Entering the Ice Age

I got an email today saying “soon you will be posting snow photos”. Help. Yes, most likely I will. But I don’t want to think about it. Not just yet…

Frosty morning lawn in the park

Not that one is allowed to forget. We’ve had frost at least five nights in a row now. Sunny days in between, but still... It’s getting cold.

Sunrise over frosty football field

I’ve been having an inefficient and indecisive kind of weekend, or at least so it feels. Haven’t really been in the mood for “doing” much, and on top of that, the things that most need “doing” are indoor things, while we’re still having the kind of weather that says: “A day like this should not be wasted indoors! You should be outside!” On the other hand there is only so much one can do outdoors this time of year, except  keep walking; because it’s too cold to sit still. And there is a limit to how long I can keep walking, as well!

Yesterday I thought I’d combine the walking with some potential shopping. So I walked to a shopping mall that I don’t visit all that often. I kind of regretted the idea when I got there, because this is what I found:

Christmas decorations! Please. We still have three weeks to go to Halloween!!!

I did walk around for a while but ended up buying nothing, except a packet of paper tissues which I could just as well have bought anywhere. And a hot dog and diet coke to give me the energy to get myself back home (by bus). I should have known. Big shopping malls usually do that to me.

After deciding yesterday that there was nothing I wanted to buy; today I found myself walking into town and buying a pair of knee high leather boots.

There are persistent rumours lately (last repeated to me by the shop assistant who sold me these) that this is going to be the coldest winter in one thousand years.

How can anyone possibly know that? And how does that fit in with the global warming?

When I got home, I followed instructions and gave the new boots a recommended dose of spray-on waterproofing, out on the balcony. Maybe that will help adjust nature’s balance...

Mixed Up

 

This week I’ve spent some time trying to come up with better ways of (re-)organizing my photos on the computer.

Right now I’m at a stage in the process where I seem to be in danger of just making more of a mess of things than I started out with.

I switched to digital photography in 2006; but for the first three years, I still only took about 3-400 pictures a year. I filed them per month, and it was not a problem. I also had prints made of the best ones and continued to paste those into proper photo albums.

Last year in July, all of a sudden I went photo-crazy. I had been keeping this blog for six months. In July on top of that I joined the shared photo blog Soaring Through The World. From then on, I started taking my camera with me where ever I went. And made use of it… It’s been fun, and I’ve learned a lot . BUT. Since 1 July 2009 until now I have taken over 5300 photos. (My camera is keeping count.) I.e. more photos per month than I used to take per year. (It should also be noted that I have not even been further than ~20 km away from my home during this time…)

The 5300 are only “straight from the camera” shots and do not include edited copies, or collages, or scanned pictures. Those come into “problem” categories of their own.

I’m sure that in this digital age of ours, I’m not the only one with photo-organizing problems. What I’d be curious to know is:

How do you do it? How do you file and store your digital photos in a clever way that makes it easy (?) to find your way back to the pictures that you no longer remember exactly when you took?

I started out with a filing system which came with my camera. But that got messed up when I started moving pictures around, making changes in my original folder system. Then I started over. Then my (old) computer crashed. I had the originals saved, but not my edits. I started over again, on my (old) laptop. And then a few months later started over again on my new laptop; now tagging all new photos in Photoshop Elements. After a few months I find this too is growing into a complex science in itself, with Categories and Sub-Categories and Keyword tags… which, it seems, do not get automatically transferred to copies I make using other software (like Picasa).

Picasa on the other hand goes kind of crazy when I start making extra copies of folders, like I’m doing now (so as to be sure I don’t lose anything while messing around).

What I was hoping to accomplish was really to simplify things, by abandoning a system with too many sub-folders (which were not a big problem with Picasa, but causing me a lot of tiresome clicking and searching with Windows Live Writer).

If anyone has some words of wisdom and experience to share, please do so before I get even worse entangled…!

By now you’re probably wondering about the photos in this post. The common thread between text and pictures is supposed to be expressed in the title - “mixed up”…

Yesterday I went to have a look at a temporary fashion outlet in an exhibition hall (originally an engine shed). The new clothes for sale turned out to be all mixed up with old machinery and stuff borrowed from the Textile Industry Museum.

I did not find anything I wanted to buy (typical teenage fashion) but it was an interesting place to take photos!

Oh, and you should imagine disco music in the background, too (rather loud).

Mixed Up: Mixed together in an uncertain manner; confused, muddled or bewildered.

Shopping spree

Market photo borrowed from the internet

Today was Spring Market Day, and I had a bit of a shopping spree...

"All my favourite things", i.e. the things I usually look for at this kind of market!

This time I came home with seven pairs of socks, two packets of postcards, and two handbags! The black bag has a very smart design. You can wear it either as a backpack, or just on one shoulder, or in your hand. Who would not need it?! And the red one, well, it's a lovely colour, isn't it, and it might just possibly be bigger on the inside than on the outside...

Ah, well. Now you know one of my weaknesses. Or three...

PS. Note to myself for Autumn Market Day: Do NOT buy any more socks. Sock drawer full!