Anyone else suffer from Backlog denial?

K_user

I’m sitting looking at one of my external Hard-drives and the number of unprocessed photographs on it. Every time I try to tackle it I find myself getting distracted.

Last week I sat down to take a look at some of the pictures from last January and ended up compiling a list of pictures of my eldest son that I wouldn’t mind putting in book format.

I’ve spotted pictures that I think would look great in B&W, maybe with a little colour popping, and then spent an hour looking at other peoples work on the internet.

I’ve just loaded 88 more RAW shots and I truly wonder will I ever get around to working on them?

For the most part if something strikes me right off, or if I’m working on a particular project, I’ll do the processing straight away. If not, it goes on the long finger.

I’m hoping to get some stuff printed early next year to go on the wall, but am conflicted whether I should wait until I process some more, or just to go with what I’ve done already.

I feel a new years resolution coming on…

sineadw

Completely. I thought switching back to film for a bit would make it better as I don't shoot as much, but now I have a whole shelf of films that keep looking at me accusingly every time I pass them. With their beady little eyes.. Hoping to get in to the darkroom 1st week in January though.

I think you just have to DO it - if you think about it too much you won't know where to start. There are about 70% of my images though (and that's being kind) that are either muck or too similar to each other to warrant processing anyway.

Yv

Definitely! One thing I've been meaning to do for about 3 years is organise all my old negatives & get them archived on a hard drive. Haven't done anything about it yet I find myself saying things like, "Oh, well I could do with a new drive, so there's no point starting yet until I've gotten one...". The only person I make excuses to in my life at the minute is me, for my own laziness!

dazftw

Just nearly finished doing mine now went from over 10k down to 5500.. oh sweet jesus! I know im going to organise them straight away from now! Such a pain.

oshead

I've just finished processing over 800 images from about 8000 that I took of my daughter from this year. It's for a 2009 year book that i'll get printed in the new year. I wouldn't have attempted to do this had I not got the whole PP'ing of it automated. It still took loads of hours and I havn't started to design the book yet. I guess i'll leave that to the new year.

Simplicius

@ OP : Thanks for cheering me up to no end .. I was feeling a bit guilty and down on myself because I have 6 rolls of 120 film to develop : It seem my backlog blues are insubstantial .. in comparison,

suddenly the silent scream ( ala Munch) that unprocessed film makes everytime you pass it by does not seem so loud ..... thanks again in celebration, I think i'll go find a warm pub seat for the munster match ....

Fenster

I cleansed my backlog with fire.

CamperMan

40,000 + photos on the external drive, I keep meaning to organise the photos into some sort of order... "people", "cars", "landscapes", "buildings" etc... but to date... I have not got round to doing it... all I keep doing is adding more photos each day..

JackKelly

I've just gone through all my photos from the last 3 or 4 years properly for the first time.
I found that the main reason I had never done it was because I hadn't got a workflow (hate that word!), I was just using Photoshop on each photo individually. This was just too time consuming and messy. I downloaded Lightroom and the difference is unreal, it's just so much easier to browse edit and save files. Furthermore, you can export the photos directly to Flickr etc. so everything is in one place

I also got a photoblog together to motivate myself to go through everything and find the good shots. Going to organise my Flickr account next. With all the backlog cleared out, you can concentrate on what your doing at the moment.

ThOnda

K_user wrote: »

...I’ve just loaded 88 more RAW shot...

Ha, that is only checking whether the camera is set correctly

Most of the time I jump on the folder because I want to process something from that shoot / event. I don't force it. Or wait to be forced.

That reminds me I wanted to buy another HDD...

K_user

Simplicius wrote: »

@ OP : Thanks for cheering me up to no end .. I was feeling a bit guilty and down on myself because I have 6 rolls of 120 film to develop : It seem my backlog blues are insubstantial .. in comparison,

suddenly the silent scream ( ala Munch) that unprocessed film makes everytime you pass it by does not seem so loud ..... thanks again in celebration, I think i'll go find a warm pub seat for the munster match ....

"Ah you'll get yours some day, mark my words!" :mad:

K_user

Fenster wrote: »

I cleansed my backlog with fire.

Extreme - one way to get around the problem - but I have enough of a problem trying to throw away bad, unfocused, badly composed photos, never mind getting rid of the good ones!

K_user

Glad to hear others are making in-roads to their backlogs. Congrats to ye!

I reckon the best way to get this sorted is to start moaning in front of the wife. She'll get annoyed at me and start asking why I need all this bl**dy equipment if I'm not doing anything with it. Which in turn will motivate me to getting it done to prove her wrong...

Anyone see a downside to this plan? :P