Mindfullness photography: why do we take 1.000.000 pictures?

Today was the day to work the Sinterklaas pictures out. 

I had 136 images...

First things first: why do we take so many pictures? Well, it's easy one might say... it's digital, you don't pay for paper, and you don't pay for developing.

Again: why do we take so many pictures?

I know why do I take them: I love pictures. I like to look at them every now and then. I enjoy remembering the moments. I enjoy the composition, the color, the smoothness of an image... but one thing I hate is to go over 1.000.000 pictures to see one that really catch the moment! I don't like it!

If I am going to review my pictures at a relaxed moment, I only want to see what is really important! And not 10 shots of my child on the same situation/position.

And it brings me to the first step of the workflow every single human need to go through after we are ready with shooting: downloading and selecting the images.

You have downloaded your pictures right? Nice! Now you have 136 pictures on your disk. At this time you must be brave: 

• Separate the pictures on virtual groups. If you took a series of 5 pictures of your nephew singing for Sint, get only one: the best! Throw away the others quickly! It will give you a better feeling.
• If a picture is not meaningful to describe a moment and its also unsharp or overexposed, throw it away immediately.
• BUT if a picture is not technically correct and it has a meaning keep it by all means! See the picture on this post.. there is an horrible flash behind grandpa and a glass of wine in the foreground.. but grandpa's face with the magazines and the two boys are worth the entire picture, so pick it, even with that annoying flash behind and the glass in the front. Its important to you!

After this first classification work, you will have a small collection to work with. Believe-me it will bring you lots of advantages! You will have a nice set to look at on the future and your hard disk won't be so clogged. 

And most important of all:

You will be exercising mindfullness with your pictures: enjoy every single image, take it with care, observe and love it! They are colorful (or black and white) moments of your life and they do deserve your 100% full attention. Now and in the future!