I am back to scanning negatives, editing photos and uploading these images.  It took a while to figure out what protocols I should use when naming an image, assigning keywords, and uploading.  

Back in the 1970s and ‘80s I shot photographs on film and processed the images in the darkroom.  Each roll of film had about 36 images. After I developed the film, the first thing I’d do in the darkroom with the negatives was to make a contact sheet.  A contact sheet is a photograph made in the darkroom by laying film strips six images long atop an 8 x 10 sheet of photo paper, flattening them with a sheet of glass, and exposing the photo paper for all images simultaneously.  After I printed out what photographs I wanted from that roll of film I would put the negatives into an envelope and tape that to the back of the contact sheet.  And throw that all into a box.  

Eventually I put these into three-ring binders.  

About 15 year ago I scanned the negatives - contact sheet by contact sheet - and assigned a number to that contact sheet.  The sheets were in random order, and so then were the numbers.  Many times I gave different sheets the same number.  This time around I’m keeping just one contact sheet per number.  To name each image, I begin with the five-digit number of the contact sheet - 00052, for example.  Then I enter the two-digit frame number of the negative.  They go from 0 to 36 on rolls of film and 1 to 44 on the bulk film.  Sometimes negatives from different rolls of film would be put onto one contact sheet.  When I name the scanned images, I will add a letter to the first five-digit code to keep different negative strips separate.  For instance, 00052b43.  On contact sheet 52, and there are at least three rolls of film represented.  

Only after having scanned 40 contact sheets did I figure out that I can assign key words to the images that would follow the image down the production line.  In times gone by, I had to assign key words at least twice: once in a database and once on the website.  Now the keywords migrate to the website.  Now you have a much better chance of finding something you are seeking.  I hope that the keywords I’ve assigned are useful.  

For some images the lack of keywords demonstrate my faulty memory.  I have forgotten so many names over so many years.  If you see a photo of someone whose name you know but it doesn’t show up with the image, would you please let me know?  

When I’ve uploaded the scanned images to this website, I’ve tried arranging them in chronological order.  My memory is faulty.  If you know that a photo was from a different time, please let me know.  

Between the scanning and the uploading, I edit the images.  Mostly this means that I try to erase flaws, such as dust spots and scratches on the negative.  Some of the negatives are really dirty, meaning that they have a lot of these flaws.  It takes time to erase dust spots.  Sometimes I’m not highly motivated to spend the time it takes to remove all the flaws, particularly when the photograph isn’t interesting to me.  

So far I can scan three images for every two I can clean up.  

I know that in only a few years the computer will be able to identify every person, thing and action in each photo - rendering my keywords superfluous.  It will also be able to clean up the negatives more completely and quickly than I can.  The scanning software came with a program that is supposed to remove dust spots.  I cannot get it to distinguish between dust and a natural feature of the photograph.  All the time I’m spending now naming the images and cleaning them up will be wasted if the technology catches up.

Meanwhile I scan as many images as I can.