Library02 CollectingEntry 2.3
Keep field notes you can use a year later
A field note is useful when a stranger could follow it. Four lines to write on the spot, and one to add at home.
Notes written for yourself tend to assume you will remember. A year later you will not. Write every note as if it were for someone who has never been there.
Say where, exactly
Name the place and your position. If something has a name, use it: the junction, the shed, the second shelf of the cabinet. Writing it down saves a search later.
Say when
Date and time, always. Add the weather in three words or fewer: “clear, still, cold”.
Say what you saw
One sentence, using the three notes from the drawing journal: outline, light and one detail.
Say why you stopped
This is the line most people skip, and the one that matters most later. What made you look? A shape, a color, a sound, a memory. Write it plainly.
Add one line at home
The same evening, write the file names of any photographs next to the note. That single line connects your notebook to your reference library.