Keeping track of photos?

[KD5NRH]

Anybody have a system for keeping up with what's what on busy trips? Specifically, I'm looking for something less time-intensive than keeping a journal of every frame shot, but that will avoid the after-vacation session of "this is in...uh...somewhere...looks like it could be San Antonio...maybe one of the missions there."

Currently, I number film rolls that I will dev myself, and try to write down the last filename numerics from each location, but that sometimes gets forgotten, and I haven't found anything that would work for film being sent out other than to take a photo at the start or end of the roll of a notepad with the info written on it.

[ptrd]

I know nicer bodies have a memo recording but I'm guess you and I aren't one of the lucky ones to have one. I don't have that many pictures where I need to do this but what about a voice recorder? Just prelabel whatever and just quickly record a small voice memo to yourself.

[Patti Edens]

How about using a P&S and taking the start roll/end roll shots with the P&S with the same view at the first real shot and last real shot on the film roll. You can shoot street signs and other stuff as you progress through your trip with the P&S and then you will always know where you were chronologically. Hopefully this makes sense.

[jeffkohn]

Taking pictures of signs that would mark a location can be helpful, it's just a matter of remembering to do it. Of course with film there's a cost to this, but still it may be more reliable than taking separate notes.

[yaterag]

If you have a GPS where you can download routes, you can sync up your route with the times on your pics. That is definitely the more advanced route, but it is really cool if you get it to work right.

[XoZe]

I saw in a magazine a gps device that is mounted on the hotshoe that embeds coordinates to the EXIF data of each file. Not sure how much it costs as I didn't look further into it, but it could be pretty usefull when handling a large number of files during travel.

[Tom]

Originally Posted by jeffkohn

Taking pictures of signs that would mark a location can be helpful, it's just a matter of remembering to do it. Of course with film there's a cost to this, but still it may be more reliable than taking separate notes.

I do this all the time. It has helped immensely.

When I shoot sports, I take a picture of the scoreboard at the beginning of each quarter/period/inning with each camera I am shooting with.

[Wil_Bloodworth]

Originally Posted by Thomas Campbell

When I shoot sports, I take a picture of the scoreboard at the beginning of each quarter/period/inning with each camera I am shooting with.

Ditto.

- Wil

[Patti Edens]

Originally Posted by jeffkohn

Taking pictures of signs that would mark a location can be helpful, it's just a matter of remembering to do it. Of course with film there's a cost to this, but still it may be more reliable than taking separate notes.

Good point. Remembering to do it would still be a problem. Cost when shooting film is why I would just use a small pocket sized P&S for the documentation of where I was along the way.

I think a little P&S would benefit not only a film shooter but also a dSLR shooter. I think I'll try this on my next trip.

I am more likely to pull a little P&S out of my pocket or off of the seat next to me and shoot highway signs, airport signs, street signs, the restaurant sign, historical marker signs, etc. than I am to pull out my dSLR and make sure I have the right lens, etc. Then I can just look at the times and dates on the P&S pics to reconstruct my trip. Having GPS coordinates on the P&S pics would be icing on the cake.

[jeffkohn]

Originally Posted by Patti Edens

Good point. Remembering to do it would still be a problem. Cost when shooting film is why I would just use a small pocket sized P&S for the documentation of where I was along the way.

I think a little P&S would benefit not only a film shooter but also a dSLR shooter. I think I'll try this on my next trip.

The only downside to using a separate P&S is that your "marker" shots are not in sequence with your main shots.

GPS is definitely useful too, especially in wilderness areas where I can use the coordinates to figure out the names of creeks, valleys, and other landmarks by looking them up in topo software or google earth.

[StevenGWebb]

Any sort of record keeping is going to require some disclipline and an investment of some sort. We used to call that practice "shooting a slate" date time place and subject was shot on a frame of film. I believe you mentioned film rolls, so GPS is out.

I'm still one to favor shooting markers. The occasional frame of film with important data on it to me, would be worth the cost. The record is permanently part of the negatives and reduces by one the number of things to have to keep up with and increases by one the opportunites for future archival.

Steven

[johnastovall]

Back in the days when film ruled, there were documentary backs which allowed a small note to be put on the film between frames. The Contarex inscription mechanism comes to mind.

Both Canon and Nikon offer voice notes.

"Canon 1 Series cameras and Nikon's flagship single digit D series bodies both offer the ability to capture sound annotation recordings with each image. But what Nikon adds that is lacking on the Canons is a built-in speaker allowing in-the-field playback."

Off course nothing beats a Moleskine notebook with a Monte Blanc fountain pen.

[KD5NRH]

Originally Posted by johnastovall

Both Canon and Nikon offer voice notes.

'bout time; my old Samsung P&S did that years ago.

Off course nothing beats a Moleskine notebook with a Monte Blanc fountain pen.

I've heard some complaints about recent runs of Moleskines with FP ink. At any rate, the Staples version seems to work well with Noodler's Blue-Black and Gruene Cactus. Gotta remember to call Dromgoole's and see about getting some Alamo Sunset shipped up here, though.