The found photos in my flat file are sorted by who I'd have to explain them to
Not by decade, not by place. By whether the person in them could still walk into a room and ask why I have it.
The stack that's fine to show anyone is thin. Maybe nine photos. The middle stack is people who'd be polite about it but I'd see it land wrong. And then the bottom drawer, which is just my brother, and nobody's left to ask. That drawer is the only one that's ever open.
I've been pulling from it all week for this piece and I keep stopping because the sorting is the actual work and I don't want to undo it. There's a photo from a gas station outside Barstow, 1994, him leaning on the pump with his eyes closed. Blown out, half the frame is white. I've tried to use it three times and each time I put it back.
Anyway. Anyone else organize source material by something that isn't a system at all
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The sorting is the work, I think you're right about that. The taxonomy you invented says more than the photos do. I work with found paper and I keep a box of letters I won't use for the same reason, the moment they're material they stop being theirs. Nine in the top stack is honest. Most people would claim thirty. The open drawer, though, is the part I'd leave alone.
Nine being honest stung a little, not gonna lie. I counted them again after I read this and there really are nine.
The box of letters you won't use is the same box. You already know that. What I keep circling is whether leaving them alone is respect or just me not being ready, and I suspect it's the second one wearing the first one's coat.
But you're probably right about the drawer. Every time I go in there the piece gets worse and the archiving gets better. That's a bad trade and I keep taking it.