photo hell | here i am

My photo hell is back. We have done so much in the past two months and again today I’ve found myself trying to catch up with my digital backlog, before we head out again to create and capture more memorable experiences.

I still haven’t found the holy grail, but I think I might be getting closer. Never the less, it still comes down to a content issue, just like the days when I used to work in knowledge management. I have too much and capturing and sorting and organizing, deleting and backing up, packaging and sharing takes so much time! I’m starting to wonder if it’s worth it. The amount of time it takes to manage the photo process almost makes me want to quit taking photos, or at least I need to learn how to better edit, delete and manage them daily or weekly. How do you do it?

Here is how I’m trying to manage this beast that gives me anxiety and sucks up a lot of time. Please do share how you do it if you have a better solution or suggestion to try.

1. Create folders on my external hard drive by year, and subfolders by month. I use the format 2013/ 01 Jan 2013 and 02 Feb 2013, 03 Mar 2013. The numbers before the month sort the months in numerical orders. ABC order and the redundancy of the year helps you to visualize which month and year you’re working in, in case things get confusing.

2. Upload photos from all three of my devices (iPhone, iPad and SLR) by month to appropriate folder on hard drive.

3. Open monthly folder and create sub-folders to organize photos from each of the monthly events that occurred. i also create a summary folder for all misc pics for that month.

4. I then edit and delete photos for each event that aren’t great. I think I should work on deleting right after I’m done taking pictures on the device used to take the pictures very day. When do you edit?

5. Backup photos from hard drive to an electronic sharing location by monthly event. ( I’m trying Google + right now, but Facebook, Costco.com, picassa, Flickr are some others too). I’m hoping Google comes up with the killer platform to streamline and manage the entire process from up,lad, edit, store, share, create digital albums, print, etc)

6. One extra step for backup might be the CD/DVD rom physical files that you can store some place else. I also heard of carbonite, but haven’t looked that up yet. Any suggestions??

I used to use iPhoto until I ran out of space in my iPhoto library. I recommend NOT using iPhoto for storage because it’s a huge pain when you run out of space!

I shared a picture of my chaotic desk, trying to multitask while I wait for photos to upload. I am downloading magazines on my Kindle for the car ride, have my France travel books handy, and a cup of tea. There are devices all around and it’s still light outside at 9:30 pm! I’m also writing this and taking more pictures to add to my blog while waiting for uploads to complete. I’ll be sure to delete those right now!

I’m still finding joy despite the chaos. Wish me luck and I’d love to hear from you if you have a better solution!

There are no photos or videos to share today, except this one:

I am in photo hell! I’ve taken way too many pictures (is that possible?) and haven’t edited or deleted many either and now everything is full. I’m out of disk space. My iPhoto library won’t take any more content and I have photos stored in a flat file structure and am trying to integrate them all to have them make sense and its taking hours and hours and hours! How did I get here and do you feel my pain? Do you have an easy solution? Please?!?

So while I was sitting here for hours all day and night with Jeff helping me to move, edit, delete and back up files, Charlie decided to sit next to me and look at YouTube videos for things to do together in Amsterdam tomorrow. I was happy that he was sitting near me and found something to do besides making noise and jumping up and down. All was good. The video was playing in the background and I was listening and multitasking, feeling proud that he searched and found a video with a list of exciting things to see and do in the heart of the city until I heard, “number 9. the red light district. just don’t take pictures of the ladies in the windows otherwise they may throw your camera in the canal.” I jumped away from my busy-ness and as I looked at what he was seeing, I saw flashes of red lights appear. Oh no! I grabbed the iPod out of his hands and turned off the video before he saw anymore. He was surprised and didn’t understand and said he hated when that happened. I’m pretty open with my kids but really don’t want them seeing that or even asking questions about it at the kitchen table. Yikes!

Back to the photo conundrum – taking pictures is to help us capture our memories from the past and that’s all great, but what happens when you’re trying to manage your past and package it into nice little receipts packaged into nice little albums with copies ready just in case you lose your package, but in the process you lose the present because you’re so busy remembering the past? What a dilemma. I struggle with that concept, but know I want to be able to look back one day to remember and share the journeys we have taken, explored and enjoyed.

I guess I have to borrow from the present, to pay to remember the past, so I can have the future benefit of being able to share our history. Huh. That’s weird. Boy, I’m exhausted now.