Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Paying the Price


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You know those news stories that include a photo of the usually slump-shouldered elderly person in the baggy, soiled sweater with the hair pointing every possible direction who has been exposed as a pack rat? The next photo shows an appalling scene of stacked newspapers, tin cans, empty cereal boxes, and all sorts of debris that normal people discard. We shake our heads and say, “How does something like this happen to a person?” Well, those are the pictures that have come to mind as I have buried myself in the chore of cleaning out old files. I feel far too much like the person in that first photo.

Since I began taking pictures, I have been sloppy about editing. Like many of us, I suspect, I would much rather take photos than face filing duty. I not only don’t mind photo processing, but usually enjoy it. It is the downloading, editing, and keywording that are drudgery. As for cleaning out folders and discarding pictures in old folders—that I will postpone until I can’t avoid it any longer. Oh, sure, I will occasionally get serious and clean out a handful of old files, but it has always been tough for me to be ruthless and, mostly, I have taken the easy way out by deleting a handful of obvious losers and promising myself to get back to a folder later.

The time is here. I can’t simply continue adding external hard drives. At last, I have begun going through old folders and this job calls for a machete. I need to channel my inner General Sherman. (Yes, that is a gentle swipe at The Husband and his style of landscaping.)

I did notice as I started this project a few days ago (yes, that’s where I have been—buried under piles of electronic debris and obsessed with cleaning up the mess.) I will say that that the task is easier this time around. Because I have been taking hundreds of photos in the last several months, it is finally easier to discard marginal pictures that could possibly be saved. Besides, I faced the fact that I can’t simply continue to add more external hard drives. Another scene that has been popping into my mind, recently, is one where I place the newest hard drive at the end of the row and my desk collapses in a heap of dust.

14 comments:

  1. Anita: You have such a gift of story telling. The imagery of the slump shouldered elderly person with the soiled sweater and bad hair day is great! You make me laugh! As a person who is not a pack rat, it does my heart good to see you detaching from all of those photos. I'm sure that you'll be much better of for it, truly.

    I'm glad that you are back to blogging and are surviving your terabyte mining. It's a dangerous occupation, but necessary! Perhaps you could get General Sherman to help you by coming in an cutting a few swaths through those hard drives. If that scares you, perhaps he could come in an reinforce the desk with some 2 x 6 timbers! :-)

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  2. Lol, let me know how it goes. I, too, have issues separating from old photos. I think it is developmental, like a two year old who is scared to flush the toilet...my toilet is also full of hard drives. Maybe when I become more skillful, I'll throw some of them out. Like a good three year old! Good luck woman, you're my inspiration!!!! :)

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  3. Or do as we do with other stuff on the desk, keep pushing the piles of hard disk drives to give room for new ones. Place a bin behind the desk, which the oldest drives can fall into.

    Seriously, I need to do that as well. After a few years, pictures tends to mature in a less attractive way than a good wine. It's hard going back and see the really good ones when all these lousy ones are disturbing the sight...

    Now a days, I try to clean up already during the import phase. If I have a series of shots on the same subject, I try to reduce those until only one picture remains. That's hard, but good practice. You're not likely to miss those pictures you erased anyway.

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  4. This kind of thing always makes me very nervous, as time and time again I have looked over images I captured five, ten twenty years ago and found things that I didn't like then but like now. But I need to do this as well.

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  5. It's funny, when I used slide film years ago, I could never part with an image. Now with digital images, for me it's pretty easy to toss those I don't like. Can’t explain what’s different!

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  6. Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up. -- A. A. Milne

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  7. Paul - I take a compliment from you on story-telling as a high compliment and since you frequently provide me with welcome chuckles I'm glad I could return the favor.

    I am still considering the braces under the desk. :)

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  8. Mary Ann - Your comment completely cracked me up. That describes me perfectly: "scared to flush the toilet". Now every time I go into those hard drives I see a toilet in my mind's eye. I am struggling to qualify as a three year old.

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  9. Ove - Oooh, another grand idea: the bin behind my desk. I admit that your method of applying the machete in the early stages scares the wits out of me. It's all about confidence.

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  10. Chris - Your point is an excellent one. My tastes and my editing skills are evolving and I plain don't trust myself to do this without some serious caution.

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  11. Steve - Do the differences in your editing slides over digital files relate to volume? Did you shoot fewer slides? Or is it the passing of the years? I ask these questions, because I know that the passage of time and the volume of photos taken is making a difference for me.

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  12. Earl - Oh, boy, you know how to hurt a person. That's a mean uppercut you have, Earl. :) I had begun drafting a post admitting the weakness of my system before you smacked me, now I really have to defend myself.

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  13. I solved the space issue for external drives by building a wireless network and moving the bulk storage to another room. No deleting for me.

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  14. Martin - Shame on you for being a bad influence! Your storage system is one that appeals to every fiber of my pack rat mentality. I hope you will know that I am not implying that you are a pack rat. Just being honest about why this sounds so tempting to me. Thank you for jumping in on this.

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Anita