Searching for Cemeteries

Cemetery, Briare, France

One of the interesting results of seriously working on keywording has been the ability to search through over 100,000 images quickly to find the photographs I’m looking for. The latest software that I’m using for my DAM (Data asset management software) is Expression Media 2 which so far I have been very impressed with. The only thing I don’t like is the lack of 2 monitor support. I’m working on a write up that will be online soon. What does this have to do with cemeteries however? Good question!

One interesting statistic comes out when looking at the keyword numbers in an Expression Media catalog. You get a really good idea about the type of subject that you like to photograph. While this could be attributed to what keywords you are using from my personal experience it seems a good indicator of what subjects I am shooting. Sure, if I’m in cattle country there will likely be photographs of cows and barns but when this data is spread out over 6 years, 10 countries and 100,000+ photos I error on believing the numbers side.

My France image catalog contains 11,334 photographs at this point. When looking through my keyword numbers I have boats with 1409 results, cathedrals with 1817, cemeteries 702, doors 709, women 909 and windows 1190. This is a small sampling of course and not terribly scientific but what the heck! Somewhere around 5% of the photographs I have shot in France are of cemeteries. This must say something about me. Boats are even more of an issue. Over 10% of the photographs in France have boats in them! Must like boats and boating!

Only 14 Ferraris

While numbers like this don’t really mean anything at the other end of the spectrum I have Ferrari at 14, Flags at 149, Textiles at 61 and Umbrellas at 44. Way down at the bottom, Zucchini 1, Goats 10, Artichokes 5. What would the numbers be like if there were more Ferraris on the roads or more goats in Paris?

Returning to the issue of cemeteries however, I have found cemeteries throughout the world to be very photographic and indicative of the cultures that they represent. They also can be restful areas in very busy cities, many times the only place to go for quiet and thought. They are also a look into the past.

What do cemeteries have to do with this post? Not much really, it just happened to be a keyword I clicked on when I started looking at numbers. One of those days!