Yes That's Right...I DID Actually Fill Up My Hard Drive with Pix
By Yvonne Roberts
16 Jun 2008
I've been feeling the need to reflect upon a recent milestone in my photographic journey. This past week, my husband and I took a road trip down to Cape May, NJ. I came back with 4 GIG worth of raw files off my Nikon D50. The copy process went smoothly. I didn't sit and watch the files copy over to the hard drive as I swapped out SD cards. I didn't really have a clue how close I was to being "full" 'til I started to import my NEF files into my 2008 Lightroom catalog. As is my habit, I have IE up and check for new pix on JPGMag, check my MySpace page, check flickr. I am usually able to process an image or two as the catalog is updating. This time, it hung and choked. I thought, "uh oh...that can't be good." Then I got the dreaded error message about my hard drive being out of room. I honestly do not know how much space was on this hard drive. 250 GIG? 150 GIG It seemed like more than I could ever possibly fill up.
Before the Nikon D50 came into my life, the concept of filling up my hard drive with photos did not exist. I am not sure when I became addicted to photography and when it became ok to fill up a 2GB card with pix of weeds from in back of the building where I work. I was thinking about an excursion I made to Schaefferstown a couple years ago before the D50. They were conducting a "history walk" and I took along my little Olympus with the intention of snapping a few pix. And..that's what I did...I snapped a FEW pix. I did not fill up my 520MB card, I did not shoot each barn and building from every angle. Its weird looking back on it now, because I know I would approach that whole thing completely differently. I may not have the chance to visit those places again...but if I do...I have lots of thoughts regarding pix I have to take. I mean..they were REALLY cool old barns, some restored, some not, some in constant use since they were built, others not so much. I shot my "Schaefferstown Farm Kitty" that day. Maybe that was my turning point, I don't know. The "tif" file took forever to write. I hoped my hand was steady while I shot. When I got that file open in camera raw, I remember being a bit awed. Wow...I shot that. I hoped it wasn't a fluke. I wanted to shoot more such things that looked like something other than a snap shot. I managed to pull off a spiffy shot of my cat Isis improvising a lighting technique by holding my hand over the onboard flash and allowing the red glow of the light between my fingers to illuminate just her eyes. Holy cow! Look at that!
And with each really miraculous lucky accident, my photo-taking escallated. I didn't warm up to the Nikon right away. It was supposed to be the family camera. I was scared of all the settings. I clung to my Olympus and started to squeeze all the functionality out of it that it had. It wasn't an SLR, but it had various modes and priorities, even a macro mode.
Macro mode...that's Darren's fault. I work with a slew of people who are excellent photographers. Darren shoots incredible macros. One day, he brought in some of his pix of mushrooms...taken with his Canon with a special macro lens. WHOA...that is SO COOL. I want to do that!!! Darren encouraged me to look for a "flower icon" on my Olympus..it would probably be key to accessing my macro settings. I sat down with the user manual and started to play. I started shooting pictures of weeds behind the building I work in and I kept shooting. One day last May I felt brave enough to start taking the Nikon to work with me...and started playing with it on a regular basis. There really hasn't been any turning back since then.
My photography is a work in progress. I am completely addicted.
We went to Staples on Saturday. I now have an additional half TB to fill up. Here I go!!!!
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