backing up

I was listening to an episode of Dispatches on CBC radio a few weeks ago and I found myself driving in my car, crying…This, is not an unusual occurrance, but still, I felt compelled to tell you about it.

The story was about a British woman who lost a collection of her favourite family photographs when she was living for a short time in China.  She thought they were gone forever when years later, a Chinese man found them and was determined to return them to their rightful owner.  He eventually found out who she was and was able to contact her.  It’s a really heartwarming story, and obviously very unusual.  Who would go to that much trouble to return photographs that are decades old to a person they can’t even identify?  Still, it got me thinking about all the images I love and cherish that are just a simple 4×6…maybe just a negative, but definitely not preserved in any way.

That’s when I started crying…thinking of the family history I would loose if I ever lost those images.  I have a great memory, but it’s triggered by images.  Without that constant, I’m afraid I’d forget so much of my childhood, my history, the details.

My love of the image came from my grandmothers.  Both women must have felt strongly about collecting family images because they displayed them all over their respective homes.  I remember going to my Grandma’s house and she would bring me to my Mom’s old bedroom where there was framed picture after framed picture on the desk.  She’d remind me who each person was, and tell me how they were connected to me, and I’d just stare at them.  I’d stare at the photograph of my Mother and Father on their wedding day.  Completely unable to understand how they could look that way.

When she moved out of her house, she gave me her collection of slides…It’s 15 different carousels from trips she had taken with my Grandfather.  I don’t have a slide projector, but I borrowed one once so I could look at them and I’ll remember that evening for the rest of my life.  Getting to see a little bit into their lives before I was even a thought.

Here’s the problem.  Those slide carousels are just sitting in my house.  There’s no copy, no back up…nothing.  I have boxes of photographs in the same predicament.  Easily lost…easily forgotten.  And that’s when I start thinking about my own philosophy and what I believe in and how it relates to the business I run.  Capturing authentic moments and details of a day, a moment, an event and providing high quality archival products from said event.  But how can I be sure that those images will last?

In the end, a digital file is real no different than a negative.  It sits in a drawer, or in some unknown place, only to be needed if something happens to the original, but the value of that negative or file is so incredibly important.

When I first started fresh images, digital files weren’t even a part of my product line; I wanted to solely focus on prints, albums and the high quality products.  But more and more people were asking for the files, the CD, the back up.  I’ve gone through several different ideas, and I think I’ve finally figured out the best way I can deal with what you’re asking for, while keeping in line with my own philosophy.

For portrait sessions files are available at any time, either individually or for the whole session/wedding, however, every print, framed print, or canvas purchase over $50 also includes the high resolution file for your back up.  With weddings, files can be purchased a la carte or if you buy a softbound or flush mount album, they’re included.