Photo by Josiah Roe
Hi everyone. I've been quiet for the past few months, so I just want to give you a quick status update on the project.
Just about every one I run into asks me how the project is going and my canned response is usually "It's going [smiles]". There are a few reasons why I haven't posted anything recently:
- I got married [!!!]
- I'm working
Seriously, it's going. I'm trying to get all the negatives digitized as fast as possible. I can't do much more until everything is digitized and indexed, and that just takes time—a lot of time.
I dramatically underestimated how many negatives there were when I first started the project. My best guess at the time was about 6,000 negatives total. Boy was I wrong! Based on how many I've gone through so far, about 1,800, plus the fact that I'm not even through the first box (there are seven total), my new calculations put the total negative count at around 15,000. Wut?! That's an overwhelming difference to say the least.
On a good day I can digitize around 300 negs. I am only able to work on the project two days a week, so you can do the math yourself on how long this could take me—and that's not even including the indexing and editing. Yeah, it's going, but it's going slow.
I'd love to be able spend more time on the project, but without funding that's going to be near impossible. I thought about hiring some help, but again, without funding I can't afford that either. The dilemma that I face is 'Do I just keep slowly chipping away at the mountain of negatives in front of me?', or 'Do I spend that time trying to secure funding to "extend my runway" as they say here in Silicon Valley?'
For now, with my mining hat is on and pickaxe in hand, I've chosen to work my way through the mountain. That's the part that I really enjoy, anyways. Plus, it provides me with a sense of accomplishment. I've been getting the ball moving on the funding side too, but that's a whole new world to me and definitely not as fun.
I know how to do the work, I just don't know how to continue doing it. I'm seeking out people who can help me with grant research and writing. I know something/someone is out there, but I don't have a clue as to where to start looking. I'm hoping someone else does. In the mean time, I'll keep chipping away.
- Joseph
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