Too many pictures?

[foobaz123]

So.. there I was... assembling The Package.. and I'm picking out pictures....

 

Well, I've been over there 5 times in the last year. I'm not quite through the most recent trip and I'm at 39 pictures to include in The Package and counting... Does that seem too many from one trip? Keep in mind, I've got four more trips to go through...

 

I've tried to show ones of us together, ones of us having fun (even if it doesn't show both of us), ones of me with her friends and family, ones of her with gifts I brought her, that kind of thing.

 

Sound good?

[Beachey]

I think we only sent 8-12 but I DCF'd so it is a little different.

 

If you have 5 trips, I would think to pick the best 4 from each trip for a total of 20. I think after that it is redunant and hopefully you have other evidence - visas, plane tickets, etc.

 

The best pictures have both of you and other people in them. Pictures that don't look posed and can't be easily photoshopped.

[foobaz123]

I think we only sent 8-12 but I DCF'd so it is a little different.

 

If you have 5 trips, I would think to pick the best 4 from each trip for a total of 20. I think after that it is redunant and hopefully you have other evidence - visas, plane tickets, etc.

 

The best pictures have both of you and other people in them. Pictures that don't look posed and can't be easily photoshopped.

 

 

I may have to put some thought into this. I've got 182 potential pictures showing pretty much everything imaginable. That is to say, us with her friends and family, us in various locations over the last year and change, each of us separately in those locations, us being silly, us being serious.. on and on and on...

[chilton747]

You only need 3-4 pics of each visit. Mostly of you and her with her family if you have any.

[Randy W]

You'll have a better impact with a few, well-chosen photos

[Ryan H]

Hey Foobaz,

 

I'm going to steal Tsap's thunder and say something to the effect of something he has said before, if you think it's a good idea, put it in. Don't regret not including it later.

 

While I did not include every picture of us, I included the ones I thought were the best, as I was putting it all together, I didn't care if it was too much or not. I just tried to avoid redundancy. I separated our wedding pictures from all the others.

[foobaz123]

You only need 3-4 pics of each visit. Mostly of you and her with her family if you have any.

 

 

We do thankfully. Since the third trip, when I met them, we've always made sure to take such pictures. Both for the memories and the visa.

[foobaz123]

You'll have a better impact with a few, well-chosen photos

 

 

That is probably true. However, I would also hate to not include something that may help. We're also concerned that in a lot of the pictures, we're wearing the same clothes. Or at least the same shirts. That's mainly because of several "one or two day trips" that ended up being far more than that... hahaha... roaming around south china.. fun, but bad planning from a picture perspective.

 

May choose a few primary pictures, and include the rest from a kitchen sink perspective in a secondary position. I also plan to write an index saying where each picture was taken, when, who is in it, what we were doing.. that sort of thing..

[pbatt]

So.. there I was... assembling The Package.. and I'm picking out pictures....

 

Well, I've been over there 5 times in the last year. I'm not quite through the most recent trip and I'm at 39 pictures to include in The Package and counting... Does that seem too many from one trip? Keep in mind, I've got four more trips to go through...

 

I've tried to show ones of us together, ones of us having fun (even if it doesn't show both of us), ones of me with her friends and family, ones of her with gifts I brought her, that kind of thing.

 

Sound good?

 

 

Good Topic!

I have been thinking of this question as well and am happy to see the answers.

Thanks and Good Luck

[Beachey]

You'll have a better impact with a few, well-chosen photos

 

 

However, I would also hate to not include something that may help.

 

That is what Randy I think is getting at. Someone on another thread used the example of Pictures on the Great Wall. Pictures so common that they don't have much significance.

 

I would think of it as telling the story of your relationship though 20-30 pictures. Show the passage of time. Pictures that complement your other evidence.

 

The consulate really isn't interested in your relationship other than whether it is bona-fide. Pick pictures that show that.

[foobaz123]

Hey Foobaz,

 

I'm going to steal Tsap's thunder and say something to the effect of something he has said before, if you think it's a good idea, put it in. Don't regret not including it later.

 

While I did not include every picture of us, I included the ones I thought were the best, as I was putting it all together, I didn't care if it was too much or not. I just tried to avoid redundancy. I separated our wedding pictures from all the others.

 

 

That seems a good approach. I view the pictures as more for GUZ than USCIS anyway. To show that we're a normal real couple and such.

[David11]

Too many is better than not enough, but "just right" is better than too many. Nobody is interested in going through (nor are they likely to go through) a ridiculous stack of pictures. Anyone faced with a massive stack is likely to just skim through a few to quickly get some idea of your relationship. I think Randy's post is dead on. From what my wife went through and what I have read here it seems each VO is tasked with interviewing between 10-20 people every day in addition to whatever other duties they have to do. The chance that they look through more than a few pictures for any given applicant is probably slim. Say the VO looks at not more than 20 pictures (a number completely pulled out of my arse but probably a very high side estimate) - would you rather you have submitted your 40 best pictures and 20 of those get looked at, or your 200 best and 20 of those get looked at?

 

Regarding pictures with family and Great Wall pics, I don't want to in any way downplay the importance of pictures with family - get some if at all possible, but a variety is best, and this is why... A picture with her family, especially if your SO isn't actually in the picture, at face value doesn't prove anything beyond the fact that you had your picture taken with some old Asian-looking folks, potentially down at your local Panda Express or P.F. Changs. A picture of you and your SO together at the Great Wall means..well that you and your SO were together, in China, and traveling. All positives, regardless of how cliche the destination is and how common those photos probably are.

 

Cover all possible bases, but don't slather on so much gravy that your meat and potatoes are impossible to find in a reasonable fashion.

[NickF]

Thanks to the cheapness of digital film this became a real problem for us. We've got over 4500 pictures from my two visits. Plus the engagement photos we had taken by a professional photo studio in Nanning. We used a couple of the engagement photos, with both of us wearing traditional Chinese costumes, and about tem more pictures I chose. ChunMei also has all of our photos ob a DVD, and before her interview she selected and printed about ten more herself.

 

She told the interviewer in great deatil where each picture was taken, and the circumstances. She told me the interviewer asked if these were the only pictires she had, and she pulled out the DVD and said, "I have a few more here if you want to look at them."

[Mick]

As someone mentioned, pics that demonstrate the passage of time are important. When Li and I went through this process, way back when, we had four years together by the time we sent in pics. We demonstrated that in several ways, but the most visible was the fact that her hair length was different in various photos. Early on, her hair was a bowl cut, barely above her ears. In another batch, it was halfway down her back. Again, anything that gives visible representation to the passage of time is good.