You grab the mail out of your mailbox and see that your developed film has returned from the lab! You are overcome with excitement as you sit down at your desk and open the package. Holding the negatives up to a light you are thrilled at the potential of some…and disappointed at the possibility of others. After scanning in your images, you realize that there are a few that you can’t remember the location for. What the heck?
As your mind goes blank…you wonder what to do. This isn’t the time to freak out…calm down and think! First…examine your photo carefully, looking for any possible clues that can point you in the right direction. Are there any buildings, signs, or anything for the matter that places the image at a particular spot.
The photo with no location…
Alright…in my case…first of all…I see three signs. I see signs for Stag Beer, Busch Beer, and a sign with an arrow pointing to the left. When I zoomed into the image I saw a sign denoting a conservation area or something similar…but I couldn’t read it. I could see the sign for a county road with the designation of “U”…well that narrows my search down to Missouri….one of the few states that use such a naming scheme! Additionally, I noted signs for a railroad crossing on Road U. I also took note of the grain elevators just down the road. Although I gathered some good clues…I still didn’t know the location of the photo. I had to dig deeper. I went back to my developed negatives…looking at photos adjacent to this one…placing it in a relative timeline…hunting for more clues that could lead me in the right direction.
The first image I came across was a really bad photo…but it showed the name of a business…”Baders Garage”! Wow…I knew this could be the big break that I needed!
Baders Garage
I typed “Baders Garage” into Google and was soon met with a location…St. Mary, Missouri! Checking out “street view” on Google Maps led me to Baders Garage…excellent! I knew there was a good chance of finding the location of my photo! Sure enough…I found it! My photo with the beer signs was also taken in St. Mary, Missouri!
I learned a very important lesson! If you want to remember where you took a shot…take some notes! It won’t take you very long to jot down a few notes about your photos as you go…at some point, you will be glad that you did! Good luck on your photo adventures!