You are all so nice to be worried and I appreciate all the helpful suggestions about my lost pictures. I should have been more clear in telling you I do have all the pictures on the old laptop backed up on an external drive. I just never deleted the files on the laptop. I have a hard time deleting anything.

This is the way my birdfeeder looks when I’m shooting through the window, there are often reflections that bisect the feeder, but this was my first sighting of what I thought was a juvenile rose-breasted grosbeak. They love safflower seeds. Notice there are none on the feeder.
I also have most of the pictures over here on the new laptop too. So really, there was no reason not to delete a boatload of stuff off the old laptop to make room for the few pictures I wanted to find.
So I did.

I put some safflower seed out. And I waited. The cardinal was very pleased, it’s one of his favorites too.
I found most of what I remembered and downloaded those to the old laptop, then looked at them over there and emailed myself a few of them which I then downloaded to my new laptop.
Seems convaluted but it sort of worked. The hardest part was trying to find the photos I remembered from a couple weeks ago looking at little thumbnail images. But I got most of it.
I think.
I wonder why I have such a hard items deleting stuff when I know it’s being stored somewhere else and it’s just taking up valuable space.
And when I’m taking new pictures and sorting through them the image has to be really really bad for me to delete it. And if it’s family or Katie, well, even really really bad images get to stay.

Finally! See him down on the baffle, right at the level of the deck railing in this shot. See the beginning of the rose patch on his breast? He’s not at all sure about all the bird activity up above. In fact that might be another grosbeak landing!
Why is that?
I think one of the reasons I love taking pictures is that it preserves that moment in time, a moment that is already gone by the time the shutter shuts. And each moment seems so precious that even if the image is bad it’s still some sort of preservation.
I don’t think most people feel this way and I wonder where it comes from.
Anyway, today’s images are brought to you from deep in the memory card and a couple weeks ago when I had a juvinile rose brested grossbeak at the feeder. Maybe I had two, there’s one image with one on each end of the feeder.
They were only here for two days and I’m glad I got to watch them and capture their cuteness before they went on their way. I hope they come back next spring!
August 29, 2020 at 8:08 pm
I’m so glad everything worked out for you, Dawn. Whatever way works best, as long as you have your photos. I have a folder that I named ‘Blur.’ All my out of focus photos go there. I might need them some day! 😀
LikeLike
August 30, 2020 at 2:40 pm
I know, right? You never know when you’re going to need that perfectly blurred image. Of course I have thousands of photos I’ve never looked at twice that I should delete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
August 31, 2020 at 12:59 pm
This is a great idea! I’m going to make me a Blur file. 🙂 Thanks.
LikeLiked by 2 people
August 31, 2020 at 1:10 pm
Ha! Mine is full, Angie! You know, for emergency purposes….
LikeLiked by 1 person
August 29, 2020 at 9:19 pm
Glad that you got all that you needed.
I have deliberately disabled any kind of automated download of photos to my mac. I want full control. So then I just look at the card or camera as another “drive” and I can drag photos wherever I want and I don’t lose things because some application thinks they should go into /internal-drive-name/users/efinch/documents or /internal-drive-name/users/efinch/pictures or somewhere more arcane, when where I really want them is in /external-drive/photos.
For my phone, I plug it in directly and it brings up an ImageCapture program automatically (I remember working to figure out how to do that), which just shows me thumbnails of what’s on the camera, then I can drag and drop where I want. For other cameras, I put the cards into a card reader and then they pop up just looking like another external drive. Blah blah blah technical whatevers on the Mac. But I think I also had to work at not having photos moved automatically.
I’m very grumpy about things that touch my things. MY preciouses.
Oh–what I was *really* going to say here is, I have the same issues with deleting photos. Wayyyyyy many more on my drive than I should have, which means I keep running out of space. My 8 TB drive has crept past 4 TB, and it’s mostly photos, although lately I’ve been taking more small videos which HOLY MOLEY take a lot of space. Currently I’m easier-going about simply hitting delete for videos that aren’t pretty good, unless they’re things I can’t reproduce and are important.
Enjoy your new laptop!
LikeLike
August 30, 2020 at 2:41 pm
I should figure out how to disable the automatic photo download on this new PC. I didn’t even know that was an option but it makes sense. Then I wouldn’t have these issues.
LikeLike
August 29, 2020 at 9:27 pm
All of my barn swallows and their batches of babies from this year left 2 weeks ago. I walked into the barn for feeding one morning and it was too quiet.
Is it wrong to have been so upset when I heard about all the hurricanes in the Gulf. This March, they came in two weeks later than the previous year. I’d shed a few many tears worrying that they’d perished in a storm. I’m keeping my fingers crossed they’re safe somewhere on their journey to South America. I’ll start my vigil again on March 15th for their return.
LikeLiked by 1 person
August 30, 2020 at 2:42 pm
I hope they’re safe too. I imagine at least some of them will be back next spring! Which is only 7 mos away!
LikeLike
August 29, 2020 at 9:33 pm
Hi, Dawn – I’m glad that you were able to recover your photos. Your reasoning for keeping photos, backup photos and blurred photos makes good sense to me!
LikeLike
August 30, 2020 at 2:43 pm
Well you never know when you’ll need an image of something!
LikeLike
August 29, 2020 at 10:44 pm
Hi Dawn,
I actually feel similar and have done this a few times – steed the pics and then had them still all on a laptop and should delete them but didn’t – and my rationale recently was that I might want quick access.
but it does get a little to layered at times and I am making it a goal to not have copies – just originals
—
and also regarding your not wanting to delete photos – I know what you mean about the moment they preserved – and especially with some content – like birds – you can get these unique one of kind photos that are rare –
—
and in this post – the cardinal photo was my fav – his color and posture – but that fan/line image to the right and the pile of food – such a tasty photo 🙂
LikeLike
August 30, 2020 at 2:43 pm
I’m glad you understand! I’m finding out I am not alone in not deleting things!
LikeLike
August 30, 2020 at 7:38 pm
🙂
LikeLike
August 29, 2020 at 11:04 pm
Yep, I have a hard time deleting anything too. When I go camping, I take one of the remote drives with me in case my house burns down, and I leave one remote drive at home in case my trailer burns up. These slices of life and our family members are important.
LikeLike
August 30, 2020 at 2:45 pm
My the laptop prior to this one crashed we thought I had lost a lot of pictures that hadn’t been backed up. I was sick to my stomach. Not that what I have is that great, but I remember where I stood and what I smelled and saw and touched for every single photo I’ve ever taken, and they take me back there when I look at them. Not to mention all the family photos. And of course the dogs. Good idea taking one of the hard drives with you. I think the hardest thing is to remember to backup regularly.
LikeLike
September 6, 2020 at 1:16 am
I still don’t have a regular backup plan, and I’m a computer professional! Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer … you’d think I’d have it all together. Nope. What’s that saying … the cobblers children have no shoes? Some day we’ll figure it out. 🙂
LikeLike
August 30, 2020 at 1:11 pm
Hope things get back to normal for you. I didn’t know you had temporarily lost your photos, but that would certainly be devastating for me. These bird shots are absolutely lovely.
LikeLike
August 30, 2020 at 2:46 pm
Not all of them, just pictures I took on one particular day and tried to download and messed up the downloading part. This new laptop will only download once…so I was stuck for a time trying to figure out how to get them off the memory card.
LikeLiked by 1 person
August 30, 2020 at 3:05 pm
Sometimes I love tech, and other times, I just grit my teeth and mumble. Good luck to you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
August 30, 2020 at 2:51 pm
Glad that is all sorted! I feel the same way about deleting pictures. Most of them stay. Delightful bird photos.
LikeLike
August 31, 2020 at 11:20 am
I know….I wonder why we think we need all those similar pictures of trees….lol
LikeLike
August 30, 2020 at 3:42 pm
Delighted to hear you got it all sorted out, Dawn — even if you feel you’re having to go around your elbow to get to your thumb! I’m pretty bad about deleting stuff, too. In fact, I have more than 200 photos of Dallas still on my phone and it’s been nearly six months since he left for the Bridge! Love your birdies — don’t think I’ve ever seen a grosbeak before!
LikeLike
August 31, 2020 at 11:20 am
Well, there’s one phot I remember that I couldn’t find, but I can live with that.
LikeLike
August 31, 2020 at 11:21 am
And PS: I wouldn’t be able to delete any of Katie either, especially if she was at the bridge.
LikeLiked by 1 person
August 31, 2020 at 10:40 am
I have a hard time deleting as well… on my phone I have all my pictures backed up on iCloud, Googles Photos and Shutterfly. And I still have a hard time deleting some pics.
However just recently I had a space shortage on my phone. So… I had to go nuclear, deleting and refreshing to factory reset. But… all my pictures that I wanted… came back and so did everything else. But the nasty caches are all gone! And I have freed up space on my phone. Gives me time before I start thinking about a new cell phone.
Good luck with your new laptop and I loved all your sweet birds!
LikeLike
August 31, 2020 at 11:22 am
That would have been scary, going nuclear! I am glad it worked though!
LikeLiked by 1 person
August 31, 2020 at 12:57 pm
Love these Grosbeak photos! I am exactly the same way about deleting photos, even with backups. When you figure out why we are this way, please share. 😀
LikeLike
August 31, 2020 at 2:27 pm
We must all be paranoid or something.
LikeLike
September 1, 2020 at 12:12 am
And such special photos they are! Mine by contrast are higgledy piggledy all over my devices and the cloud. The challenge (if I can ever be bothered) is to shrink the mountain range before I die.
LikeLike
September 1, 2020 at 2:50 pm
I feel the same way….I have way too many of things no one else would care about.
LikeLiked by 1 person
September 1, 2020 at 2:49 pm
It’s peaceful to see your photos of the birds. They are rarely that still in real life, so to see them in a way that allows closer examination is a treat.
LikeLiked by 1 person
September 1, 2020 at 9:07 pm
Thank you!
LikeLike
September 7, 2020 at 5:25 pm
Really cute birdie pics! I hardly see or hear any birds since the pandemic…makes me sad. But I hear the bats are still alive and well at night 🙂
LikeLike