by Michael Mikolajczyk

Created on: January 05, 2011   Last Updated: January 06, 2011

In years past, scrapbooking may have conjured images of huddling around a cramped table, with a glue stick in one hand and a picture in the other, but technology has quickly, and powerfully, brought this hobby simultaneously into the mainstream and into the 21st century. Fingers sticky from glue have transitioned neatly into fingers cramping from typing, and picture-laden tables have given way to picture-filled hard drives, with the ultimate consequences of both efficiency and neatness.

How, though, to best share some of the most important memories of families, vacations, or important days? It takes merely one Google search to turn up thousands of websites, all offering to give you the absolute “best” digital scrapbooking experience. Some may offer pretty designs and fanciful borders around your pictures, with a little bit of flair thrown in to catch your eye, but they all more-or-less provide the same level of service.

What is important – and what is critical to understanding scrapbooking in the age of the internet – is that you must begin to think of “digital scrapbooking” in a truly different way than its more traditional cousin.

In today’s world, websites such as Yahoo!’s service Flickr, are far and above the greatest form of photo-sharing on the web. Flickr allows any user, for free, to upload up to 200 photos per month – no tiny number – and permits the easy editing and sharing of those photos to anyone with access to the Internet at any time. Using their simple software, you can crop, rotate, and present photos in almost any way imaginable.

For those who have truly vast libraries of photographs, a mere twenty-five dollars gives an unlimited amount of upload space for an entire year, or $48 for two years.  Considering the incredible convenience and the versatility of the website, it’s a small price to pay for the ability to share your photos with everyone you know.

After creating an account of Flickr, the website itself walks you through every step of uploading photos, and there are a huge number of tutorials and FAQ sections to guide a user through some of the more subtle aspects of the service.

With the uploading of pictures out of the way, Flickr provides you the ability to craft a simple and memorable web address, or URL, that you can then share with anyone who you would like, providing instant access to your creation. From there, you are welcome to refine, add, or subtract from your digital scrapbooks at will.

If you are willing to consider scrapbooking to be the joyous sharing of photos and memories with friends, family, and loved ones, then digital scrapbooking through services such as Flickr are a wonderful sign of what is to come. With a little bit of effort and an attempt to learn a new medium, you will be sharing your passion with a new audience in brand new ways within no time at all. 

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