Red

I am starting to process the 1700 pictures that are currently on my camera.  I have not downloaded, printed, stored, or deleted any images since I started using my camera on Christmas morning.  My problem is where to begin.  It is not a new problem.  I have had it since the beginning of my photographic endeavors.  Any pictures, slides and negatives from my pre-digital days are in a box or two.  There is no order.  None of the pictures are labeled.  It is only complicated by the advent of digital photography.  

I have no idea how to organize.  And that is not just in the realm of pictures.  I used to have my recipes filed alphabetically.  Green Jello Salad was under  'G'.  Potato Salad under 'P'.  Plum pudding also under 'P'.   Chocolate Chip Cookies--'C'.  Tea Cookies--'T'.  Shortly after I married the STP he reorganized them by categories.  All cookie recipes filed under 'cookies'.  All salads under 'salads'.  Any recipes I owned at the reorganization are still filed accordingly.  Any that I have acquired in the last 28 years are stuffed in a manila folder.  The ones I use most often are near the front or back of the folder, unless I haven't gotten around to replacing them in the folder.  Then it is anyone's guess and more often than not I just call my Mom and ask for the recipe which I scrawl on the back of an envelope.  Obviously this system works for recipes, as no one is starving here. 

My old camera randomly ate files that were on it, so I quickly dumped them onto my computer, which arbitrarily filed them by date taken.  Now that I am beginning anew, I am trying to figure out how to organize my pictures.  Do I want to continue to use dates?  Or should I do events--weddings, vacations.  Or categories--the house, the garden, the mountain, wildlife, wildflowers.  Or maybe I should just use colors.  All red pictures in one file, blue in another.  Hence, most of my 950 Sedona/Grand Canyon pictures will be in the 'RED' file.  (I had 1100 Sedona/GrandCanyon pictures, but I ruthlessly deleted all the ones that were blurry, duplicates, and pictures of lizards that moved even faster that Lassie.)

 I'm certain red signs go here.  Especially red danger signs for people who may not read English.

But what about yellow signs that include the word 'red'? 

Or red rocks that don't really look red in the picture?

The same rocks look much redder at sunset.

But I really think I will need an entire file for sunsets.

And quite possibly a file for wildflowers.  Maybe a folder for just red wildflowers.

For now I have downloaded the 950 pictures in a file labeled sedona/grand canyon on the STP's computer. The STP copied them to a DVD which he labeled SEDONA VACATION 2010.  I'm thinking about deleting them from my camera and from the STP's computer. But not right away.