Photographs are emotional, not logical. Nobody has to understand why you love it, why it tells the story of who someone was, someone is, what a person means to you. We’ve grabbed photos from long ago that we forgot about and been stopped in our tracks. Grabbed by the emotion. We’ve wondered how in the world we could have ever moved past something that feels so representative of our lives. Or a part that’s flown away. And it’s easy to forget about a photo, especially since we take twelve thousand a day on our phones. Discard, discard, discard. Or keep. Hold forever. Print it, share it, hold it, feel it. It’s different in you hands than it is in the digital abyss. It grabs you differently. It calls you heavily and you feel more connected to it. It’s the only time travel we currently know.Choosing the photo you put inside your locket feels like so much pressure; you want to get it right, what if it’s between two images, what if she doesn’t love it, what if you change your mind. But guess what? Your instincts are probably right. And if your instincts are being drowned by the constant noise of life, consider our advice:

1. Don’t overthink it. The first instinct you had is probably the right one. Go with that photograph. It might feel like a weird one, like a fuzzy cell phone image or an old wrinkly one, but if it carries weight in your heart then it’s the right one.

2. Consider symbolism. Who brings you strength? Who carries you forward? A few months ago I was really nervous about a difficult conversation I needed to have. No avoiding it. I put on the locket with the photo of my family inside, gently rubbed it during the conversation, and remembered the importance of valuing my voice and my work of saying yes yes yes. It helped.

3. What’s you favorite color? If your locket is open-facing, ask yourself what color you may love to see the most, because it’ll show through. Do you love neutral black and whites to match almost everything? Do you love purple? Do you love negative space and bright, light colors? Your locket is more than just a photograph, it’s a piece of clothing. The color is less important on the lockets that close.

4. Your favorite place in the world. You know those life-changing experiences that give you a total 180 spin and your life is never the same? Gives us the travel bug just thinking about it. An image that represents an experience is lovely to carry with you. It reminds you of your life’s why, your goals, your changes, your evolution. You’ve inspired yourself, so don’t forget it.

5. Your hero. Some of our heroes have passed, some we’ve never met, and some we see every day. People inspire each other in so many different ways, and keeping someone who inspires you close every day marks your locket with deeper meaning.

6. Your fur baby. That’s right, we have set many many lockets with pups and kittens inside. WE LOVE IT. One of our favorites was so discreet only the husband and his wife who he ordered it for would know what’s inside. The meaning behind it meant something big to each of them, and it memorialized their sweet pup who passed suddenly.

7. Cuddle Up. The teeny tiny nature of our lockets – the biggest one carries a one-inch image – means the tighter and cuddlier the people are in the images, the better it’ll fit. But it’s not a rule. To date, we’ve been able to make every image submitted work.

8. Dig deep. Many people submit a photo of a photo after digging through photo books and albums. Something that was taken years – decades, even – ago and is now more meaningful as people have grown, someone has passed, a mile has been marked. If you can get us a digital image, even a photo taken of the photo from your phone, we can make it into a locket.

9. Lower your standards. Weird, right? But true. We are professional photographers. We make big ,fancy images of people all the time that get blown up into incredible wall art, placed inside heirloom albums, and hung on mantles above the fire. But for your locket, the image does not need to be high-resolutin. In fact, we’re about to lower the resolution way way down, so don’t worry about the quality. Just pick the photo you love. The one that means the most to you.

10. Remember Tip #1. At the end of the day, your instincts will tell you what you want, or what you think she wants. Go with that.