It is unbelievable how much technology has changed the way we photograph. Smartphones and digital cameras make it easy for people to take huge numbers of photos, but instead of getting prints, we can store and share our photos by posting to Facebook or other social media sites. It is very easy to get overwhelmed by a giant digital photo collection if you don’t have an organization set up from the beginning. I definitely don’t miss the envelopes of unsorted photo prints photos that used to pile up, waiting to be organized.
I LOVE taking digital photos because I see the photo right away in my hand and if it’s not appealing, I just hit the delete button right then and there. Deleting unflattering pictures helps me keep my collection small and navigable. Downloading onto my computer is a blog for another time.
Do you wonder what the high volume of digital photos might look like if we were still printing out everything? There is an interesting installation called “24 HRS in Photos” by Erik Kessels, who printed photos uploaded by the public to Flickr within a 24 hour timeframe. He brought enough papers and printer ink for 6 billion photos and filled a gallery room in San Francisco with them. If you check it out before May 2014, please let me know what you think of it.
Do you have any tips or tricks for organizing your digital photos? Write in and share!
I try to label my photos because if I can’t find them later, it’s like they’re not there. I do it while watching tv or other down time. Then when I want a picture of a certain person for a gift, I can do a quick search and find them all.
Thank you SHF, for sharing your tip in labeling photos and you’re right, labeling photos does make the search easier when you want to find them again.