Over the weekend, we had a night that found us up well past midnight. We were staring at our computer screen. Jon was frustrated. Erica was crying. We were fearing the worst and hoping for the best, although the ‘best’ still seemed like ‘the worst.’
A Long, Productive Relationship
We are definitely big time ‘brand’ people. Not so much in the sense of having to have the best or coolest brand name things. But more the idea that once we find a brand that works for us, one that we love, we go all in on it. Enter Apple products. We were hesitant to take the plunge. Switching seemed daunting. But we converted to Apple products early on and haven’t looked back! They’ve always been reliable and just make the most sense for us!
We bought our last MacBook Pro in 2012, and it has been absolutely bullet proof! When we upgraded Erica to a new one in early 2017, Jon kept using the 2012 model because it was still that good! But everything has it’s limits. Jon was working on a design in Photoshop, when the computer crashed. Hard. Black screen, no response, done. A trip to the Apple Store and multiple phone calls with support later, the diagnosis was in. Hard drive failure. Our hearts sunk. We had no backups. We had no safety measures in place. We assumed we had nothing left.
So we were the in front of the computer trying to get it to boot. Trying to salvage anything we could from what remained. There were business files for our website. There were programs we needed information from. Worst of all, there were memories. Years and years of memories made up of photos we had saved covering everything from our kid’s births to family vacations. We thought it would all be gone. Erica cried at the thought of losing those memories forever.
Thankfully, many hours later, we were able to save the majority of our data. But even then, we watched as there were files of personal photos we were not able to copy. Videos of our kids taking their first steps and saying their first words that we wouldn’t be able to watch again. We could see them right in front of us, but they would not open. We had absolutely no control over what would come over to the new hard drive, and what would be gone forever. It was a terrible, terrible feeling. We were extremely thankful for what we were able to keep. It was far better than losing it all. But it made us pause and reflect on why we didn’t handle our own personal data in the way that we do our client’s data. First thing the next morning, we had backups of both of our computers. 🙂
Why it is Important
Our hearts were ripped apart thinking of losing our own memories, but losing a client’s photos would have been the next level of, ‘Oh my gosh, this can’t be real!’
As our client, you trust us not only to take photos and capture memories of your wedding, senior year, or family occasion. You also trust us to deliver those memories to you so that those moments of life that seem to come and go so quickly can be saved forever. We don’t take that trust you put in us lightly. It’s one of our highest properties to not only give you a great experience while we are photographing, but through to the final gallery delivery as well.
Responsibility
As photographers, we have a system to make sure we take the responsibility your trust in us places on us seriously. We use Canon 5D Mark III cameras, which allow us to record images to two separate data cards at once on camera. The photos are saved on an SD card and a CF card meaning if one fails, we have another copy in the camera itself! After your session, we carry those camera cards in a protective card wallet which never leaves our sight. We hold onto that baby like it’s the Presidential ‘Football’ for the nuclear codes. Ain’t nobody comin’ near it! Once we import the photos to once source, we save a secondary copy of the raw images on a separate hard drive to make sure that once again, if we have a failure we have a backup copy.
Our commitment to you is to deliver amazing photos that will last you a lifetime. We take all of these steps to make sure we can follow through on that promise. We can’t prevent technology failing, but we comfort ourselves in knowing we take every precaution possible to ensure that our clients are never impacted if it occurs.
For Photographers
If you are a fellow photographer reading this, we encourage you to look at your system for backing up your data. It always feels like ‘It can’t happen to me.” We were in that boat. We thought we’d never be the ones to lose a hard drive and be left holding an empty bag. Now we’ve experienced it first hand. We’ve felt our stomachs drop as we felt completely helpless, unable to do anything to change the situation. If you aren’t backing up your data, we encourage you do make that part of your process right now! Like fo’ real. Get up, go to your local electronics store and purchase an external drive and start backing up your catalogs now! It’s a small investment in the trust that your clients place in you. And it is so worth having the peace of mind in knowing you’re covered!
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