These past months I have spent an onerous amount of time reviewing, sorting, organising, archiving & preserving, scanning, cataloguing, editing, saving and backing-up digital image files of my old analogue negatives, transparencies (slides) and prints.  It has been quite enjoyable to reminisce over memories surrounding past photo sessions, but there are times when my memory has been taxed trying to remember details.

For anyone, sorting and organising photographs is a daunting task which requires time.  While there is no right way to categorise or organise, some methods are apt to make more sense than others.  During my first photography courses I really did not have a standardised method of cataloguing and organising my negatives, and the more rolls of film I shot, I very quickly realised that I would be facing a heterogeneous collection.

While cataloguing and organising methods were not specifically taught as part of photography course curricula, fortunately I kept all my rolls of film negatives in the order of when I took them and noted the date (YMD).  I later added a unique number identification system, which I have since simplified.  However, during those very early days I really should have made more of an effort to jot down general notes and technical details about each photoshoot.

When scanning for clients, I use the automated settings which is both time- and cost-effective, and the final JPEG image scans are high consumer quality with resolutions suitable for consumer printing.  When scanning my own work, I use the ‘Professional Mode’ settings.  Each scan takes longer to gather image data, which is uncompressed, and thus produces extremely large file sizes.  I then use Adobe Photoshop to do additional image editing.  While knowledge and experience of the traditional darkroom process is certainly worthwhile and the talent needed to achieve mastery can not be underestimated, overall I am happier and more adept with the digital darkroom process.

About This Photograph

The above photograph is a quick snapshot I took while in the midst of scanning some B&W negatives of a friend who posed for me for an extra-curricula photo assignment at university.  She possessed a natural beauty and even though she was rather shy, I am very appreciative she willingly agreed to pose for me.  Not long after, I was disheartened to learn that this one photoshoot with her was to be the only opportunity I would have to photograph her.