The Great Catalog Catastrophe: Lessons from Reorganising My Capture One Library
So, I recently upgraded my trusty Mac Mini to the new MacBook Pro. With university commitments and freelance gigs often requiring me to work on the go, I needed something portable. The upgrade has been fantastic—except for one small disaster: I somehow managed to delete all my Capture One catalogs in the process!
After frantically scouring through every hard drive I own and digging through system folders like a mad person, I had to accept defeat. My catalogs were gone. Thankfully, I still had all my presets, but every single edit I’d ever made was history. It was a sinking feeling. Then came a silver lining: what if this was an opportunity to revisit my archive of images, reorganize everything, and start editing from scratch?
That idea was brilliant in theory. In practice? Let’s just say it’s been a lot of work. But there have been some surprising benefits:
Lessons Learned
File Management 101
First, I learned the hard way about Capture One’s file management. Turns out I had been storing my catalogs directly on my machine’s hard drive rather than in a dedicated folder or an external backup.
While this mistake caused plenty of headaches, it also gave me the opportunity to reorganize my catalogs into clear categories:
• Street Photography
• Portraits
• Art Projects
Navigating my work is now much simpler, and everything is backed up properly. Lesson learned: always know where your files live and keep backups!
A Fresh Look at Old Images
Re-editing my archive has been an eye-opener. It’s shown me just how much my editing style has evolved over time:
• Old favorites feel outdated: I’ve found some images I originally loved don’t resonate with me anymore.
• Discarded images now shine: Some shots I’d written off have become new favorites with a fresh perspective.
It’s been fascinating (and occasionally painful) to see how much my creative process has changed.
Finding Strength in the Forgotten
One of the most rewarding parts of this process has been rediscovering images I’d previously considered failures. I’ve come to realize:
• They weren’t bad photos—they were just edited poorly.
• Growth as a photographer isn’t just about taking better pictures; it’s about understanding how to process and present them.
Giving these shots a second chance has reminded me to embrace change and stay open to experimentation.
Final Thoughts
While I wouldn’t exactly recommend deleting your catalogs for fun, the experience has been valuable. It’s reminded me to:
• Embrace change.
• Stay organized.
• Revisit and reimagine my work.
