Rhino in SF zoo

Just as golfers remember every club and stroke used on every hole of their games, photographers recall images and use their own brand of cataloging to keep track of those special shots. Management software like Adobe Lightroom and Apple Photos enable photo files to be quickly tagged, bundled and sorted into categories (aka themes) from which they are easily found.

As much as I appreciate the speed with which technology enables tasks to be accomplished, I have an old school attitude about sorting and processing photos; I’m not in a hurry. I enjoy taking time to consider why I shot the images, then selecting a very few to process, title and catalog.

This slow-and-steady method probably came from my father. He nourished me with the gift of seeing. Pop was an observer of life and trained me to be one as well – to look through the viewfinder of my eyes and focus on what attracted me. He explained how light makes objects change their appearance throughout the day and how looking at objects from different locations alters their shape. Most importantly, he taught me that everyone sees differently and that ability sets us apart and makes each of us a special.

My individuality shows in the naming of my categories and images. There are 20 or so folders with common names of Flowers, Chairs, and Animals. They contain my eyes’ viewfinder images including: “The Sleeping Dog Dreams in Color,” “Cats on a Hot Tin Roof,” and “The Pet Guardian.” On the more esoteric side are my folders called “With Orange,” “The Many Colors of Golf Course Grass,” and “Holiday Photos Taken by Strangers” which contains images of families on vacation (intended for holiday cards) that are taken by strangers (actually me) and are unusable for their lack of heads and often torsos.

Like the images you capture, naming your categories and photos reflects the wonders as seen through the special viewfinder of your eyes.

“Rhino Butt as Still Life” from the category Animals by Ingrid Lundquist