Project Delete: Update

After just a few days, I have officially deleted over 1,000 photos! And I'm nowhere near done. I am simultaneously proud of myself for finally doing it and ashamed that it is this bad!

While I'm finding some blurry, nonsense photos easy to delete, I'm also struggling a little. One of the things I'm finding the most difficult is deleting any photo of Audrey. They can be blurry, but I see a cute face I want to remember through the blur and I just can't do it.

Struggling with this has reminded me that there's a difference between a well composed, sharply focused photograph that you've created and a snapshot. And while I strive to create beautiful photographs, snapshots are just as important. Sometimes, especially with our children, there just isn't enough time to think and create, you just have to shoot and capture that spur of the moment slice of your life. As your photographic techniques improve, you may get luckier with these snapshots. But the fact of the matter remains: some days you're lucky and some days you're not.

These snapshots don't need to be perfect. And imperfect snapshots shouldn't always be deleted. They will often be a more accurate representation of our memories than a well thought-through photograph. In 10, 20, even 30 years, I will look back on these snapshots and I won't see the blur, but the smile or the silly face or the joy of experiencing something for the first time. And while the beautiful photographs may hang on our wall, the snapshots are our life. They are a reminder of the precious moments that can get buried in the depths of our mind or heart.

Snapshots are not always perfect, but neither are we. And just as our imperfection doesn't make us any less important, neither does it make our snapshots less important.

Project Delete

Hi! My name is Sara and I am a photo hoarder!

Phew! That feels nice to get off my chest! Seriously, I am really bad at deleting photos. I mean, really, REALLY bad! I save anything, like a hoarder, just in case I could possibly use it one day. And while that is a good reason to keep some photos, I also save a lot of junk that is the result of practicing a new technique or multiple shots taken in attempt to achieve something I have in mind. I even save the blurry ones.

My hard drive is filling up fast and slowing my computer down, so it is time to take control of the situation. I have to stop, but I also have to go back about 6 years and rectify the situation there too. So slowly but surely I'm going back through all of my photos and deleting. I set two main criteria to help me along the way.

1. Anything blurry goes! (Unless, of course, it was meant to be blurry.)

2. If it has no clear subject and nothing interesting about it, hit delete! 

It's been hard, but I'm working my way through and I've deleted over 300 photos so far! I think there will still be junk left when I'm done, but at least it's a start.

Do you have criteria for what photos you delete? Do you delete it as soon as you import, or are you a terrible hoarder like me? If you have any tips or criteria for letting go, please share! I need all the help I can get!