Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Saving those memories

When I was in college, a friend experienced the horrors of his family's home being gutted by fire. Later, as we discussed the event, he talked about how his mother went back into the house to try and save her most treasured valuables: the family photos.

I relate that story to bring home a couple of points. First, photos are probably the most valuable things we have. While other items can be replaced, that photo of your children being born, or taking their first steps, or that special trip with a special friend, can NEVER be replaced. Once the photo is gone, it's gone forever.

Which brings me to the larger point. When is the last time you backed up your photos? Sure, we don't have shoeboxes of prints lying around...that's been replaced by hard drives and DVDs. But the point is the same. If these "memories" are lost, they are gone forever. And sure, you possibly can get photos back if a hard drive crashes, but it's expensive and not always a 100% guarantee.

I cringe when I hear of people who have ALL their digital photos on their computer without a backup. It's a disaster waiting to happen. Add to the fact that all my images could be purchased (thus having value) it's imperative that I back up.

There are a myriad of options: external hard drives, DVDs, off-site storage, online storage...so take some time to research each one and see what works best.

If you can't remember to backup, perhaps an online service that automatically backs up your hard drive is more appropriate.

For me, I am overly cautious. I have one hard drive with my main photos, then two hard drives as a back up. Finally, I burn high-quality DVDs every Friday of each new set of photos I've taken for the week. And those DVDs go into a fire-proof safe.

I'm also looking at options to use online services to back up photos.

Sure, there is an expense involved. But for the most part it's a workflow issue: develop a plan to back up AND STICK TO IT!

Sunday, August 9, 2009

AMS/IFAJ Photo Workshop a success!

The AMS/IFAJ Photo Workshop in Ft. Worth was a success! Thanks to the expert guidance of Michael Schwarz (http://www.michaelschwarz.com/), we had 30 enthusiastic students who were turned loose at the Ft. Worth Stockyards. The assignment: capture the flavor of old Texas. The group did a great job.

http://michaelworkshops.com/AgSummit/