For those who’ve been here a while, you know I have a weirdo thing about file management. The older I get, the more fanatical I become about it, especially when it comes to my pictures. One thing that many of us share, is that we probably don’t go back and look at our photos as often as we’d like. I have a remedy for that.
20 Minutes, Once A Month
At the end of each month, go through EVERY photo you’ve taken over the past 4 weeks. Get rid of the ones that suck or any that you KNOW you’ll never use. Then – and this is the most important part – find the best photo you’ve taken that month. This will be HARD and you’ll have to make tough choices, but that’s why it works. I then copy that image to a Best Of folder.
Not only are you reliving (hopefully) kick-butt memories, but you’ll be able to see how your photography improves, note what you need to improve on (in my case, trains in motion) and keep a wonderfully digital portfolio of your life and travels. Of course, if you haven’t been tagging your photos, this monthly review would be a great time to do that (more on how to tag and organize pictures here).
Keep A Record Of Your Life and (Reward Yourself)
At the end of the year, go through the twelve shots in your Best Of to find YOUR picture of the year. Reward yourself by having it properly framed or totally nerd out (guilty) buy turning it into a postcard.
In the digital age we live in, photography has somehow lost its punch. We go to a place, take 500 pictures and MAYBE look at them once before they join the ten million others in the Unlooked-At-Ever-Again-Picture-Club. BUT, taking a few moments once a month for a private time between you and your photos will bring new life to old memories.
Happy Travels!
It's Her Van 
18 responses to “Try This: Curate A Private “Best Of” List to Organize Your Photography”
This is a great idea! I would add that you may want to save the chosen photos as a PNG file so that they remains stable. Regular JPGs lose pixels every time you open them.
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Great advice – thank you!
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I LOVE your weirdo file thing because it produces BRILLIANT IDEAS like this one!!! So rockin’, lady. So. Rockin.
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Thanks, babe!
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What a good idea. Now if only I had the persistence to see it through:-) I have a lot on photos on line that really are not good enough to keep. Will try your suggestion.
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It’s only difficult (borderline annoying) the first time! 😃
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Great post. And link to the org post! Good work!
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Thanks, Rodric! I’m just passing on my weirdness, LOL.
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Sounds like a great idea! I definitely need to try something like that. I need to sort through a lot of pics though to get caught up!
Steve.
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You’re not alone!
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Even if I end up not culling enough of my poor-quality photos, I get such satisfaction for re-living precious moments whenever I look through them.
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I find it hard to imagine you with less than spectacular photos. Your work is gorgeous.
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You are too kind. Thank you.
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Terrific idea that I am starting this month! Thanks
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Yay 🙌
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I am so bad at organizing my photos. I feel completely overwhelmed when I think about it. This is really great advice and makes it seem doable. Thank you!
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I totally know that feeling! This really helped me to climb that (very scary) mountain 📷📹
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it’s a good idea. Great post.
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