Making Photo Memories

On my iPad, I recently reacquainted myself with the “For You” feature. The Photo app automatically creates curated memories. The memories are based on a combination of dates, locations, and identified people. Each memory is like watching a mini slide show of a particular event, person, or time period (e.g., 2021).

Each time I opened Photos, the memories displayed, by default. Naturally, I selected one to watch. Then another and another. In some the music is bad. In others, I couldn’t quite figure out how or why certain photos were selected over others in a collection. However, watching these memories, I marveled at how easy it made photo organization seem. Admittedly, this is something I struggle to keep under control, probably like most people.

I create and receive volumes of photos. Sometimes I don’t have time to go through them all. Other times, it’s difficult to decide which ones to keep or delete. Before my photo collection grew to unmanageable proportions, I enjoyed making photo albums. It’s a time consuming activity, but one I find rewarding. However, this feature made me question if the auto-created memories could be just as good as ones I would create myself.

The answer to that is no, but they offer a good starting point. They also provide a new way to review my photos. Each memory can be edited and customized. There is also an option to create new memories from scratch. In reviewing past posts, I noticed I felt very differently about this feature four years ago. I blogged about it in “Memories For You or Just Another Invasion of Privacy.” Looking back at my previous blog, I wondered, what changed?

I’m more comfortable with some automated organizing now that I can see it’s useful. The improved facial recognition makes it easy to identify key people. Like most people, I’m busy and inundated with photos. Having an app produce something useful that I like is appealing. Even better if it does it automatically, or it can be customized. The “For You” feature is a much better way to organize photos than by date.

I’ll still create my own photo albums. I love having them, even though they are a lot of work. But I also find I’m not as offended by the “For You” option as I had been initially. Who knows, it might even surprise me with some good memories.

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