This question is to "Hogs" that aren't professional and who
don't take pictures to earn a living. I have heard of amateur
photographers who shoot pictures of birds, landscapes,
buildings, seascapes, flowers etc, etc, etc, in the tens of thousands. I can understand shooting pictures of vacations, children, pets etc, etc, but what do you do with your pictures?

I started taking pictures sixty years ago. I had a modest Argus c3 and I developed my own black and white film and enlarged and printed my
pictures. These pictures were put into albums. Over the years I
accumulated thirty six albums. The pictures were various sizes, 3x5 up
to 5x7. I estimate I have over ten thousand pictures in hard cover
albums. In the 1960's I started taking colored prints and had them
processed professionally. I probably have three to five thousand
dollars invested in hard cover albums and colored picture processing.
I haven't looked at these pictures in over ten years. Close to twenty
years ago I went digital. I store my pictures in my computer in
separate categories. I have about seven thousand pictures in my computer now.
They are so much easier to view and use in projects and they haven't
cost me anything. What a difference digital makes. I would like to
hear how you "Hogs" store and use your pictures.

This question is to "Hogs" that aren't professional and who
don't take pictures to earn a living. I have heard of amateur
photographers who shoot pictures of birds, landscapes,
buildings, seascapes, flowers etc, etc, etc, in the tens of thousands. I can understand shooting pictures of vacations, children, pets etc, etc, but what do you do with your pictures?

I started taking pictures sixty years ago. I had a modest Argus c3 and I developed my own black and white film and enlarged and printed my
pictures. These pictures were put into albums. Over the years I
accumulated thirty six albums. The pictures were various sizes, 3x5 up
to 5x7. I estimate I have over ten thousand pictures in hard cover
albums. In the 1960's I started taking colored prints and had them
processed professionally. I probably have three to five thousand
dollars invested in hard cover albums and colored picture processing.
I haven't looked at these pictures in over ten years. Close to twenty
years ago I went digital. I store my pictures in my computer in
separate categories. I have about seven thousand pictures in my computer now.
They are so much easier to view and use in projects and they haven't
cost me anything. What a difference digital makes. I would like to
hear how you "Hogs" store and use your pictures.

That is a good question and one I grapple with--but not too much. I take pictures of my trips--motorcycle, sailboat and other and I write stories about the trips. I then insert pictures from the trip to illustrate interesting things and then I send the stories to a growing list of friends. It tends to stimulate conversations that I wouldn't have otherwise. I've done over 50 stories since I retired 11 years ago and am lucky that most of my readers are still with me.

I also organize my prints so that I can go back and review past events or people I know. I keep interested because I keep trying to improve the quality of my photography--both technical and composition.

This question is to "Hogs" that aren't professional and who
don't take pictures to earn a living. I have heard of amateur
photographers who shoot pictures of birds, landscapes,
buildings, seascapes, flowers etc, etc, etc, in the tens of thousands. I can understand shooting pictures of vacations, children, pets etc, etc, but what do you do with your pictures?

I started taking pictures sixty years ago. I had a modest Argus c3 and I developed my own black and white film and enlarged and printed my
pictures. These pictures were put into albums. Over the years I
accumulated thirty six albums. The pictures were various sizes, 3x5 up
to 5x7. I estimate I have over ten thousand pictures in hard cover
albums. In the 1960's I started taking colored prints and had them
processed professionally. I probably have three to five thousand
dollars invested in hard cover albums and colored picture processing.
I haven't looked at these pictures in over ten years. Close to twenty
years ago I went digital. I store my pictures in my computer in
separate categories. I have about seven thousand pictures in my computer now.
They are so much easier to view and use in projects and they haven't
cost me anything. What a difference digital makes. I would like to
hear how you "Hogs" store and use your pictures.

I'm not into scrap booking or even printing them and making albums. At this point in time, I'm one of the ones with literally thousands of photos.

In iPhoto, I have created albums for each occasion, vacation, or event that I have taken photos, and I have them stored in their album. I have also set up an album for each of my grandchildren, and place photos of them in their respective album, regardless of when it was taken. So each grandchild's album is cumulative from when I began.

After several years, I have downloaded many of the older albums to external hard drives in order to make room for newer events.

However, since iPhoto has been phased out, and Apple's Photo program is very limited in what it can do, I am in a quandary. I am now using Lightroom, and I find that the ability to create, and manage albums is not as easy. It is also not easy to export all of the pictures back into Apple's Photo program, just to set up albums for them, therefore doubling the space needed on my computer. It's very frustrating. I'll be anxious to see how others have managed their photos. :?