Lost Photos and Photo Organization

For a few moments this summer, I thought I had lost all our holiday photos (techy husband had created a second folder on our memory card - the holiday photos were in the original folder).

We were 3200 km into our 4000 km road trip. Had celebrated my parents' 50th with family in Minnesota, had driven along the north shore of Lake Superior, had celebrated my parents' 50th with family in Northern Ontario and had been to a wedding.

During those moments, I wondered...which photos would I miss most?

Having just purchased a new digital SLR camera, we clicked away over the holiday... 900 photos later...I was a little overwhelmed trying to delete the unnecessary ones.

Having thought that I lost them did make me think about what photos I cherish the most.

First and foremost are family photos. Photos of people. I love taking close ups of family members...sometimes when they are posing...other times candid (the telephoto lens also helps). Sometimes, so much can be seen in someone's face. The group photo is a classic photo taken whenever most of us are together. It shows that we were all together but doesn't reveal that much about the individuals (well, perhaps psychologists could analyze people's postures, location in the photo, etc. but I now prefer the individual closeups).

People who know me tease me (in a loving way) when I laugh uncontrollably to the point that no sound comes out and tears stream down my face. Sometimes it doesn't take much for me to get that way. This summer, I captured a photo of my father like that.


Like father like daughter...



People are what is most important to me in life, so those photos would be the ones I would miss the most.

Then there are photos of firsts or memorable moments. I dipped my feet in Lake Superior for the first time. I would miss those photos (not just for the moment, but also because I think they are beautiful photos).



I may never get the change to do that again.

I have written about Terry Fox in a past blog. In 1983 a year after the Terry Fox monument was unveiled in Thunder Bay, I stopped on my way home from Manitoba and had my photo taken.



Now, 25 years later, the monument is situated up in a scenic look-out location and I stopped for perhaps the last time in my life- will I ever be up that way again?. This was one of the highlights from my trip. We were approaching during a huge rainstorm. I told my husband..."I don't care if it's pouring rain out...we are getting out and getting a photo". Luckily, it stopped raining before we arrived.



Other types of photos that I would miss are those of unusual circumstances. Like a very foggy morning at my parents' cottage. I have never seen a fog like that before. It made for a beautiful photo:



Other photos are of candid seemingly insignificant moments yet beautiful:



Speaking of lost photos reminds me of my parents-in-law who lost their camera on the last day of their cruise. Before we went to digital cameras, this would not have been a huge disaster. They would still have had many films back in their room, but with digital cameras (and large memory cards), all their photos were lost.

A month later when I went to Disney World, I was very careful. I had multiple cards and was careful which card I used on which day. So the second time that I went to Magic Kingdom, I ensured that the MK photos from our first day were left at the hotel. That way, I would have MK photos even if I didn't end up with any on the second day.

Now that I have two digital cameras with two large memory cards, I forget to be careful in case I lose my camera. At home, I download to my computer almost every time photos are taken, but when I'm on holiday, I need to remember to bring multiple memory cards.

I think a lot of people will be (or are) overwhelmed with the number of photos that are taken now a days. Our shoeboxes of photos are becoming online folders of photos. They're a bit more organized becauase at least they are dated, but there are a lot more of them. The task can be overwhelming.

Why do we take photos? If your photos are just in folders in the computer, can you find them easily? Do you print them on a regular basis? Do you look at them? If you're not, you should ask yourself why you're taking them in the first place. They are cluttering your computer.

For those of us who treasure our photos, we need to be vigilant about deleting our unwanted photos (or at least starring our best ones). So here's my challenge to you: take 30 minutes the next time you're at your computer and do one of the following (depending on how you keep your photos on your computer):

1. In Photoshop, I put 5 stars on my absolute best photos (those I would want to frame). 4 stars on my great photos (these I will want to print). 1 star on those I want to delete (then my husband can review to make sure I don't delete a photo he wants to keep). Once he has done that, we delete the 1 star photos.

2. If you use Picasa, your only option is to put one star on photos. Do this for your best ones. Delete your blurred/unecessary ones. Make up albums of the important events or of the best photos you would want to share with others.

3. If you don't use a program, consider getting one. At the minimum, delete extras and consider creating a folder of your best by seasons or by event. This will take more space on your hard drive because you will copy them into the other folder (hence the reason I am recommending a photo organization program).

Tomorrow, I will (finally) write more detail on my thoughts on Photoshop (click on the Photography label on the right if you want to read my past posts about it).

Photos are very important to me, but even I find that I fall behind in organizing and enjoying them. I have spent the last 5 years helping others get their photos organized which has led me to fall behind in my own. I want to get on top of my photos, so if there is interest, I will blog weekly about my journey and perhaps you will want to join me.