We are one week into 2026 and the photo project is coming along nicely, so I thought I’d give an update.

I have worked my way through the archives as far as the end of 2007. This sounds like really good progress, and I’m pleased with it, but there’s a few things to consider:

• Firstly, the archive was still pretty well curated back then. I’ve deleted a small number of photos, but mostly I’ve just been reviewing, reminiscing, and uploading to pixelfed.
• Secondly, I think that as I get closer to the present day, and we enter the era of me having a smartphone with a usable camera, the number of photos will increase. It’ll take me longer to get through each year.
• Thirdly, there are some photos that lie outside of the chronological archive. For example, I have a separate directory just for miscellaneous photos of my cat. That will need dealing with, and I’ll probably do that as a separate job once I’ve finished going through chronologically, and then try to find a way to pull it into the chronological archive. My current plan is to have a directory for cat photos within each year, and hopefully be quite selective about what goes into it.

I also had another realisation, which is that the top priority should be to stay on top of new photos coming in. Ideally, I don’t want to be chasing a moving target, so with that in mind I’m ensuring that the 2026 photos are well looked after, and curated and filed according to my preferred system. This also takes off the pressure to try and get the project finished sooner rather than later.