Since I first began my business in 2009, I’ve been a believer in the tangible, finalized prints of their memories.
I’ve always found it to be a disservice to offer only those digital copies, as I wanted their images to be able to appreciated every day. No one has ever walked away from my studio without prints to display in their home – because that’s what they deserve.
I shudder at the thought of ever providing my clients only digital files. Memories that will gain a few likes when shared on social media, only to soon end up forgotten, as they spend their life in a digital graveyard or collecting dust somewhere on a usb.
With that being said, I’m not against digital versions of photos. In fact, I think it’s wise to have a backup of the most important moments of your life. This is why I include a matching digital file with each print.
In late 2009, my nan’s oxygen tank sparked a fire. While she made it out of the house mostly unscathed, thanks to the heroic acts of my pop, the love of her life, sadly many of their memories did not. Together they had 8 children, who each had their own children (totaling somewhere around 20+…I always mix up the count). Graduations, birthdays, holidays…many of them burned or damaged by water. Memories lost, forever.
Of course digital copies weren’t even available when most of those photos had been taken, so there weren’t many steps that could have prevented losing so much.
Now, in this age of technology, we are granted the opportunity to preserve our memories and photos in a variety of ways, always preparing for the “just in case”. I urge you to read through these tips to ensure you’re adequately prepared in the event of loss or destruction of your photos.
Download your images
When receiving images via download, it is best to download the images immediately upon receiving the download link. Life gets busy and you don’t want to put it off, eventually forgetting about it altogether.
Back up your photos to an external hard drive
Hard drives fail, so it’s incredibly important to back up your photos on an additional hard drive. An external hard drive allows you to safely keep backups of your images. You can also store these for safe keeping, such as in a at-home safe or a safe deposit box. If neither is an option, it’s recommend to store the external drive in a room separate from your computer or laptop. Remember, external drives can still fail, so I do not recommend storage beyond 5TB, so you aren’t putting all your eggs in one basket, so to speak. Ideally, use two separate external hard drives and place them in separate locations.
Overkill? Maybe…but this extra step is worth the eliminating the risk of losing everything!
Keep copies online
Now, I am not suggesting you upload your photos to Facebook or any other social media platform for safe keeping. Remember what happened to all of your photos on Myspace!
Instead, it’s best to utilize an online storage option such as the options below. While your external drives are tucked away for safe keeping, you’ll have the convenience and peace of mind of being able to download your images at any time.
Just remember, these options goes in conjunction with having an external drive. Never trust your memories 100% online, just in case the site shuts down unexpectedly.
Most importantly, don’t skip out on printing
I’m sure I’m not the only one who still has negatives from film days. Although I still hold on to them, I realize they don’t hold the same value as they once did, as my negative scanner is no longer supported and it’s difficult to find somewhere that offers scanning.
Technology changes. No matter how many digital backups you have, there’s no say that computers of the future will always be able to read these files.
Always print your favorite images. Printed photos will never become obsolete.
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