Trifter

If you shoot film, your in luck. You can simply label the rolls of film and toss them in your bag. Who shoots film now though? We live in digital days and what’s supposed to make our life easier can sometimes be a hassle. Digital cameras rely on memory cards of all shapes and sizes. Buy multiple memory cards! This is crucial for extended traveling because not only will you spend longer amounts away from a computer but you’ll have hundreds or thousands more photos. Buy all memory cards online. Ebay is resource number 1 for good Chinese knock offs. I’ve scored 8 GB SD cards for 20 bucks. Make sure when you buy one to find the memory cards that come with cases and a card reader. This isn’t difficult on ebay, you have thousands of choices.

Label your memory cards and their cases. Use a sharpie, and label them with non specific codes, such as letters or numbers. As you travel, note which card is in your camera and keep a log of picture numbers and develop a method for tagging them. I use the following A-CU/PE#1-593 which means memory card A, in Cusco, Peru photos 1-593. Since your photos are time/date stamped and have a number this will help you when the time to organize your photos comes.

By labeling them on a a piece of a paper with this method, you won’t have to search for hours thinking “Where did I take that photo?” Make sure you don’t loose your reference paper though! I keep 2 copies of mine, one in my journal and one in my bag.

Some cameras now offer geo tagging abilities. These will tag your photos with a gps so when uploaded you can view an interactive map of where you’ve been taking photos. This is especially cool on long trips, allowing others to follow your steps. This is a relatively new technology for cameras and not all come equipped with it. Don’t have geo tagging? No fear!

When your memory cards are full and it’s time to get rid of those photos there are multiple ways to dump them. If you have a Flickr account (which you should, its great) you can upload the photos on a computer in an internet cafe or hostel and post them to Flickr.  Flickr cost $24 for 1 year of unlimited uploads! This is great because you don’t have the hassle of dealing with external hard drives or burned cd’s that can get lost. With Flickr you can download the photos to your computer when you return home. To learn more visit flickr.com

If you don’t have a flickr account, make sure too bring some cd’s or dvd’s with you to burn your photos onto as you travel. A small external hard drive is good if you’re traveling for long periods of time and take thousands of photos, but you run the risk of it getting damaged and loosing all your beautiful work. Many times when I travel, I’ll mail the cd’s and dvd’s back home so that they’re safe for when I return. When you create the disks, make sure to create folders within the cd. Base these folders on your labeling technique within the memory card and always have a memory card reader so you can get the photos onto the computer you’re using.

One last method for transferring the photos is through personal web space or file upload sites. Many sites offer services allowing you to email links to large files which you can then download on another computer. Be careful, as some of these will only last for a week or two, choose wisely. Using your own web space is also a great way to save photos, allowing you to upload to your own web domain and download them at your convenience.

Remember to always keep the photos organized, if you don’t use the system I set in place, develop your own. It’s imperative to keep them organized while traveling, saving you hours of frustration when you return home.