So I recently went to Bueno Aires and Antarctica and I took a total of 6700 pictures. My first step to get to a managable number of pictures before I start editing, is to get rid of all of the bad/unuseable pictures (pictures of my feet, of the sky, trying something new that didn't work out, etc.). So that got it down to 6500 pictures. Then I start flagging the ones that I really liked and those that had potential but would need a lot of editing and that got the number down to 850. I then started editing the pictures as needed and there would be some that, for my level of editing with Lightroom, just didn't workout or pictures that were very similar to other pictures, and the bottom line is that I got the number down to 650 pictures that I uploaded to Shutterfly. Then my wife got involved to start putting them into a photo book and the final number of pictures that made it was 550 pictures.

So the actual question is, what number of pictures would you keep on your hard drive: all of them (6500), just the ones that you edited (850), or just the ones you uploaded?

We all have different levels of hoarding pictures that we have taken and I am curious what level you are. Up to this point, I have kept them all, but that is getting to be a lot of pictures (for me) and maybe it's time to do some house cleaning.

That sounds like a great vacation. I can see that every shot you took documented something that caught your attention. If an image didn't have immediate recognition when you returned, there's a good chance that there will be a discussion somewhere down the line when the subject will come up as a question in conversation. It's also possible if you have an inquisitive mind that you may have a question when reviewing an image that can be answered by looking at the images just before or just after. So from my perspective, I'd suggest keeping them all, even if you do so via some sort of offline method.

Now let me ask you this question...was this a three week vacation? If so, you averaged about 325 pictures per day. If you were out and about for ten and a half hours per day, that means you snapped an image just about every two minutes all day long. For me, that's a lot of snapping.

And by the way...don't discard those experiments that didn't work. If you really want to learn that new technique, you need to study and understand what went wrong. That's the only way you can figure out how to reliably make things go right next time. I'd create a folder with images that I captured while learning. Eventually when you have everything figured out, you can decide whether to delete the whole folder.

Having said all this, I do not take this many images when I go on vacation. I am on vacation to see, experience, and maybe learn a little bit. I want to remember having been to a place or to an event. That can't be accomplished while concentrating on a camera or watching everything through a viewfinder, whether it's optical or electronic. For me, 100 shots a day represents pretty intense shooting. A year ago I attended a railroad history convention in Kansas City. We did two days of extensive touring with many stops for exploration, including a half-day train ride. I took a total of 255 carefully selected exposures and kept 250 of them. A few of those were shot through bus windows and include reflections. They are keepers, too, because they record unique experiences that are unlikely ever to be duplicated, like underneath a large crane unloading containers from railcars. Another is from the very heart of the BNSF Railway's Argentine Yard. The reflections don't matter. They are actually part of the experience. There are some "artistic" exposures also, like the decorated ceilings in Kansas City Union Passenger Terminal or a parallel track speeding by from the window of the Southwest Chief.

I'm not telling you all this claiming to be a great photographer. Some of what I kept would be of little or no interest to almost anyone else. But it's of interest to me. And I'm pretty proud of it and will look at it again down the road.