Organizing videos from past years

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My collection of digital photographic files on my hard drive starts in 1998.

Since then I’ve been trying to keep the image files organized by date and event.
 

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Within my PhotoArchive1 folder are more than 63,000 digital images that I’ve taken from 1998 through 2010. This folder is subdivided into folders arranged by year and some folders are further subdivided by month, day and event name.

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Since it’s inception I’ve used Adobe Lightroom to organize and edit most of my photographs. As an ardent user of Lightroom I’ve benefited from the new and powerful features that Adobe continues to add to this software. I’ve spent many, many hours using Lightroom to tag the images and can now easily search for images by date, name, event, category, more.

Two weeks ago as I was going through these older images I realized that I haven’t done a good job organizing the videos that were taken at the same times as the still photos. I’m now reminded that video recording was missing from the digital cameras that I used. It wasn’t until about 2004 that my first digital camera had video capability. These videos were small sized producing 320 x 216 resolution movies. By about 2006, the resolution of my movies jumped to about 640 x 480. Since then resolution has grown by leaps and bounds with many non-professional cameras offering 1920 x 1080 and some even having 4K resolution of 3840 x 2160.

Let’s get back to my past videos. I use Lightroom to easily spot the videos. then I make digital copies of all of these videos with a set of filenames that clearly identifies the date of the recording.

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With Lightroom I’m looking at the contents of the 040523_Birthday folder where I see two videos files – one 9 seconds and another 15 seconds in length. From here I Export a copy of these videos and separately rename them with a prefix of 2004_04_ to make it easy to determine the date taken.

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I repeated the process of Exporting the videos from Lightroom from each folder. This took many hours over a several day period. When I finished, I had processed more than 1150 videos.


Above you can see a group of the renamed exported videos. All of these videos (more than 1000) are now in a single folder that other members of the household can view at their leisure.

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The year and month prefix (in this example 2010_09_) help to put the videos into a chronological context but is not helpful otherwise. However the small thumbnail photo provides a better way to key in on the contents of the video. It’s not perfect, but is certainly a better way than keeping the videos hidden within my PhotoArchive1 folder.

Would you be surprised to learn that I have never viewed many of these videos? Up to now I have concentrated on the still images in my large collection and have largely ignored the videos. With my videos now more organized I am anxious to view these “motion pictures” – some going back almost 20 years.

One of my future missions is to uncover the videos that I took from 2011 to the present.
 
 
Written by: Arnie Lee
 
 

Old Photos In My Collection

You may already know that I have quite a large collection of photographs. The overwhelming number of them are photos that I have taken over the many years that I’ve been a fan of photography. My personal photos start about 1960 making them about 60 years old.

Additionally I have a few hundred photos that I’ve been archiving for relatives. A large proportion are older – many dating back to the early 1900’s. A few are one hundred years old.

Below are some of these photographs that I’d like to share. Not all of them are ancient but they represent items or events that should harken you back to an earlier era.
 
 

 
Take a few minutes and go through your collection of photographs. You may unlock some of those nostalgic memories.
 
 

Faces You May Recognize

In my earlier days I seldom travelled without a camera. Nowadays my cellphone camera is always nearby.

So back to the “older times”. While attending trade shows, expos, concerts, sports games and other events I’ve had the opportunity to photograph “famous” people sometimes with a press pass and sometimes as a bystander.

My collection of faces have grown over the years.

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Jackson Browne, Van Andel Arena 2021 – Grand Rapids, MI	Tony Bennett, Meijer Gardens 2015 – Grand Rapids, MI	Johnny Mathis, Soaring Eagle Casino 2012 – Mt Pleasant, MI
Al Downing, pitcher Yankee Stadium 1966 – New York, NY	Aretha Franklin, DeVos Performance Hall 2017 – Grand Rapids, MI	Art Buchwald, American Booksellers Association Conference – Washington DC
President Barack Obama, Campaigning 2008 – Grand Rapids, MI	Barbra Streisand, United Center 2006 – Chicago, IL	Barry Keane, drummer Gordon Lightfoot band 2014 – Grand Rapids, MI
BB King, DeVos Performance Hall 2007 – Grand Rapids, MI	Ben Taylor, James Taylor band DeVos Performance Hall 2011 – Grand Rapids, MI	Billy Davis Jr, Fifth Dimension Univ Michigan Stadium 1970 – Ann Arbor, MI
Bobby Baun, Toronto Maple Leafs Madison Square 1966 – Garden New York	Brian Watson, Detroit Red Wings practice 1965 – St Clair Shores, MI	Burt Bachrach, Ballys Casino 2004 – Las Vegas, NV
Carter Lancaster, lead guitar Gordon Lightfoot Band 2014 – Grand Rapids, MI	Christie McVie, member Fleetwood Mac Van Andel Area 2015 – Grand Rapids, MI	Chris Wragge, news anchor 2008 – New York, NY
Senator Debbie Stabenow, parade campaigning 2011 – Grand Rapids, MI	Dionne Warwick, Little River Casino 2013 – Manistee, MI	Donald Fagen, member Steely Dan at Interlochen Performance Arts Center 2014 – Interlochen, MI
Elston Howard, catcher at Yankee Stadium 1966 – New York, NY	Erica Hill, news commentator 2010 – New York, NY	Eric Clapton, Van Andel Arena 2006 – Grand Rapids, MI
Fifth Dimension, Univ Michigan Stadium 1970 – Ann Arbor, MI	Florence Henderson, American Booksellers Association Conference 2011 – New York, NY	Florence LaRue, member Fifth Dimension at Univ Michigan Stadium 1970 – Ann Arbor, MI
Four Tops, NRHS Concert 1966 – New Rochelle, NY	Frankie Valli, Aladdin Casino 2004 – Las Vegas, NV	Garrison Keilor, American Booksellers Association Conference 2008 – New York, NY
George Armstrong, center Toronto Maple Leafs Madison Square Garden 1966 – New York, NY	President Gerald Ford, campaigning 1976 – Grand Rapids, MI	Glen Campbell, Michigan State Fair 1970 – Detroit, MI
Gordie Howe, right wing Detroit Red Wings practice 1966 – St Clair Shores, MI	Gordon Lightfoot, DeVos Performance Hall 2013 – Grand Rapids, MI	Graham Edge, drummer Moody Blues Meijer Gardens 2014 – Grand Rapids, MI
Harrison Ford, actor at Oshkosh Air Show 2008 – Oshkosh, WI	Ira Joe Fisher, broadcaster 2008 – New York, NY	James Taylor, Van Andel Arena 2021 – Grand Rapids, MI
Jim Neilson, defenseman NY Rangers Madison Square Garden 1966 – New York, NY	John Lodge, bass Moody Blues Meijer Gardens 2014 – Grand Rapids, MI	John McFee, Doobie Brothers Meijer Garden 2015 – Grand Rapids, MI
Justin Hayward, lead guitar Moody Blues Meijer Gardens 2014 – Grand Rapids, MI	Lil’ Ed, blues Rosa Park Circle 2008 – Grand Rapids, MI	Maggie Rodriquez, broadcast anchor 2010 – New York, NY
Marcel Pronovost, defenseman Toronto Maple Leafs Madison Square Garden 1966 – New York, NY	Marilyn McCoo, Fifth Dimension Univ of Michigan Stadium 1970 – Ann Arbor, MI	Mark Douhit, saxaphone improvisation – Grand Rapids, MI
Michael McDonald, Meijer Gardens 2013 – Grand Rapids, MI	Michael Richards, near Greenwich Village 2010 – New York, NY	Mick Fleetwood, drummer Fleetwood Mac Van Andel Arena 2015 – Grand Rapids, MI
Mike Heffernan, keyboards Gordon Lightfoot Band DeVos Performance Hall 2014 – Grand Rapids, MI	Moe Rocca, humorist near Central Park 2010 – New York, NY	Muhammad Ali, aboard airline flight – Los Angeles, CA
Neil Diamond, Van Andel Arena 2008 – Grand Rapids, MI	Neil Sedaka, American Bookseller Association Conference 2010 – New York, NY	Pat Simmons, Doobie Brothers Meijer Gardens 2015 – Grand Rapids, MI
Patty Wagstaff, aerobatics pilot Oshkosh Air Show – Oshkosh, WI	Paul Anka, Computer Electronics Show – Las Vegas, NV	Pete Rose, Caesars Palace 2008 – Las Vegas, NV
Pete Stemkowski, center Toronto Maple Leafs Madison Square Garden 1966 – New York, NY	PeteTownsend, guitarist The Who Van Andel Arena – Grand Rapids, MI	Richard Daley, Mayor at graduation ceremony 2011 – Chicago, IL
President Richard Nixon & Pat Nixon, campaigning 1971 – New Rochelle, NY	Rick Haynes, bass Gordon Lightfoot Band DeVos Performance Hall 2014 – Grand Rapids, MI	Governor Rick Snyder, at graduation ceremony 2013 – Grand Rapids, MI
Rodney Charters, cinematographer at National Association of Broadcasters Show 2010 – Los Angeles, CA	Rod Seiling, defenseman NY Rangers Madison Square Garden 1966 – New York, NY	Roger Daltrey, The Who at Van Andel Arena – Grand Rapids, MI
Ron Townsend, member Fifth Dimension at Univ of Michigan 1970 – Ann Arbor, MI	Sean Tucker, aerobatics pilot Oshkosh Air Show 2008 – Oshkosh, WI	Sigfried Fischbacher, Sigfried and Roy at Caesars Palace – Las Vegas, NV
Stephanie Izard, Iron Chef at Girl and the Goat 2012 – Chicago, IL	Stevie Nicks, Fleetwood Mac at Van Andel Arena 2015 – Grand Rapids, MI	Terry Clements, lead guitar for Gordon Lightfoot Band at Orleans Casino 2009 – Las Vegas, NV
Tim Horton, defenseman for Toronto Maple Leafs at Madison Square Garden 1966 – New York, NY	Tom Johnston, Doobie Brothers at Meijer Gardens 2015- Grand Rapids, MI	Representative Vern Ehlers, campaigning in parade 2009 – Grand Rapids, MI
Vic Hatfield, left wing for NY Rangers at Madison Square Garden 1966 – New York, NY	Walter Becker, guitar for Steely Dan at Interlochen Performance Art Center 2014 – Interlochen, MI	Wayne Newton, at Aladdin Casino – Las Vegas, NV
William F Buckley Jr, political commentator and journalist at Univ of Michigan 1969 – Ann Arbor, MI	Willie Nelson, street concert 2011 – Grand Rapid, MI	Willie Mays, Shea Stadium 1965 – New York, NY
Kate Markowitz, with James Taylor Band at DeVos Performance Hall 2011 – Grand Rapids, MI	Wolfgang Puck, Chinois Restaurant 2008 – Santa Monica, CA	Arnold McCuller, with James Taylor Band at Van Andel Arena 2021, Grand Rapids, MI
Whoppi Goldberg, following Broadway performance – New York, NY	Reggie Flemming, defenseman NY Rangers Madison Square Garden 1966 – New York, NY	Governor John Engler, British Airways dedication at Western Michigan University 1988 – Battle Creek, MI
Christopher Cross, Soaring Eagle Casino 2022 – Mt Pleasant, MI	Lindsey Buckingham, Fleetwood Mac at Van Andel Arena 2015 – Grand Rapids, MI	Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, 2019 at local Grand Rapids restaurant

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