I was looking through my numerous files of digital photographs last night and came upon a folder of pictures I had taken three years ago. It was like opening up an old box of photographs and recalling the time. We were in Alabama at the Gulf shores and it was the start of our wandering life in a motorhome. I had forgotten about making any pictures while camped there and was surprised when I opened the folder. The storage of digital images can become disorganized and a huge mess if not maintained constantly. My problem is compounded by being mobile and not having a permanent setup to organize and store my images. Usually when I make new images I download them on my laptop and later transfer them to an external storage device. When we are parked for any length of time I will get out my desktop computer and spend a few days organizing and backing up my images. Making images with a digital camera has an instantaneous element that makes taking and then seeing your pictures fun in the field. The downside is that it requires a lot of work on the back end to stay organized. I made this image standing on the roof of the motorhome as the sun started to rise through the fog.
http://www.alapark.com/gulfstate/Camping/
I like this image very much. And know what you're experiencing, in so far as the organization to keep track of images. I kept catalogs for years. They were turned from 5x7 cards to digital catalogs in the 90s. But lately, because of a certain intensity of my own private life, I haven't been keeping the catalog up to date, and it's quite disturbing to see how quickly I'm losing all control of the material. Time seems to be moving a little too quickly for me these days.
ReplyDeleteMy digital files to get stored in numerous locations and are backed up on external hard drives and DVD's. They are out of sight and forgotten about much quicker than my film negatives. My negatives are easy to retrieve along with a contact sheet to view the image. Film is one of the best methods to store an image, but the future is digital and with it comes countless hours of trying manage our images. I have concerns that down the road many good and important images will be lost on out dated hard drives or just tossed aside by because the images can't be instantly viewed. I remember when a neighbor of mine found an old box of glass negatives in his barn. He gave them to me and I remember how much I enjoyed working with them and bringing the images back to life after so many years of sitting in a box collecting dust. I felt a connection to the original photographer who took them a hundred years before. It is doubtful that the digital world will provide that experience to someone in the future, but we can only hope. Time is mysterious thing. We are either caught running behind or waiting for events to happen. Your situation of moving to a new location creates numerous emotions to deal with. We are all to familiar with the disruption of making a major life change ourselves.
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