Computer Help and Support

.... and too much work.

Everything goes into computer folders with names like this:

1975 Earth Day Hunter.

There's 19th century stuff in my photo hoard, copied across three USB backup hard drives and some of it in the anonymous "cloud."

Each folder is a roll of film, or a sequence of my own OCD scanning of heirloom prints and negatives. If I spent any time tagging photos in some software package I'd never finish. My great grandfathers loved cameras as much as I do. My wife's grandparents left us a mess of photos too. Often there is writing on the backs of prints, so I scan that too, following the photo. If I know something that's not obvious, like who someone is, I'll make a handwritten note on a file card and scan that following the print. All the prints, negatives, and cards go into archival envelopes corresponding to each computer file, and then boxes, by year, estimated if that's all I've got.

I let the computer's file manager deal with thumbnails and stuff, Linux Mate Caja and LXDE PCManFM for the most part.

Facial recognition software creeps me out. I hate it when Facebook tags me without my permission. Unfortunately I've got family crazy about Facebook and I'll often see myself tagged.

With my system it's easy enough to find stuff.

My grandma and her sister ran wild in 1920's Hollywood and I've got the photographic evidence. They're both dead so I don't feel obligated to ask before I post old photos of them. But I do try to respect their spirit.



It's pretty easy to see how my star-struck Wild West Army Air Force Grandpa, who'd grown up thinking places like Billings and Cheyenne were big cities, fell in love with my born in San Francisco cosmopolitan grandma.