Journals and photos

[SGT Rock]

Here is a small conncern that recently re-surfaced for me on the Handbook Thread.

On a 6 month hike, what is your system to remember who that was you took a picture of, or what place or thing you took a picture of months before? Sometimes on a two week hike i have trouble when the pictures come back - what the heck is that picture?

[Kerosene]

Hey, I have problems with this even on a one-week hike!

When I'm being good, I try to record my photos in my journal, either as I take them or at the end of the day when my short-term memory is still somewhat intact. I have a harder time with names, so I might scribble them down as I take the picture.

Someday those digital cameras will come down to a true 3-4 ounces in weight with great battery life, LCD preview, 10x optical zoom and electronic labeling. Until then, a paper, pencil and discipline can work.

[Hammock Hanger]

My first go around was to carry a small notepad anr write a down every pic I took as I took it or at least at the campsite that night. It didn't work real well cuz I'm lazy. I love to take pics but writing down references just seems like too much work. (Strange it worked for others.)

Then I got smart enough to put the date I took the film out of my camera on the roll. This way I at least knew what area I was in and I could reference the pics with my journal and the handbook. Worked pretty well.

This year I actually set the date on my camera (I still can't work all of the VCR! ) With the actual date I can reference pretty well against my journal notes.

There are pictures that the mind sees that the camera doesn't and I have a whole stack of "What the hell was I thinking when I took that" kind of photos.

HH

[PushingDaisies]

I really tried to write down every picture, but like HH I am lazy and would "forget" to write them down. I ended up developing my film while in towns, and then sitting down and writing discriptions for every one. I would use my journal as a refrence. I would write down date, place, people's names (real and trail if I had them both), and also the story behind the picture.

Took alot of time, but well worth it when I got back. Now if I could only find the negitives.

[walkerat99]

Sgt. Rock,

That was a problem for me, since I did not actually see most of my photos for a couple of months, and even then did not label them or try to put them in order. However, I did a little thinking about it before hand. When I purchased a lightweight camera I made sure it had the ability to put the date stamp on the photo. In fact I could put date or time. I would also most always write or mention in my journal at the end of each day, the photos I had taken during the day. Then after my hike was completed it was just a simple matter of reading my journal, looking at my maps and checking the date on the photo. In most cases it was a pretty accurate way of doing it, even then I did mess up a few times and have "no clue" of what the picture is, even though I can be within 10 to 15 miles of where it was taken. I also started using a film service that would make a copy of each photo on the roll and put it on as a record when they were developed. In this manner I could tell if it was the 1st picture of the day, or if it was the last... This also helped in some situations..... Otherwise, just as Kerosene says, the old fashion way of taking the time and keeping a list is the most reliable and surefire way of keeping those photos correct with the captions... Just my 2 cents..... Ed

[Jumpstart]

We had over 250 pictures to sort out when we got home, and here was our system: We originally tried to keep track of all the photos we took, writing down what and where but it really ruined the spontaneity of the picture taking moment, so we abandoned that idea after day one. Every time we mailed home film, we put it a Ziploc bag and labeled it from X to X (ie: from Damasucs Va to Glasgow, VA) when we got home, we put the rolls in order, and sat down with Wingfoot's book (which we had used the whole trail) and went through the book section by section with each roll, matching pictures by location. We also made a point to take pictures of interesting trail signs, so that we could always have a rough idea of where ourr oll of film from from, even if we lost the labeling tag. (for example, take pictures of state crossing signs, any special town related signs, etc...makes it easier). You'll be surprised how much you remember, the only places we had trouble was when we took generic scenery shots with no identify markers, and we managed to figure out where we were by matching our gudiebook and journals to the roll of film.

[SGT Rock]

I like that plan, and it is one I think I can live with.

[Lugnut]

The negative strips are in numerical order. You can get pretty close using that as long as you are sure about at least one of the pictures.
I also sometimes write notes on my map.