Okay, so “Prescott and Elliott” – sounds fancy, right? I stumbled upon this while trying to organize my ridiculously messy digital photo collection. I have, like, years of photos just dumped in folders named “New Folder” and “New Folder (2)”. It was a disaster. I needed a system, and I figured there had to be a better way than what I was doing.
So, I started digging around, looking for some inspiration. I kept seeing these elaborate file-naming conventions, all these complicated systems. Honestly, it made my head spin. I’m not a professional archivist, I just want my vacation photos to be findable!
Then I found this simpler idea, something based around “Prescott and Elliott.” I think, It might have been developed by archivists.
The basic idea is to use descriptive file names, but without going overboard. So, instead of just a date, or worse, “IMG_*,” you actually write out what’s in the photo. Something, I can easy search on my computer. I can find it.
My Prescott and Elliott workflow:
- Step 1: The Initial Dump. First, I moved all my photos from my camera and phone into a temporary folder. Just one big pile, no sorting yet.
- Step 2: Broad Categories. Then I created some main folders. Think, like, “Family,” “Vacations,” “Pets,” that kind of thing. Just broad strokes to start.
- Step 3: The Naming.This is where I tried. Inside each folder, I started renaming files.
I use “YYYYMMDD”, then a short description. For example: “20231026_beach_day_with_*”.
I added the place, with who, event, that I think it’s very important to find picture.
- Step 4: Subfolders (When Needed). For bigger events, like a whole vacation, I made subfolders within the main “Vacations” folder. So, “2023_Hawaii_Trip” would be a folder, and inside that, I’d have the individually named photos.
It’s not perfect, and it’s still a work in progress. I’ve got a LOT of photos to go through. But it’s already a HUGE improvement. I can actually find things now! I typed “beach” into my search bar the other day, and boom, there were all my beach photos, neatly organized. It felt amazing.
The main takeaway for me is that you don’t need a super complicated system. Just being a little bit descriptive goes a long way. And starting is the hardest part! Once you get going, it actually feels pretty good to get things organized. At least, that’s what I’m telling myself as I tackle this mountain of photos…
