New blog
So due to a slight mistake with my old blog hosting company – I have had to now get a new blog.
This will now become my new blog.
The importance of a good backup system
So this weekend has been a nightmare and an inspiration in one. Let me explain…
It’s always been important to maintain copies of your original photographs. With film, the negatives had to be duplicated and kept in special archival sleeves, taking up time, money and space. With the digital revolution – things have become a lot easier and also a lot more fraught with perils.
We can now copy our original files easier than ever before, but the issue we now face is drive failures, something that is all too frequent.
Each photographer has his or her own backup solution which works for them. Some don’t. If they loose data, then they loose data. This is something which I believe is wrong. As photographers, paid to do a job, we have a responsibility of care to the images we have taken. Granted, the client may not want these images immediately – but what if in a year something changes. What if, heaven forbid, they loose a family member or just suddenly want a photograph of someone. In this instance, not only could the photographer be providing a service, but also helping a family out in a bad time.
Therefore I believe backing up the data is vital. I thought that I was safe in my backup strategy – great quality components and a strict schedule. Imagine my horror to discover I was experiencing a double drive failure – or so I thought. I always was comforted in my backup routine. Absolute certainty that I would never be in this position.
Quick order to amazon for a new storage system and on Saturday, my new drobo storage robot arrived (www.drobo.com) along with 2x 1.5 TB of storage (which I will add to later)
This has also got me searching for a location to hold additional copies of the data and has got me thinking of storing wedding files each on their own 2.5″ hard drive (with drives being so cheap nowadays it makes sense)
I am pleased to report that all files were recovered – no data loss at all and the integrity of the data is better than ever.
I was tested and found lacking in my backup strategy and have been given the chance to put it right.
Can I start the weekend again now please, without the heart attacks?
ps I will post a workflow of my system once I have it fully implemented.
Update
What’s been happening – well I have been considering buying a pro film SLR for a while now. Why? Well I have wanted to compare the “feel” of digital images and film based images for a while now, plus I think it will be fun to actually learn how to process film. I’ve never done that before. I’ll do this for my own personal work to begin with, and who knows, maybe I’ll start to introduce it into my shooting.
Now, I was out the other day and got chatting to this nice lady. She was telling me her son and his wife to be had just booked up their photographer. I asked I was being nosey that day – she couldn’t remember, but then started telling me about him and by the end of the conversation I was in terror. The gent in question is, like me, someone who is not a full time photographer, however, unlike me – he has no backup equipment, no insurance and (I suspect) not legally declaring his income from his photography. The backup equipment is essential. You need to have two of everything and I am a joke with a friend of mine as I carry pretty much FOUR of everything to a wedding. What really shocked me was the attitude of the gent. He made a big deal about how “this [wedding photograpy] was a sideline and he had a real job” What was more, someone asked him what if his camera broke down and he replied “well you won’t get any pictures.”
I was totally shocked at him. To any brides, please, PLEASE ensure your wedding photographer has insurance, what’s more take out a policy yourself – they aren’t that expensive! But above all ensure the person you trust to capture you big day is prepared – and not someone who thinks that this isn’t a “real job.”
OK that’s my rant over for this evening 
I am trying out a new supplier for my black and white prints, after the recent wedding with Donna and Michael, I have decided that I want the old heavyweight feel to the prints and have a possible new supplier lined up. I’ll keep you posted.
Have a great weekend all!
New Wedding Brochures
I like to send out brochures showing the packages I have to my potential wedding clients. I always thought they were informative but, frankly, they were dull.
So I contacted Tracey Jolie and she has created an amazing design for me. I have just taken delivery of the first of these – so, anyone interested in having me photograph their wedding will get these new booklets!
New Blog
Well I thought I would give this blog thing a go and see how it worked out.
So… I have started to put together podcasts – these being slideshows of my images and they are available through itunes! How cool is that?
The link to get them in itunes is http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=299792878
Maria
I recently shot again with Maria. Maria is a friend of mine and I really do like shooting with her – it’s such a good laugh. The only problem was the studio I normally used was booked – so I needed a new plan. I found another which didn’t come with anything (just a big empty room) – but thought this would be the perfect chance to experiment with off camera flash. So that’s what I did. The movie below shows a sequence of images taken either with daylight or with one (or two) off camera speedlights.