Lightroom Nostalgia
A few weeks ago I finally decided it was time to take on archiving and keywording my image catalog. I recently completed the first of several monumental tasks: a review of every single image I have on file in any format – film, raw, or processed. It was very labor intensive and kept me up long hours into the night, but I expected as much. What I didn’t expect was the emotional journey into the past and reliving so many moments of awe and wonder.
Reviewing page after page, image after image, I could remember places, experiences, smells, feelings, pleasures, and fears. Not all would qualify as great images, but the memories they triggered were vibrant and vivid.
I have been to some amazing places and seen some amazing things. Not for the first time I realized how fortunate I’ve been, and how fortunate we all are to have this immense beauty available to us and the capacity to draw strength and inspiration from it, if we only choose. I can’t imagine a life worth living without it.
Category: Thoughts and Musings
I make sure I browse through my image collection for that very same reason: relive those experiences…while nostalgia does kick in at times, more often than not I come out more energised out of it (that said my time could be better invested cataloging and keywording my shots
)
Guy,
I know how tedious all that keywording can be but at least you get to relive those experiences as you go. I know I often just sit here and watch my screensaver of images and remember great experiences. We are truly fortunate to do what we do.
Drew
Couldn’t agree more Guy. It still amazes me that so many go through their lives without finding a passion to dive into. Our experiences (unlike our prints & images) can never be completely assigned a value – other than priceless.
You are so right Guy! I am in the process of doing the same thing: reorganizing and keywording. The memories are priceless and re-afirms why I do what I do.
I couldn’t agree more that we are so lucky to have traveled some beautiful places for the sake of photography. Carol
Hello Guy.
How nice to read your blog about this particular experience.
Know what you mean.
This is as much part of photography as the other, more directly related experiences within photography.
You said it well, when you described it as an “emotional journey into the past”. It truly is a unique experience for photographers.
To be honest, I think the journeys of a landscape or nature photographer might be one of the most rewarding.
Human beauty, fashion, architecture, cars etc. etc. are all governed by the change within the people who are both in front of and behind the camera.
While natures ways are more than one and it can be a heavy task to try to understand the underlying forces and how they interact.
We can only be there to witness it.
Natures magic, mysteries and the surprises, moments that we cannot control or master.
These elements, I am sure, makes the unforgettable even more unforgettable when it happens.
I should stop writing now while I can
You really triggered some thoughts in my head, you see.
What`s also a part of the reward is when we`re looking back to see the futile attempts of various techniques, that we today take as a matter-of-course.
Thanks for the thought provoking blog post, Guy.
I enjoyed it.
Best wishes
Seung Kye
Every now and then I also go through my archive of images; all stored on a back up drive with images from 2006. It is nice to view them and think about the great time you had while taking the photos.
I”m thankful for living in an area where beauty surrounds me and easy to get too-sometimes.
Great post Guy and beautifully lit image
Thanks for reminding us of the beauty of photography and the power it has to conjure up emotions of where we’ve been, what we’ve experienced, and how lucky we truly are. It so easy to get caught up with everything “else”…thanks for the beautiful image.