Now…… Where did I see that photo?? Do you ever find yourself saying that? I found myself saying it on a regular basis when working on my modeling projects. I just know I saw a photo of about what I want to do, but I just can’t remember where it was…… (It seems to happen more as I get older)

My wonderful wife thinks I’m suffering from “magazine overload”. OK, so I have a pile of old magazines that are large enough to block out the sun. I must admit I reached a point where there was so much information on hand that I just couldn’t find anything I wanted without hours of searching. (Not a good situation)

When I caught my wonderful wife putting my “valuable reference” magazine collection out for trash collection, I knew it was time to get organized. After thinking a bit on the situation, I realized I really didn’t want to keep the entire magazine. In fact, out of each magazine I might only want to keep one article and 6 to 10 photos. So why keep the entire magazine? Anyway, I decided it was high time to keep what I wanted and dump the rest.

In about 5 minutes (per month) you too can clean up the house and actually find the information you want. What I did was create a “photo reference” file that contains only things that I want to keep.

After I’m finished reading the magazine, I go back and cut out any photo that I particularly like. I then take a close look at the shot and try to figure out WHY I like it. As I figure out why I like the shot, I mark the area right on the photo and add a comment. I find a felt tip pin works the best for marking on magazine paper.

I then sort the photos into categories. The categories I use are: Scenery, camera angle, lighting, basic subject matter, and “other stuff”. Are you wondering what “other stuff” is? Have you ever seen a photo and liked it, but couldn’t figure out why? Well, that shot belongs in the “other stuff” department.

I then tape the marked up photo into a notebook according to the category. You might also be wondering if I ever go back and look through these photos? You bet! It acts as a bottomless well of inspiration, and a wealth of future projects. The reason these photos made it into my reference notebook is because I want my modeling (and my photography for that matter) to be up to their standards. (Not an easy task)