Rewarding Finish

I had ran into a ‘photog’s block’ recently. About a month ago, I had to move some files around in my hard drive and incidentally I lost all the XMP files associated with my recent Shanghai trip. For those unfamiliar with the photography terms, the XMP file is a little file (~7KB) that remembers the settings you applied to your RAW photos using programs like Lightroom or Capture One Pro, that way you never physically alter your original photo file.

While I usually enjoy sorting through my photos, doing all 700+ photos again is not very fun. I have seen all the photos already and a lot of times I am just repeating the same adjustments that I had done before.

I tried to dig through all my backups to see if I could recover it somehow, but nothing came up. Knowing I would never touch this folder again if I move onto more novel material, I vouched to stick to it unless something pressing comes up…and I have been dragging my foot for the past 3 wks, often falling asleep at the keyboard trying to get through it!

Approaching the last few photos, as we were boarding the China Eastern airplane, I couldn’t suppress a smile upon seeing this very cheerful airport ground crew.

His infectious smile coupled with the completion of a long task is a worthy reward.

What to be thankful for? That I only lost the settings for 1 folder instead of the entire catalogue!

And now moving on, Hong Kong here we come.