November 26, 2024—I discovered Declutter Your Photo Life while preparing to assemble a family photo archive. Written by Adam Pratt, a former Adobe employee who runs a photo digitization business, the 200-page book is a good starting point for anyone thinking of building a photo archive.
Strengths…
Photo Life includes step-by-step instructions for gathering, preserving, organizing, sharing and maintaining a photo archive. The book covers common media formats—like 35mm film, JPEGs and MP4 video—as well as old ones, like APS film and glass-plate negatives.
The book shines when the author shares the wisdom he’s accumulated processing clients’ images. Mr. Pratt’s workflow saved me a lot of time and headaches. His tips for dating and naming images, as well as his emphasis on consistency, were also helpful.
Photo Life also includes tools to help you estimate how much time and effort is involved in scanning, processing and organizing large numbers of files. The book also explains the different approaches to, and importance of using, metadata.
… and quibble or two
Full disclosure: I’m a long-term user (and supporter) of open source software. Mr. Pratt is a Mac user who recommends his former employer’s products, including Lightroom, and converting images to Adobe’s DNG format. These are valid suggestions, though I doubt Nikon’s NEF standard will disappear anytime soon. There are also commercial alternatives to Lightroom that don’t require a monthly subscription. And open source software, like darktable, gets better and better.
As its title suggests, the book concentrates on photos. But documents, like newspaper clippings, ticket stubs and correspondence, can add context to the photos in an archive.
Despite these minor criticisms, I found Photo Life useful. Read this book, especially the parts about getting organized, before you start scanning.
Declutter Your Photo Life, published by Rocky Nook (2022).
ISBN: 978-1-68198-875-7
Christopher Dillon is a Hong Kong–based writer, photographer and entrepreneur.
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