family know you love them and what you want to do with them one day. But I have a question: What are those?”
You see, Ellen didn’t even know what the objects were that Elizabeth was holding.
With a startled laugh, Elizabeth replied, “Oh, they are knitting needles.”
“Knitting needles?” Ellen said with a questioning look.
“Yes. They’re made of whale bone.”
“Whale bone,” repeated Ellen, thinking to herself she was starting to sound like an echo.
“Yes, my Yankee grandmother lived in Connecticut and was an accomplished knitter. Hers was a whaling village. I’ve had family in that area since the early 1600s.” Elizabeth went on, “I love how the needles feel in my hands, so much nicer than plastic.”
With a smile, Ellen turned to the group, “Who here thinks these needles have no story?”
Smiles and laughs returned all around. These needles have a great story and are a sweet family heirloom and dose of national history all in one.
A 50-year-old Yugoslavian stool
From the Artifcts collection of our co-founder Ellen Goodwin.
You know the stools that students used to sit on back in the day - four fixed metal legs, a circular wooden top that spins? Picture them in a chemistry lab. Picture them in Yugoslavia, built from iron and native oak, handmade, and in the "brutalist style."
What style is that, you ask? You know brutalist style from many government buildings in the US, your travels through Eastern Europe and the former states of the USSR, and the movies. Think large cement minimalist buildings, the opposite of beautiful aesthetics. If you have a home with a lot of personality already, a splash of simplicity in the "brutalist" fashion may be just what you need. Or at least that’s how I think of it.
They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and that's the case here. I think it’s more fun to sit on a stool with history than a modern, lighter weight, less durable replica or alternative. You get to feel connected to another time and culture. That's what the stool means to me, a collector who is curating my home to feel uniquely us.
And if you think it’s strange to fixate on the charm or design of a stool, blame my mom. She had this really cool antique stool in a corner that always had one type of draping plant or another perched on it. I wanted something like that, that felt homey and less ordinary, I guess.
And that makes this 1970s Yugoslavian creation a keeper. Will my daughter want it ever in her home, transforming it into a modern family heirloom? Maybe. For now, it’s a stool with a story that Mom picked out.
(By the way, the fact that the company reselling the stool has an icon that's a laughing grandma smoking a cigarette amuses as much as mystifies me. And that, friends, adds further charm to my 50-year-old Yugoslavian stool.)
Ready to tell the stories of your heirlooms?
If you need some prompts to get started telling the stories of your heirlooms, we always recommend what author Jeff Greenwald taught us: Start with something true.
In the story of the knitting needles, simply answering “What is it?” was enough to unravel a story that the owner had never recognized was there all along. And now, with the story known and Artifcted, it’s exponentially more likely those needles will stay in the family.
When creating an Artifct, click the lightbulb icon in the story/description field to get other prompts and our downloadable worksheet.
Here are some other tried and true heirloom storytelling prompts from genealogist and author Deborah Holman:
The first time I saw this object, I felt ________.
This object reminds me of ________.
If this object could talk, it would say ________.
This heirloom is important because ________.
And we have a special bonus for you. Deborah has shared with the Arti Community her Heirloom Storytelling Worksheet. Download it free now.
If you want to simplify your life and maybe enjoy some of the reported benefits of a minimalist lifestyle without adopting a minimalist lifestyle, you may be asking yourself (or Google): “Where do I start?”
Inspired by an article from the LA Times published in March 2024 in which professional organizer Regina Lark claimed that the average US household has 300,000 items, we thought the easiest place for some to start is there – with the excess, the unused, the damaged, the forgotten, the just-in-case from 20 years ago. We think this approach is valid even if in all likelihood your home, like ours, has far fewer than 300,000 items inside.
The relevant point is finding simplicity in less. From the clutter and chaos, you can gain clarity as to what 'stuff' matters to you, a theme near and dear to us here at Artifcts. You can reduce time-consuming decisions you make every day, too. If you have 5 pairs of pants to choose from, how hard can it be for you or your kids to get dressed in the morning? And just maybe you’ll also stop yourself from spending money on things you already own but can’t find, like items number 78 and 83 in our list below.
We invite you to take a stroll around your home with this wildly varied home decluttering list to see where you find opportunities to simplify by reducing the volume of stuff that’s claimed a place in those drawers, closets, and shelves. Here and there we’ve added some commentary where we simply couldn’t resist. Like anything, decluttering takes practice, like building up a muscle. Enjoy, and good luck!
If you’re looking for a Decluttering or a Collections Checklist from Artifcts—or any of our dozens of additional checklists—to inspire you as you also seek to capture the stories, CLICK THE IMAGE. Our checklists are free to download with a free Artifcts.com account.
108 Objects to Declutter from Your Home
Why 108 objects? Author Jeff Greenwald, in his book 108 Beloved Objects: Letting Go of Stuff, Keeping Our Stories, explains, “The number is deeply significant in Eastern spiritual practice, and beyond… the number of prayer beads on a malla (a Buddhist rosary), the number of yoga postures in a full cycle,” and so on. Because of the deep global resonance of this number and the efforts here at Artifcts to help change our relationships with our ‘stuff’ and each other, we think 108 is the perfect number for our decluttering list.
Enjoy some story telling from Jeff Greenwald, who shared with us some of his 108 beloved objects.
We’re breaking away from a room-by-room approach with our list. In doing so, we hope to unleash creative and unexpected freeform association of items that might help you declutter items that did not make the list or have been very much “out of sight, out of mind.”
Ready? Here we go!
1. Lightbulbs – You don’t even have a socket for that one anymore!
2. Boxes, the cardboard variety; and no, it doesn’t matter if it’s a “really nice box”
3. Bins, the plastic kind this time
4. Rugs
5. Fidget gadgets
6. Suitcases – If your kid isn't even a teen yet, and you think they are packing up for college in those, reconsider how else you could use the space.
7. Picture frames
8. User manuals
9. Candles
Candles are wickedly easy to accumulate because they are easy to gift and even available in end caps at grocery stores!
10. Cookbooks
11. Party decorations
12. Pens and markers – Do they work? How many 100s do you need?
13. Remotes from gadgets you no longer own
14. Pots for plants
15. Decorative pillows – Well, maybe keep the pillow, rehome the case?
16. Baseball hats
17. Pads of paper / notebooks
18. Cleaning supplies and tools
19. Retired and retirement-ready linens
20. Bottle openers
21. Koozies
22. T-shirts and sweatshirts
23. Chapsticks
24. Coasters
25. Glassware
26. Scrunchies – If you know, you know.
27. Old sports equipment
28. Ice packs
29. Rubber bands – Beyond the fun aesthetics of a rubber band ball, how many do you need? And you know they will become brittle and break.
30. Shorts (or other clothing) long out of style, stained, or otherwise in disrepair
31. Belts
32. Coins – Cash it in!
33. Musical instrument lesson books
34. Fine silver, you never use
35. Fine china, you also never use
36. Pottery
37. Bookmarks
38. Greeting cards
39. Business cards, too
40. Rechargeable batteries, because they stopped holding a charge
41. Regular batteries in sizes you haven't used in decades
42. Foam rollers and massage devices
43. Coffee making apparatus, including pods that are long-since stale
44. Coffee mugs
45. Hygiene products (spares and expired, from consumables like cosmetics to tools like toothbrushes, hairbrushes, and combs)
46. Socks
A friend of Artifcts kindly shared this picture. Can you relate to her dilemma?
47. Keys
48. Craft supplies, the should’ve, would’ve, could’ve never started, unfinished or dried up
49. Handbags
50. Fishing tackle
51. Nail polish
52. Aprons
53. Magazines and pages torn from them
54. Dog toys
55. Pet beds
56. Lamps
57. Baby blankets
58. Spare buttons and thread
59. Kitchen appliances you never use and utensils, too – What’s jamming that drawer?
60. Spices, so old they may not poison you but they certainly won’t add the flavor you’re expecting
61. Travel-sized everything
62. School report cards – Scan and Artifct them first!
63. Awards, professional and childhood
64. Games and/or pieces left from them
65. Take-out containers and utensils
66. Blankets
67. Stuffed animals
CLICK THE IMAGE to read about why you should declutter stuffed animals with care, according to research.
68. Boxes of tea – Added to this list, with love, on request of both of the husbands of the cofounders of Artifcts.
69. Holiday stuff, the one off, the past it's prime, the "when did we celebrate that?"
70. Kid artwork
71. Magnets
72. Unmatched socks
73. Décor
74. VHS and cassette tapes – Say it with us: digitize, digitize, digitize.
76. Miscellaneous home repair and renovation materials (tiles, bricks, etc.)
77. Books
78. Blenders – True story, our cofounder Heather found SIX of them at her dad’s house.
79. Record player
80. Reusable shopping bags
81. Plastic shopping bags
82. Costumes
83. Reusable water bottles
84. Windshield wipers, for the car you don’t even own anymore
85. Vases
Collections can take on a life of their own. What's in yours? One of these vases pictured is not like the others. Take your guess, and then click here for the answer on Artifcts.
86. Watches
87. Travel pillows
88. Gift bags
89. Costume jewelry
90. Placemats, tablecloths, and chargers
91. Extension cords - Who are you, Clark Griswald?
92. Eyeglasses
93. Old computers
94. Postcards
95. Cutting boards
96. Key chains
97. Dried (and dusty) flora
98. Membership cards
99. Cameras
100. Cords, cables, and chargers
CLICK THE IMAGE for more tech inspiration from our Tech Detox checklist.
101. Swag from your employer
102. Paint
103. Travel mementos from who-remembers-where
104. Sunglasses
105. Cake pans of all varieties
106. Shoes
107. Covid-era face masks
108. Ticket stubs, playbills, brochures – ephemera of life
Your reward for reading all 108 is this free download to take with you around the house. As always, if you’re having trouble letting go, "Artifct that!" to keep the memories. You can download our DIY checklist to jot down all the items you want to Artifct as you declutter, too.
And please remember to recycle, upcycle, rehome! Download Artifcts' Going Green guides to inspire and support you. Depending on where you live, you may have a reuse center where you can donate goods in addition to traditional charities.
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