Bringing my Lifeblog up to date

I have about 2 GB of digital pictures that pre-date my use of Lifeblog (started around March 2004, right?), going back until February 1998. It’s about 6000 files in about 220 folders.

Of course, it’s hard work. I had labeled most of the folders by date, so I know the approximate date the images were captured. But, that’s about all the info I have. My first camera (an Apple Quick-Take 200, VGA camera) did save some time stamp, but it doesn’t make sense sometimes. I think because the camera didn’t know its GMT-offset, but the computer thinks it does, I end up with a funny time reading. But, I am sure there’s more to it. Anyway, for me, the date in most cases is more important than the exact time.

To make the process more labour intensive, some files have lost their time stamp because they were edited in an application that didn’t keep the time stamp. After every import there are one or two I have to look for and move to the appropriate date, if I can guess it.

So far I haven’t started importing the images captured with my Olympus D490Z (2 megapixels) which might do better with the time stamp. But, I do know that, fortunately, images I import directly from a memory card from a latter day digital camera imports perfectly well. Indeed, a friend gave me about 200 images from a trip we had taken together. Even after he changed the names of the files, the timestamps were intact and they all imported flawlessly. Ufa! So, looking forward, digital camera image import is a breeze.

This leads me to the realization that one of the features I keep begging for, nested file import, might not be the do-all end-all for file import. I am glad I still have to do the folders one by one. I have to deal with corrupt files, missing time stamps, missing extensions (all the images originated on a Mac who handles files with a bit more intelligence) and so on – it’s easier if I do it one folder at a time and keep track of the issue in a spreadsheet. If I imported all the files at one go, then I’d have to sort out a few hundred misplaced images (or more) without any context (which comes from the original folder name, right?).

Go figure.

And the cool thing with Lifeblog 1.5, is that I can then select a batch and add location information to all of them at one go. That is part of the reason I waited for Lifeblog 1.5 before I started importing all my old stuff. Uh, you won’t have to wait long for Lifeblog 1.5.

Tonight I slogged through some folders. I figure, this is an occasional activity. I have all the stuff on a DVD that I always carry with me. When I have the time, I start importing. I expect that a few months from now I will have all my digital images in Lifeblog. After that, I am going to start scanning and importing all the prints. And after that, I am going to digitize all our videos and start importing that. You get the picture (no pun intended).

But, then again, I have my whole life ahead of me, and it’s so great to see the old stuff once more.