You all know the way that old tune goes. My song, if ever I have one,
goes…I’m forever sorting photos, tra la la la.
In late 2019, I decided
that my current photo sorting system (if indeed, it was a system) was not
working. My plan to stick to location as
the guiding principle did not work as well as I had hoped and I began to lose
track of exactly where I was in this maze of a collection. So, the realisation that it would be far
gentler on the brain cells if it was sorted by year, slowly began to take shape.
First of course, were many,
many sessions at the altar of YouTubers, many of whom had excellent ideas and
helped me to picture what my work-around would mean and how it would look. I did have a few setbacks though, one of
which was to try renaming photos (not a good idea for me, it turned out!) and
another was to eliminate all those dreadful photos. Fine if you’re a professional, not so good
for me making travel memories. To know
yourself and have goals is important.
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| Northern New South Wales coast to deliver a birthday quilt |
I began sorting with the
earliest backups I had (something else I wasn’t good at) from photos taken in
2004 when I went digital (sort of). I had
managed to lose some from trips away that could now sadly, never be
recovered. There were also
successes. This deep dive into old
collections allowed me to find photos missing from a London visit with my
cousin and his family. The biggest
problem I had was not fully understanding how Picasa stored original files when
edits were made. So, losses of these originals
were many and I’m not sure that all have been found, but at least I’ve
tried. What did really help me sort my
photos was to keep original file numbers, if I could. Order (numerical) in chaos, thankfully.
After the demise of Picasa,
I moved on to Lightroom – that’s a whole new level of learning experience for
you! I actually do like its
capabilities, enabling me to sort by date and time at a minimum. And of course, another round of YouTubers to
help me become familiar with it. A
special mention should go to the whole Covid experience that ensured, during
lockdowns, that I moved forward with this project of 48,000 photos. Last year, I managed easily to assemble all Year
2022 photos and back them up on multiple hard drives that are set aside just
for my photo inventory.
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Adelaide's Art Gallery showcased Textiles
including those by Sera Waters |
Of course, I’m still not
done yet. There are many files of photos
that need double checking, just to be sure I’ve not missed any. And one should not forget the boxes and
albums of old-school photos and slides awaiting my attention.
One question though, that I
have yet to resolve for myself, is whether to shoot raw. I’m perfectly happy with JPG for now, and my
plan is to eventually make travel photo books for my family. Another task that awaits is to start editing;
selecting the very best from each year and to add family detail that will help
future family learn how we lived in the 21st century (if indeed they
can access our digital archives!). So,
for now, I guess it’s back to YouTube then!
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| Loving a visit to Adelaide to break the photo sorting monotony |
