What Do You Do with Too Many Pictures?
Hi! My name is Debbie Stock and I am a Stock photographer! Though you may think this is kind of rare or unusual, I know of other photographers with the name “Stock” who also sell stock images or have them in their repertoire. What do stock photographers do to keep themselves organized and images available for use?

If your collection of photographs has gotten out of hand, you are not alone. Many of us never download all the stuff we shoot, much less ever revisit it after we’ve seen it once. If there’s a remote chance that you’ll actually look for a photograph or two, here’s a little tip to help you. When you download photos give the files they dump into names that are meaningful and will help you know if you’re in the right neighborhood.

If you can tie the names of the photo files to physical locations, as well, that may help. Along with download or creation date, you’ll have a much better chance of finding that gem. If you transfer your digital files to another storage drive, unfortunately the initial creation date can be lost on the new files. This is when the previously mentioned filing system helps as you have included dates in the file folder names along with descriptive info. If you actually have time and a decent database, add detail to your photo descriptions so you’ll find the pictures when you do searches.

A word of caution to those who are downloading their photos to free websites and photo galleries–if you do a little research and discover that your images aren’t exportable, you risk losing valuable stuff. Always have back-ups on hard drives in your possession.