How do you organize your info?

jtk · Dec 3, 2019

Do you use Evernote or something similar to organize your photo and project related information, questions and communication?

What is your system?

Ces1um · Dec 3, 2019

I throw everything in a heap. Then I forget about it, get cross, give up and go watch YouTube.

Chan Tran · Dec 3, 2019

I use my brain.

Bob Carnie · Dec 3, 2019

I make a small print of every image I consider printing .. I purchase large art books and tape the images into the books... when I sell an image I note it into the book . Sounds obsessive but it really helps me keep track .. I am not a Excel spread sheet kind of guy.

Bob Carnie · Dec 3, 2019

I also use Google Docs for keeping all my info organized that is not visual in nature.( quoting, materials , tech manuals , Ideas.......... I also use Gmail and keep categories for clients that keep coming back to me and I find this really helpful and all correspondence from them goes into their individual folders for me to see quickly at a glance.

Andrew O'Neill · Dec 3, 2019

I make a contact sheet by scanning all negs right after they have dried... Then stick them in clear sleeves , which are then stored in old film boxes that are labelled by subject/year. After a cup of tea... I'll open the images on my laptop, and decide which ones I'll print in the darkroom, and which process I'll use. That is the extent of my organisation.

warden · Dec 3, 2019

My system sucks. Negatives are in sleeves which are in binders, chronologically. It's difficult to find things. Images that have been scanned are in folders in the computer with titles like "2019_1019 Hassy 60mm+10mm TMax400 @400" which again is chronological and with a bit more info but still hard to find images when they're needed.

It's not all that often that I need to hunt for images more than a few years old. Thank goodness.

Bob Carnie · Dec 3, 2019

I should add ... all my work Negatives are in print boxes ... shoes all one box... music all one box... so when I need to find the negatives its just a matter of looking at the boxes and pulling out the right neg.. each subject can have as few as 100 large negs or in the case of roll film thousands of negs.

jtk · Dec 3, 2019

An old, close friend, photographed while in infantry in Vietnam (Pentax), now photographs same places and people (50 yrs later) ..in hospital now..does use a highly organized digital system of some sort but I can't get thru to him to get details. If I can reach him and he authorized, I'll post his recent/ongoing Vimeo project that includes his work during VN war.

Old_Dick · Dec 3, 2019

I have files in a directory . The directory has files with URLs and or quotes from people. The file names has the subject name, "safelight-photo". Everything else is in a binder.

Ian Grant · Dec 3, 2019

I used to have everything in a Microsoft Access database, then Microsoft upgradedOffice, version2 was fine, version 3 was totally incompatible, exportedas a Spreadsheet taht's what remains and is upgraded. I stopped using Microsoft Office and use Libre Office these days.

Ian

removed account4 · Dec 3, 2019

im not organized at all.. scraps of paper with notes on them, files i can't remember what they are called typed up and maybe printed, boxes of negatives and prints .. i try not to look back .. and when i do, i am plesantly surprised at the stuff i passed over when i have a random encounter with like an empty box of sheet film filled with an assortment of somewhat random negatives or chromes. as my pal dory says "just keep swimming swimming swimming" ...

Ariston · Dec 3, 2019

jawarden said:
My system sucks. Negatives are in sleeves which are in binders, chronologically. It's difficult to find things. Images that have been scanned are in folders in the computer with titles like "2019_1019 Hassy 60mm+10mm TMax400 @400" which again is chronological and with a bit more info but still hard to find images when they're needed.

It's not all that often that I need to hunt for images more than a few years old. Thank goodness.

Ha! This sounds eerily similar to the mess I have made for myself. Almost exactly, in fact. I add masking tape on the negative sleeves to write on, but I would have a hard time finding a particular image.

removedacct3 · Dec 3, 2019

Old_Dick said:
I have files in a directory .

Of course you have files in a directory. You're a Unix engineer .... everything is file is your world

Pieter12 · Dec 3, 2019

I don't use it, but Artwork Archive has been recommended to me: https://www.artworkarchive.com/?ref=9991e4

Sirius Glass · Dec 3, 2019

Negatives are labeled year and roll, stored in PrintFile sheets. Prints are labelled year-roll-negative ==> YYYY-RR-NN.

jtk · Dec 3, 2019

What about details of location/subjects/your notes etc?

winger · Dec 3, 2019

Negatives and contact sheets are all stored in chronological order and are sorta cross-indexed (there's a code on both). Each PrintFile sheet has the locations and dates for what's on that roll or those sheets. Prints are somewhat organized - they're in boxes by category. Ideas for things to try, etc.. are usually written down in semi-random places and sometimes end up together in one of a few notebooks I have. But it doesn't really matter 'cause I rarely get a chance to try 95% of them anyway.

Alan Edward Klein · Dec 3, 2019

Filing systems remind me of the quote about attending business meetings where minutes are taken and hours wasted.

Sirius Glass · Dec 3, 2019

Sirius Glass said:
Negatives are labeled year and roll, stored in PrintFile sheets. Prints are labelled year-roll-negative ==> YYYY-RR-NN.

jtk said:
What about details of location/subjects/your notes etc?

Dates, subjects, and locations on the white strip of each PrintFile. Sometimes any development deviation from my normal developments.

Jim Jones · Dec 4, 2019

I consecutively number and record each roll of film in a much tattered notebook. One line covers all subjects on that roll. The negatives are stored in negative wallets which, unlike negative file sheets, keep the negatives perfectly flat. 500 sheet 8x10 paper boxes neatly store 80 of these wallets. Digital images for one day are filed by a YYMMDD file name for chronological listing. A file contains a few key words on the subjects for every day. A word search of the file quickly locates all negatives of any subject.

jtk · Dec 4, 2019

My challenge includes need to save audio of project conversations, video, email, various kinds of images (including video files)...all in one organized place. I've just seen a 44minute presentation that included all of that, all organized item-by-item. Some of it involved Camtasia, a very old and very simple digital editing system/ I hope to learn more. That presentation involved film from WWI and VN, stills from VN, photos of objects, and video commentary...along with the live presentation and audience Q&A (all of which was recorded as well, for later use).

Luckless · Dec 4, 2019

I keep random hand written notes in various journals and the like, and then slowly transfer records over to Lightroom as part of a catalogue management system whenever I sit down to get a batch of scanning done.

Useful looking negatives get scanned, stored in numbered file sheets, which go in labelled boxes, and then data gets entered against the digital copy. From there I can play with things digitally and make plans for eventual printing or use as a digital image online. But the really nice thing is being able to keyword stuff, and go back later on to easily sort and filter images based on 'whatever'... Assuming I did accurate data entry at least.

Nothing overly fancy, but I like having access to 'view everything' from one central source.

James Bleifus · Dec 4, 2019

I use a Apple Numbers as my database. A new sheet for each new image. Should Apple expire before I do (which is unlikely), I should be able to export it to another spreadsheet app. Worst case scenario I can export as a pdf.

Seeing the Saul Leiter documentary cured me of my disorganization.

Cheers, James

jtk · Dec 4, 2019

Luckless said:
I keep random hand written notes in various journals and the like, and then slowly transfer records over to Lightroom as part of a catalogue management system whenever I sit down to get a batch of scanning done.

Useful looking negatives get scanned, stored in numbered file sheets, which go in labelled boxes, and then data gets entered against the digital copy. From there I can play with things digitally and make plans for eventual printing or use as a digital image online. But the really nice thing is being able to keyword stuff, and go back later on to easily sort and filter images based on 'whatever'... Assuming I did accurate data entry at least.

Nothing overly fancy, but I like having access to 'view everything' from one central source.

That "one central source" is my goal, and I've seen it done but don't yet know how. The nice thing about some some of the digital applications is that one simply clicks and drops, adding a few verbal or written notes.

How do you organize your info?

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