Okay, it’s official… I’m a mess. And it is all my own fault.
Well… before you jump in there… it’s the photographs…
There used to be a collection of nice, neatly labelled folders on my computer, with nice, neatly labelled pictures inside. Maybe a thousand. I knew where everything was. I would only take pictures on the rare day out or to document something important, and it was easy to keep track. A quick calculation based on average file size is now trying to tell me there are around forty thousand images in there somewhere… give or take a thousand or so… Ridiculous!
Now, I know it is easy to take a few hundred in a day but I am pretty strict about clearing away the ones I mess up as soon as I upload them… unless they illustrate something I specifically need; then they can stay till I can replace them.
About a year ago I saw the trend begin and dutifully went through every folder re-labelling so I could keep track. Working with Stuart France on The Initiate we seemed to be acquiring a lot of material on our travels. A day in the landscape looking at hills, archaeology and architecture for the books inevitably meant pictures, and though I am by no means what I would call a ‘proper’ photographer, having nothing but respect for these guys, nevertheless the camera (with the spare in the bag) became a standing joke.
So now I have to try and find time to re-organise, as I can’t find a thing… Don’t get me wrong, all the folders are neatly labelled anyway, but it is getting hard to trawl through looking for that one specific shot that we need. It all relies on remembering where we were when we saw something. It is becoming a Herculean task, so I have to do something about it and I was instantly reminded of my son asking, “How do you eat an elephant?” … In small bits, of course… so that’s how I will set to work, a bit at a time. Memories came flooding back as I recalled that phrase and the article I’d written. There were a lot of firsts in there, including some of his first ‘proper’ photographs. His pictures now are becoming very special as he learns how to put both equipment and talent to good use.
It’s an odd thing, though, you never really question memory… I don’t mean its accuracy, because we all forget things and must all be aware that our own memories are not necessarily of what did happen, only our own perception of events. I don’t mean the physical mechanics of it in the brain either. No, I mean how it works for us, each of us… on the ground and in action, so to speak. I realised I have no idea how it ‘works’ for others! For me memory is a visual thing; I ‘see’ with the mind’s eye the faces, places, routes and details… I can go to a particular passage in a book because I can ‘see’ the page. If I write down a recipe from memory that I haven’t cooked in years it is because I can watch myself cook it, see when I first made it and who I cooked for… For me, that’s just how it works. Visually… which is probably why there are so many pictures.
I remember the written word visually too. Yet I don’t remember the spoken word all that well… I can remember what was said, but only as a condensed version half the time. And it grieves me that I cannot call up the voices of people I love at will, especially those I can no longer hear, as voices mean a great deal to me. Sometimes they come unbidden with their words, most of the time they are tantalisingly just out of memory’s reach and while I can almost touch what their voice would ‘feel’ like, I cannot hear. Yet I can play a complex piece of music in my head and hear every note.
Isn’t it odd, though that we don’t even question things like that? We just accept things as they are and take little notice, being so used to having them at our mental fingertips. I’ve questioned a lot of things over the years, as have all of us… you know, ‘how do I describe what ‘blue’ looks like to me?’ You get the idea… But I have to wonder when something like this comes up just how much do we simply accept because it is so and take it for granted, never even thinking to question the very things that make us who we are?
Look, I ran out of elephants…. and you know about the Lemurs, right?
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
“I ran out of elephants” hee hee 😀
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Hey… a grl can’t have everythin 😉
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I have the same visual way of remembering as well true..clairsentients we are
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I wonder how other people remember things? One of my best friends can remember things word for word but seems not to have visual memory…
I can feel a bot of research coming on 🙂
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Mess or not, I’ve loved every photo you have taken as I see the world thru your eyes Sue. Have a happy weekend! :*
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Thank you Cao 🙂
You too x
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Love the elephants! And I, too, am a mess of dated folders of who knows how many photos. I gave given up organizing and just have to review, refresh and regroup. If you have ever seen Art Wolfe’s show, all memory fails me as to the first word of the title, “Something? from the Edge,” not sure if it airs there, he has all his photos admirably organized on his computer. Of course, he is a famous pro. Organization is possible…
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Organisation has become a necessity …this isn’t going to get any easier 🙂
No, I don’t watch TV so haven’t come across that show at all…
The baby elephants were a joy.. a few years ago now… It is amazing what is lurking in these folders 🙂
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The baby elephants are adorable. Well, maybe you are right. But how to organize? That’s a rhetorical question. {:-o
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Doggedly and thoroughly…. but don’t ask me how 🙂
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If you come up with a solution, I would love to know what it is. I swear photographs breed at night when I’m not looking. Regardless, my current organizing method (calling it a method is probably an overstatement) is by month and year with subfolders inside. Do I remember what’s in those folders? No.
I try to give meaningful names to groups of pictures, but when you go to the same places and take pictures often, well … This seems to be a problem for most photographers. Especially if when we keep a lower resolution shot for online plus the original. I often have more than one version of a picture.
I can’t find half the pictures I’ve taken. I have about the same number as you. I don’t remember exactly when I took it or what I named it. I remember the subject, but I can’t search by that because I didn’t embed search terms. It IS a mess and seems likely one.
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likely to remain one. Typos. Bah.
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So far I have dates, location and some ‘hook’ that wakes memory, but without going through and tagging each pic by subject, I’m still reliant on remembering what I sw where and on what occasion. So I’m working on that…
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Maybe you don’t have the problem of going back to the same places often to shoot.Putting shoots of the same places in a file with sub-folders by date helps a bit. Manchaug 2007 through 2014 … Swans 2009 – 2014. Autumn 2003 – 2014 and the like.
There aren’t enough classifications. And there are always more pictures on the way.
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Ah, but I do… I go back to places all the time, so there is that too 🙂
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This is an ongoing problem. Everyone does the best they can but I’m not sure there’s an entirely satisfactory solution. I don’t use “cloud” storage. I have three huge external hard drives — one each for my desktop & big laptop, a third I use with my ultrabook when I travel. I don’t like knowing if I lose WiFi, I can’t get to my pictures. We have a LOT of interruptions. We had the repair guy here today, in fact. I hate our cable company. Everybody hates their cable company. Anything I can do to keep from being even more dependent on them is good.
Photoshop’s Bridge really IS a great organizing tool … you just to use its features, add key words for searches and stuff. I often don’t. I get tired, busy, distracted. I don’t feel like it. I’m always sure I’ll remember where I put it and of course, I don’t.
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I don’t have Photoshop… one day, perhaps 🙂
I know what you mean about the internet access… whenever I am away I can only get online in pubs ( terrible hardship, that! 🙂 ) so I do like to have them with me where possible as we often need them for working… so I go with a small lightweight bag with minimal stuff… and a ‘tech’ case that weighs a ton!
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Get a portable, external hard drive and back up your photos to it. It isn’t all that expensive and it’s no heavier than a compact camera.
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I have a couple… they too go in the tech bag 🙂
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I guess our gear is portable … if you have a good strong back! Otherwise, not so much 🙂
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Mine has to be these days… and the back… dodgy, very dodgy 🙂
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