I’ve been back from Thailand for a week now but I’m still in the thick of organizing and processing my images from the trip. I’ve ended up with about 5000 “keeper” shots after purging the really bad stuff. Those images have all been renamed and filed with the most basic location information included in their description fields (city, province, country, continent). I’ve also added rough star-ratings but they will undoubtedly change as I begin the actual post-processing. That’s where I currently stand — I’m ready to begin making color corrections and other adjustments to get these images ready for submission to stock agencies and publishers. I’ll also need to keyword everything. Normally I would wait until after making corrections to keyword but I’ll probably jump back and forth between editing and keywording this time so that I don’t end up with a mind-numbingly long keywording task at the end.

Not all 5000 images will be distributed. There are lots of near duplicates as well as bracketed shots for HDR and sequences destined to become stitched panoramas. There are also lots of shots that I take for reference like signs that show the name and spelling of a place. This isn’t the most glamorous part of being a travel photographer but it’s necessary. Taking the photos is just the beginning. Getting them into the market and in the hands of photo buyers is crucial if you want to make a living.