When I was a young man, I remembered every movie I’d ever seen. Places I’d been. Restaurants enjoyed. People met. My photos were mostly a creative exercise, like a journal full of detail and consideration rather than documents of time and place. I lived in the fantasy that my photos were incidental to the journey.

My dad passed away in that time before audio and video tape made home re-cordings a commonplace family heirloom. As far as I know there’s nothing of him in motion, even in silent 8mm home movie footage. And as much as I treasure the photos I have to remember him by, I’ve come to appreciate the power of motion and sound to spark special memories. I see it with my clients all the time.

What professional photographers don’t tell you is how bad they really are. Even the best of them fail most of the time. Which is to say that the images they show are only a fraction of the images they create. The rest? Just digital debris. So success, ironically, is largely a matter of hiding their mistakes.

It used to be, with film, that there were only two kinds of photos. The Keepers and the Discards. Either a picture was worthy of printing or it wasn’t. The iPhone changed all that. Here’s how to manage your Photos Library and keep it under control.

iCloud is just like that gas station along the highway where $2 gets me a quick, accurate tire service on a rainy night. I’m thrilled that it’s there. I’ll pay a little extra for the convenience. And I’ll probably pay more attention to my tire pressure just because I don’t have to crawl around and fuss with the tire gauge thingy to get the proper pressure.

Just when you thought that Apple was running thin on new iPhone camera tricks, hey roll out - TA DAH - Macro Mode. Macro Mode merges image information from all 3 lenses to create one excellent photo. Even better, Macro Mode works with video captures too, including Slo-mo and Time-lapse.

My son recently flew off to London for a holiday. Color me envious. So I asked the logical question, me being a Boomer and all; had he bought a London Tourist Guide? Today, it’s all on your iPhone.

By adding the Photos Widget to your Home Screen, your daily Favorites and Memories are front and center every time you open your iPhone.

These days, a professional photo session generally includes a flash drive or download of the image files from the shoot. That can be just a couple photos for a head shot to hundreds of photos for a big event like a wedding or reunion.

Sadly, too many of those precious photos end up languishing on a flash drive in a drawer or in an online gallery that doesn’t get a second or third look. And if they are downloaded, the images may be saved in some obscure folder on the hard drive that rarely sees the light of day. But what’s worse than not being enjoyed is the real risk of losing those special photos altogether.

When people reach out for help with their pictures, the conversation always starts with their number. The takeaway is that there is no right or wrong number for the images in your Photos LIbrary. If you are overwhelmed by the state of your collection, it’s not the overall number that’s causing the frustration but is more likely the result. Adjusting your point of view about photo management and understanding what all the numbers mean will deliver a happier outcome.

I had a surprise call last week from an old acquaintance. I’ll call her Julie. We hadn’t heard from her in a few years. She was probably the last person I’d have expected to pop up on my iPhone.

Turns out Julie was in a real bind because her iPhone had locked up and swallowed four months of photos.

And not just any photos, mind you; her cousin’s wedding.

You’ve probably dipped in your toes already. A backyard barbecue. Long drive to a favorite beach. Opening up the cottage. Memorial Day weekend cued the overture for the curtain raising in July.

Summer is officially here.

So now is the perfect time to look at your photo strategy and get ahead of curve.

September is Save Your Photos Month! That means free professional guidance to help distill the excess and eliminate the risks of this photo lifestyle that’s become a part of everyone’s daily routine.

For me, summer is like a movie. Memorial Day hooks you with the promise of long, fun-filled days in the sun and reuniting with friends. Plots and subplots play out week by week with activities, travel, and reunions.

Want a sure-fire/first class/award-winning Mom experience for Mother’s Day? For you or for the Moms in your life?

Here’s what you do.

Back in the day, before Garmin suctioned GPS pods to every windshield, getting directions to obscure locations was often an exercise in oral history, not unlike The Moth but far less entertaining.

How do you keep your workplace/remodeling/physical therapy/window treatment/shopping reminder/dinged bumper pictures from cluttering up your Photos Library?

The whole idea of Apple Photos is to create a safe, secure library of pictures that can be called up and exported on demand, customized for their particular destination.

My first real gig as a freelance photographer was shooting sailboat races in the Pacific Northwest. I'd stand near the bow of a 16 foot long powerboat, taking pictures, as we sped alongside crazy fast racing dinghies plowing through turbulent seas.

Let's "face" it. Pictures of our friends, family, the people we miss, the people we met, and people we may never see again are the foundation of our Photos Libraries.