Last night, we watched Jim Henson’s movie, “The Dark Crystal.” I hadn’t seen it since the early 1990’s, and it has held up quite well. I enjoy sci fi and fantasy movies that transport you to lands of the imagination, “Pan’s Labyrinth,” for instance, or “Mirror Mask,” but what most impressed me about “The Dark Crystal” is how Henson created such a unique world without any CGI. The flora and fauna are Muppets. The result is truly creative and delightfully alien, although I must admit, the main character reminded me slightly of Michael Jackson post-plastic surgery (even so, I got over it.) I wish Jim Henson were still alive. sigh… Wonder what he would be creating these days?
I snapped today’s photo in Italy, and came across it today while searching for a completely different photo, which I never did find. I needed a photo to accompany an article, and had the perfect one in mind. Unfortunately, it takes me way too long to find specific photographs, so I used a different photo. Argh! (I actually posted this photo on my blog before – a couple years ago, I think – but what the hey!)
Have any of you figured out a good system for organizing photos? I thought that putting them in a folder with the date would be enough for quick retrieval. It isn’t! As James Brown would say, “Help me, somebody!”
That’s my ramble for the day. I’m off to cruise the NaBloPoMo blog roll and see what other folks are up to. See y’all tomorrow.
Tui Snider is an author, speaker, and photographer who specializes in North Texas travel, cemetery symbols, and haunted lore. As she puts it, “I used to write fiction – but then, I moved to Texas!”
Snider’s best-selling books include Paranormal Texas , Understanding Cemetery Symbols, and 100 Things to Do in Dallas - Fort Worth Before You Die.
Snider has several more books in progress, and enjoys connecting with writers and readers all over the globe through social media, her newsletter and her website: TuiSnider.com.
I store my photos by year then month, but it’s not the best system.
I have been to Italy too, isn’t it the best? I hope to go back soon.
Hi Kelly,
So even an excellent photographer like you struggles with the organizational end of it? I thought folders with the date would work well enough, but I’ve started adding tags now.
Italy is magical in many ways. I plan to visit again next year, actually.
Thanks for stopping by. :)
~Tui
Thanks for all the input on organizing photos, Sheila & Hans!
I feel silly for having not thought of tagging. I do have an external hard drive, which I use for back up. I can see how taking a little more time with them when I first pull them off the camera can pay off in the long run.
Man, you are organized, Hans, with that naming routine. I am impressed!
Re: movies – I will add Eastbound to our Netflix queue. I had never heard of it before. I’ve been meaning to add Legend. Tim Curry plays the bad guy. He is so talented!
I left you this nice long comment here and then fell asleep before I posted it, apparently. Tagging is my new best friend in the photo world. I never saw the use for it until I started trying to find photos and had to wade through pages and pages. I have been in the process of organizing my photos for about six months. I bought an external hard drive. It is bigger than either of my other hard drives. My idea is to gather up all my photos from three or four computers and a few floppies and cds and put them there on the external hard drive so they are all in ONE place. Otherwise, what happens is that I edit a photo here on my laptop and then, when I see it on my desktop, it’s a completely different picture. Or I want to use a photo for my blog that I’m writing here and then realize it’s on the other computer. It’s aggravating. If I can get them all on the external drive and edit and organize them from there then they will be already the same edited version when I put them on whichever computer I’m using. That’s my idea anyway. In the meantime I am going through all the folders on the laptop and organizing and tagging. I go to the dated folder and tag from there. That way if it’s pictures I took all at one place (Ocean) I can tag them ALL with that tag. Then I can organize them individually (flowers, beach, etc) and they will still have tags that relate them to each other like the date. I think it was clearer when I wrote it last night, but I hope you get the idea. The tagging has been the key, though. I never realized what a bonus it is to be able to tag. For instance…I want a pic of a pink flower…I just tell it to search by tags or go to my tags list and pick pink. It will bring up everything I’ve tagged pink. So, the tags for this pic would be “ivy, statue, Italy” and maybe the date. I hope this makes sense. I am tired.
One thing to do for sure – BURN TO OPTICAL MEDIA cause hard drives fail!
As far as photos:
I do it in a hierarchy like this
PHOTOS
2010
01052010-subject_of_contained
01052010b-subject_of_contained
12252010-xmas_eating_burger
Works really good!
We watched The Dark Crystal a month or so too. I think the tribble with a face was one of the best characters! Did you know that the weird thing in the building on the peak with the modular eyeball is the same guy that played the Oompa Loompas on the new Willy Wonka, as well as the little evil Indian guy on Eastbound and Down? If you haven’t seem Eastbound, you’re missing out it’s absolutely whacked out stuff. Another nmovie with little CGI is Legend – I guess if you don’tt count Tom Cruise; I think by that point the aliens had taken him away and regenerated his brain once or twice. But the big evil guy was very nicely done in that one.