Revisiting old photography files
(click on images to view them full size)
Why revisit old photography files?
I find that when I do a photoshoot I tend to process the images within a few days - sometimes even right away, but I’ve found that recently I’ve moved away from doing this in order to gain some perspective (ok full confession - I was forced to do this recently when I forgot my card reader when travelling and so I couldn’t download images until I got home, but it was a good learning for me).
I’m thinking that this is a good thing to do though because if I have an exciting shoot and either capture some bird or wildlife or scene that I didn’t expect or the light or conditions are amazing - I can be too emotionally tied to the images and not able to really assess them or process them effectively.
The big drama shot of a male lion chasing away opportunistic predators from the kill site. (EXIF data f14, 1/1250s, 400mm, ISO4500)
Giving myself a couple of days of space seems to make a lot of difference in how I view the images - I see them in terms of energy flow, composition and conveying emotion rather than being caught up in my excitement or experience. In this way going back and revisiting old photos a few months or even years later has a lot of merit because I have found images that didn’t do anything for me at the time which I now see potential - either I’m seeing something that I didn’t see before, or I now have new tools to edit them and bring out something that I tried to capture.
I also find that sometimes in the initial excitement of a big photoshoot (like a trip), there can be so many images that I get a bit overwhelmed and miss the more subtle shots due to the big drama/hero shots like this one of a male lion chasing off a vulture from a kill site.
Revisiting Kenya
Kory and I did a big trip to Kenya in November 2023 and it was a wonderful trip that exceeded our expectations. It was the first trip that we’d done post my retirement and somehow it felt more relaxed and we felt more connected than past trips. We also had zero expectations for what we would see - something that I think surprised our guide Michael a little bit - in a good way that is. He has had the experience of having guests come with a list of animals they must see or photographs that they must get in order to make the trip successful - this puts a lot of pressure on him and also makes the trip more of a checklist than an experience.
Jackal pup sitting beside a culvert pipe ready to retreat at the first sign of danger. (EXIF data f6.3, 240mm, 1/1600s, ISO800, -1.0EV)
We had so much fun with our guides as we started each day with a gratitude prayer from Kory - and we were rarely disappointed with our sightings. So much so that it became somewhat overwhelming - oh another leopard or cheetah or lion!
I wrote a blog on our trip to Kenya and you can have a read here. I also put together some photo galleries of images we took and you can see them here.
It seemed to make sense for me to go back and revisit the images I took in Kenya to see if there were ones that I overlooked the first few times through and I found a charming series of jackal images just waiting for me to come and find them.
During one of our drives we found an adorable jackal pup sitting beside the road and as soon as we drove close he disappeared into the culvert pipe. As we scanned the horizon we were able to see his parents within eyesight - likely returning from a hunt. The pup was safe in his secure site when he thought there was some danger nearby.
His expression was a mixture of curiosity and wariness - he was already growing up to understand the need for cautiousness in his world.
How I review images
When I went through the files this time I was struck by the expression on this pup’s face and as I dug around for more images I found some with a better angle that really showcased his expression. The pup was within 10’ of our vehicle, so it was difficult to get an angle where we weren’t shooting down on him.
I’ll back up a bit here and talk about my photography workflow so that it makes a bit more sense how I go back and review old images. When I download images I put them in my filing system which is a pretty straightforward file folder system starting with a parent folder for the year, then month and then date with a title (Kenya Trip in this case). Within each folder are the images for that date and I first go through and review images for a quick go/no go sort (i.e., those that are totally out of focus or I’ve cut off the animal or bird as it moved) and these images are deleted.
Then I go through and keyword my images - this takes some time, but it is totally worth it - I use keywords such as Africa, Kenya, safari, animal, amboselli, jackal, pup, morning etc. to describe this image. That way at a later time I can go back and search by keyword and come up with all images with a jackal in them for example - which is what I did once I started feeling keen to revisit my jackal images.
Jackal pup curiously looking up at us. (EXIF data f6.3, 600mm, 1/2000s, ISO800, -1 EV)
My next step is to go through and flag any images that excite me and I want to edit - this is usually about 10 - 20% of the images in the folder. Then I go and do the edits and out of the 10-20% I usually actually edit about 10 - 20 images total - as this last review helps me narrow down which ones I really want to edit. Once I’ve edited the image I colour flag it so I know it’s been edited and put it in a collection (a grouping of images that are related somehow - I have a 2024 bird collection, a snowy owl collection etc.).
I used to do detailed rankings (1 - 5 star rankings) of images, but it took so much time and to be honest I find my go - no go approach more effective.
Expanding the search
Once I found this series of jackal pup images, I decided to search for other jackal images to see if I could pull together a series or body of work. I simply did a keyword search for “Jackal” and came up with over 50 images from the over 2 weeks of safari game drives (note that there are over 20,000 images in our Kenya trip archive so having keywords makes it so easy to find images instead of going through each folder). From this search I found several that were related to the image of the lion guarding his kill at the top of this post.
The lions had brought down a water buffalo (likely the night before we found the kill site) and after gorging themselves (there was one male lion and 3 females) they were all napping in the late afternoon sun. Now once a big kill has been made and the lions are initially replete - opportunistic scavengers start to show up to the party looking for spoils. There were vultures and jackals and hyenas to name a few and it was fascinating to watch their strategies. The hyenas were back a ways from the kill site - likely waiting for the lions to abandon the kill as the hyenas are larger animals and built for endurance rather than speed and agility - they tend to wear down their prey with long distance running before going in for the kill. Jackals on the other hand are small wiry animals and able to sneak in and grab a bite and run before the lions even noticed them. Having the vultures act as a distraction also helped the jackals’ success rate.
I found this image of an adult jackal with a vulture in the background getting ready to come in to snatch another bite from the kill. It was getting late in the afternoon and the sun was low in the sky. The jackal is outlined with the golden light (called rim lighting) where the sun is behind and to the left side of the jackal. I had gone with a shallower depth of field for this image so the vulture is out of focus - to really focus attention on the jackal.
I really like the way the athletic build of the jackal is highlighted and his focused expression looking for that opportune moment to dart in and grab another piece of the spoils.
Adult jackal coming in to scavenge from a lion’s kill site. (EXIF data f14, 1/1250s, 400mm, ISO4000).
The benefits of revisiting old photoshoots
One of the key benefits that I’ve found from revisiting old photoshoots is that I often find images that are of interest to me now either due to a change in my perspective or editing skills. This allows me to enjoy and change up old photos in new ways as my current skillset and resources expands.
A second benefit of reviewing old files is that I get to relive the wonderful memories of that photoshoot or in this case trip. Kory and I have decided to head to Africa again in 2026, but this time we’ll be going at a different time of year and to Zambia rather than Kenya. We’ll be travelling with Michael from WildEye again as we had such a good time with him as our guide. I’m wondering if I’ll be adding to my jackal collection on the next trip.
Do you revisit old creative haunts such as writings, artwork or photographs? If so I’d love to hear about it in the comments below or reach out to me directly by clicking on the Connect With Me button.
Jackal and lioness in their delicate proximity dance. (EXIF data f8, 1/1250s, 400mm, ISO320).
I hope you’ll come back soon, share a cuppa, relax and enjoy more of my musings.
