Newsletter - Taking a swim in the archive...

Hello,

I'm a digital hoarder. 

When I was in photojournalism school our professor told us the story of how Dirck Halstead had photographed a fundraising event in Washington DC in 1996. Digital imagery was new at the time, and most people had switched, but Halstead had stayed with film and captured a photo of Bill Clinton hugging a certain famous intern named Monica Lewinsky. It became one of the most famous photographs of the era and he was the only photographer who had this photo despite being at the event with many other photographers. He speculated it was because most photographers had just made the switch to digital and had erased similar photos, loosing them the opportunity to have a historic photo.

Ever since professor Ken Kobre told us that story in 2000 I've not deleted a photo. Now, I'm not delusional thinking all my junk is worth anything, but that lingering "what if" has always been there, so my archive is big. I'm working on weeding it a bit now. And by a bit I mean by a lot.

While weeding I stroll through memory lane, because all these photos are triggers of past days and moments lived.

Like when I photographed Sufjan Stevens in Brooklyn and the journalist had too much of a hangover to conduct the interview so I had to take over.

Or when I photographed the Westminster Kennel Dog Show at Madison Square Garden and the lady who's dog won was crying non-stop while standing next to the hot-dog stand. I can also remember the sounds of blowdryers and the smell of many different kinds of wet dog.

Or the day I photographed dog musher Sigrid Ekran for the first time and the anticipation I felt making those first photographs, possibly already knowing that this was the story that would forever change my life. More on that life-changing project some other time.

My point is, these many megabytes are the photos from my personal history, the life I had before, and because of my profession I get to keep all those memories vivid because of the visual triggers. It's powerful and exciting, and even though it sometimes feels like the task I can never finish, it's still rewarding, not because the photography is particularly good, but because I was there. And sometimes I do find hidden gems. Like a photograph of a melted popsicle I've used to share my workshop. I love that photo, but it would have gone into the purge had I not been a hoarder, because it wasn't part of the assignment that day. Lots of photos, lots of memories, lots of days.

How do I archive these photos?

Divided into folders: year, month, day, assignment or just month and assignment depending on how busy the month was. For my family photographs I do year and month. Everything from my photojournalism days have keywords in their captions, and everything from my family photography have keywords of what happened and who's in the photos. Straight onto a hard drive, then into Lightroom later.

Do you have a good solution to the multitude of digital file archiving? I'd love to hear about it, just hit reply!

All for now,

Kristine