File Management:

I was wondering what to write about in this update, when it occured to me that many of you may just be starting out on your photography journey wondering how when you become the star photographer you are destined to be; You handle all the files and folders you accumulate, how you separate your family and friends images from those of your increasing list of professional and semi-professional clients, and how you generally keep sane!

After all every credible photographer gives the most important piece of advice anyone can give…..Keep shooting, just keep shooting etc, etc. which means, lots more files.

Next question you are probably asking is who the hell is this guy to give me advice? Well let me answer that by saying there is a world famous adage that that you are only good at something if you do it all the time!

I have spent years trying every permutation of listing and file naming you can think of, creatively trying out new stuff thinking I was going to one day come across the next big thing that would change the way photographers work and improve their workflow. Let me now save you all a world full of heartache, exhaustion and wasted time! It goes like this:

Folder: Master images

Inside: Folder for each year.

For each shoot when you import the raw file, create a folder with the following hierarchy,

2014.07.20 John and Jennifer’s Wedding

What you do within that folder then will depend on your workflow, I immediately back up the original files to an external hard drive where they are left untouched. Within the above date folder will be folders for processed images and flattened pegs. Then clients pics and album selection. 

For you it might be different, and I know that there is never only one way. BUT, in my humble and LENGTHY experiment into the world of file management, if you deviate far from the above, you are pretty much stuffed!

Have a wonderful week!

KjC