How to combat the quarantine blues with photography
posted Friday, March 20, 2020 at 11:45 AM EDT
Photography can be a very cathartic pursuit, bringing peace of mind and much needed fresh air as well, especially to those of us with desk jobs. But you all already know that, and you don't need me to tell you the obvious, especially these days. And hopefully, for those of you who are still allowed to go outside and who can do so safely, you're out there shooting and using the free time to your advantage!
But for those of us who can't get outside just now or who can't travel at the moment during this current world crisis, an idea occurred to me this morning that I thought I'd share with you.
For us enthusiast photographers, one great way to use free time indoors is to go through your archives! I often wish I had a day or two to go through my back-catalogues and see if there's anything I may have missed... because there almost always is. It could be something I'd just overlooked due to lack of time, or something that may not have meant something to me back then, but that does now for whatever reason.
And so, during my early-morning coffee, I started doing just that, and it was quite enjoyable from the very start.
My daughter's first real snow.... and I'd forgotten I even had a shot of her seeing it for the first time.
Of course, shortly after engaging in this pursuit that otherwise would have seemed like an unwise use of free time during a normally busy week, it occurred to me that some of these images from the past might brighten the day of some other family members too. So of course I immediately began sharing them as well, which only tripled the enjoyment factor.
Brightening someone else's day is a great way to brighten our own!
First lost tooth.... also completely forgot that I'd taken this shot one day
One of my canine children before I had human kids. She loved the beach but was afraid of storms,
so we weren't likely out here much longer that day.
"Ugh... I don't know why my dad makes me pose for so many pictures out here while it's thundering."
Organize your photos, and save yourself time later
I am no longer embarrassed to admit that it took me a very (very) long time to become an organized person. Artists by nature, which photographers certainly are, generally are not known for organizational skills, and I was definitely lacking there. But I started working on it in my 30s and by my 40s I'd gotten pretty good at it.
When I go through photos, even if I don't have time to edit them right away, I try and copy good ones to a folder that's labelled something like "edit" so that I can then use free time later to take a look. I say "copy them" instead of "move them" because I really do like to keep the originals, and the RAW files, whenever I can. You just never know when you might want to start all over again on an edit.
"But..... Grandma gave it to me...."
Cruise ship excitement.... way before the days of world viruses
Another idea that flows right along with this one is to hold a family photo contest... from their own archives! Have everyone dig through all their photos, pick their best however many, and then have some kind of clever judging system and then award something cool to the winner.
King or Queen of the house for a day, perhaps?
I have no memory of what's going on here nor why... I only know my son will likely hang this photo proudly on his college dorm room wall someday....
When I came up with the idea for this article, I thought: "If this doesn't cheer me up, then I can't send it to readers..." Well, I am happy to report that even with the alarming state of the world right now... digging through older images I may have never seen again, and even sharing a few with extended family as I found them, was more than worth the time. And right now, many of you may have too much indoor time on your hands anyway.
So dive into your archives and see what's there!
And don't forget, there's no "date limit" on our esteemed Photo of the Day contest, and so if you happen upon what you believe to be a really superb image, even an older one, it's free to enter our daily contest with it! And for tips on how to succeed in getting your images selected, please see this article which will point you in the right direction.
Cool rocks surfaced by the tide at sunrise. I had the E-M10 II for a Field Test, and the 7-14mm f/4 lens. An enjoyable beach walk with my daughter in 2015 that I'd long since forgotten about until today.
Good luck, everyone. Stay safe, help each other out, and we'll make it through together.
Happy archive hunting,
- Your friends at Imaging Resource
PS: If you're really missing the great outdoors and need a 10-minute escape from being cooped up, check out our video "How the Olympus TG-5 Sees Summer" -- it's from Spring 2019, but that camera has basically the same imaging pipeline as the TG-6, so it's still the current best-of-the-best for your rugged waterproof summer shooting needs. The video takes you to the ocean and the lake and the mountains and then some... a great escape from the indoors.
One of my canine children before I had human kids. She loved the beach but was afraid of storms,
so we weren't likely out here much longer that day.
"Ugh... I don't know why my dad makes me pose for so many pictures out here while it's thundering."