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Again and again and again…

03rd September 2010

First a little background.

As an avid picture taker, I learned early on that unless I had a way to organize my pictures, I would find it increasingly difficult to keep track of my growing collection of photographs.

Although I’ve been taking pictures on film since the 1960’s, it wasn’t until 1998 that I began my digital collection. I discovered a software program called Thumbs Plus for the PC and have been using it regularly to catalog and manage more than 100,000 of my digital photos. By adding keywords to an individual photo, I am able to easily and conveniently locate and retrieve photos from the past. Thumbs Plus has dozens of other useful features but for my purposes, organizing is its most important feature. For the past decade Thumbs Plus (and 3 or 4 upgrades) has been one of the most used programs on my computer.

Our family has also been avid outdoor adventurers. It seems like we’ve been visiting and enjoying countless county, state and national parks throughout the USA forever. And what better way to recall these good times than by recording our visits with a camera? Yes, I have lots of vacation photos.

Tongue-in-cheek, I blame Thumbs Plus for making me return to many of the places that I’ve already visited. Let me explain:

When I search my photo collection for the keyword “Grand Tetons” Thumbs Plus finds 741 photos. These represent eight or so visits to the park since 1998. I haven’t yet scanned and added my film photos from our earlier visits to the Tetons, but from these 741 there are a few dozen taken at or near Oxbow Bend – from 1998, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009. Here’s a few of these finds:

Oxbow Bend taken in August 1999 amidst a group of evergreens.

Oxbow Bend taken in September 2003 from a slightly different location from the above photo. It’s only a few yards away but it is surrounded by deciduous trees. The foliage has started to turn color.

Oxbow Bend taken in October 2009. At this time of the year the foliage is on full color display. I’m studying this photo to see what changes I would like to make for my next visit to the Tetons.

So you might ask why do I continue to take so many pictures at Oxbow Bend? I have a two-part answer: 1) it’s a gorgeous view of the mountains from this vista; 2) I want to improve the pictures from my previous visits.

Of course this technique of taking pictures again and again and again applies to any subject that you may choose. Whether it’s your first born child, a favorite pet dog, the annual family reunion or a day at the beach you can learn a lot by reviewing your past photos to see what changes you might make before you take the next one. Repetition may be boring, but it’s also the path to perfecting your craft.

Thumbs Plus lets me easily review my snapshots, but of course there are many other ways to review your previous work. A few minutes of studying your earlier exploits can turn your snapshots into gallery quality photos.

Note: We have no connection to the makers of Thumbs Plus. If you’re interested in Thumbs Plus, please go the the Cerious Software website.

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