What should I DO with my photos?

Question

I've had my DSLR (Canon 30D) for about a year now. I feel like I take "good" photos and I enjoy doing it. I don't think I'm at the level where I "create" photos, and I also put very little effort into post production. I think part of the reason for this is that I dread my photos' fates as they're lost to the black hole that is my hard drive. Quite simply, I don't know what to DO with my photos.

I know I could get involved with Flikr, but to me it seems like another black hole - photos lost in a sea of photos and crappy "#1 NATUR PHTOS GRUP!!!!" groups.

I don't think my photos are good enough to make any money off them (but it would be nice).

What do YOU use as your motivation to go beyond just taking photos for the enjoyment? What do YOU use as motivation to pick through your photos and give the great ones the time they deserve in post production?

Jim A · Accepted Answer

I've been in the photo business (TV and now stills) for about 35-years.
It should be obvious that I love taking pictures.

What I did some time ago was begin creating particular folders on my external hard drive.  External because I've had C:&#92; drives crash and I lost everything - now it's external only for all my data.

From those folders then I build files that contain such names as
"friends", "family", "specials" things like that.  As I gather shots I go
through every one deciding if I want to keep it or just chuck it.

If I want to post the ones I keep I do that then file them away.

As my various folders (name example "My Photos 15"  15-being the 15th file I've filled, get full (to CD size - about 700mb), I burn and label.
Each label has a title and some example photos on it so that later
when I want to look at or show a particular shot I have an idea of where to look.  I then store my CD's in a regular CD storage folder - you know one of those usually used for music discs.  Since the discs are the same size it works great for me.

I'm now working on disc #18... do the math, that's about 12gb of photos and I didn't keep all of them.

If I go on a special hobby shoot I may come home with 200 photos and keep perhaps 20 or 25 that I really like.

I guess my motivation is that I love photography.  Making money from my pictures - been there done that in television.  Very few photographers actually make money from their shots unless they're in a studio setting doing portraits or working for someone else.

If you truly love photography and want this as a serious hobby go for it.  But it can take time and effort to achieve that final product that will live in your heart and mind.

If you want to discuss further you can reach me through my profile.

Jim

Anonymous · Answer

2

Anonymous · Answer

I always back up my data, especially photos and videos I've taken.  When I get enough to fill up a DVD, I burn them to DVD.  I make an extra copy of each DVD and really do label the first one copy one and the second one copy two.  That way if my computer explodes I still have my data.  I do shares some of my best photos on Myspace.

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What should I DO with my photos?

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