This is The Digital Story Podcast #930, Jan. 16, 2024. Today's theme is "Looking Back and More, Now 2024." I'm Derrick Story.

Opening Monologue


Every January I close out my personal photo library from the previous year and start fresh with an empty catalog. Not only is this a practical endeavor, it's also an opportunity to acknowledge the highlights of the previous year. Today, I share the benefits of this annual exercise. I hope you enjoy the show.



Digital Photography Podcast 930






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Looking Back and More, Now 2024






Despite my trials and tribulations in the past with Apple's Aperture, I still create annual libraries and store the neatly bundled catalogs in my multi-level archival system.



Why? It's just the way my brain works. I measure my life's journey signpost by signpost, year by year. Plus, I've discovered some additional benefits to this practice, a few of which I'm going to share today.


The Technical Part


By way of review, I maintain two personal libraries. The first, Photos, is totally automatic. I take a picture with my iPhone, it's added to my Photos library, backed up in iCloud, and that's that.



But I also have a Capture One Catalog. Pictures from my OM-1, X100V, and Nikon Zf are stored and edited here. Compared to the iPhone catalog, these images are more measured, captured in RAW, edited with C1P's excellent adjustment tools, and organized using its catalog tools.



Often, there is some topic duplication between the catalogs. And this is a good thing. Let's take our workshop in Sedona, AZ for example. My iPhone pictures go directly into Photos, while the images from the OM-1 are stored in Capture One Pro.



If I want to locate a shoot from years past, I can rely on the A.I. object recognition tools in Photos to help me remember the month and year. Who knows, I might even have an image there that suits my needs.



But if I want the more "serious" shots, I know exactly which Capture One Catalog to open. It saves me a tremendous amount of time. And it allows me to rotate off my laptop drive those big image libraries from previous years.


The Fun Part


So the technical part is all good and well. Every one of us has our own system for managing and retrieving pictures. But I've discovered an added benefit too. One that I hadn't anticipated.



It's easy to forget how much cool stuff happens in just a single year. Sure, we may still be basking in the glow of an event from last week, or even last month. But a couple of seasons ago. Those can get buried beneath the rigors of day-to-day life.



This short stroll down memory lane reminds me that 2023 was a better year than I realized. And it helps me appreciate the good fortune of my life. Want to join me for a quick trip?


[review highlights from my 2023 catalog.]


As a result of this exercise, I have a much more complete memory of my past year. Sure it had its challenges. There's a substantial 8-week lull when I was laid up with my recovery from the total joint replacement in my hip. But I still managed to take pictures around the house to maintain my sanity.


We are so busy, so distracted, and at times, so frustrated with daily life. It's easy to lose perspective. But looking back on my past year in pictures adds balance to my view of 2023. And it helps me appreciate the good moments in life all the more.



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You can read the entire article on FStoppers.com


If you're like me, you have a whole bunch of small photography bits--cables, connectors, SD cards, batteries, and more--in your camera bag. If you were to use a different bag, you'd have to take all of them out and transfer them over. That's how I lived for the first couple of years of my career, and it was awful.


I would always be triple- and quadruple-checking to make sure