• Please use real names.

    Greetings to all who have registered to OPF and those guests taking a look around. Please use real names. Registrations with fictitious names will not be processed. REAL NAMES ONLY will be processed

    Firstname Lastname

    Register

    We are a courteous and supportive community. No need to hide behind an alia. If you have a genuine need for privacy/secrecy then let me know!
  • Welcome to the new site. Here's a thread about the update where you can post your feedback, ask questions or spot those nasty bugs!

"Better safe than Sorry"

Being that we are living profoundly in a digital age, it is imperative that I share with you my concerns about how to keep your images safe for future generations to have the opportunity of viewing your catalog of work. In the past there were negatives, positives (slides) and prints which, if taken care of and stored properly, could survive several decades without serious degradation. Today we are hit by a number of possible dangers that could erase for eternity any of those images that were captured for posterity and meant so much to you, your loved ones, businesses and archives wishing to preserve the image which mirrors the social fabric of the day.

I became keenly aware of this problem when I converted to digital image capture. It is not practical for me to print all of the work I have done and thus had to find a way of minimizing the possibility of losing my works. There are many ways ones could safeguard their images. There is CD, which I find very problematic to say the least. DVD’s which I find equally troublesome, DAT, which is a wonderful medium, but, try to find a DAT player today. I archive my work on about 8 (eight), yes 8 external and internal hard drives in two different locations. I make it a practice to save all of the final retouched published images of mine on all of these devices and store to all of them religiously when a job has been completed. I.e. post production included. I save my Raw images on to at least 3 to 4 external hard drives as well.

Many consider this as over kill. But imagine the thought of losing your archives to some electrical anomaly. In some ways it would be akin to losing your identity. All of those images that were an expression of your world view, lost for ever.

It is for this reason that I HIGHLY recommend that you save your images and any other important files to at least 2 hard drives, or 3 for that extra measure of security. Eventually “Cloud Systems” might be the way to go, but imagine for some reason that the internet is down for an extended period of time and access to your precious files is impossible. So for now, until Crystal Quartz storage becomes the norm, I sincerely hope that you take my advice. As the old adage states; “Better Safe than Sorry.”

http://www.benjaminkanarekblog.com/?p=354
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
I archive my work on about 8 (eight), yes 8 external and internal hard drives in two different locations. I make it a practice to save all of the final retouched published images of mine on all of these devices and store to all of them religiously when a job has been completed. I.e. post production included. I save my Raw images on to at least 3 to 4 external hard drives as well.
Did you really mean you have 8 copies or is it you happen to have 8 drives?

I think that at least 3 drives are needed. I admit to only having most of my files on two drives.

Asher
 

Ken Tanaka

pro member
Benjamin; I agree with, and practice with discipline, the basic principle of image file redundancy. But that practice is purely for my own relocation purposes. I have absolutely no notion that anyone will ever need, or want, to access my digital image archive. Honestly, I think that it's delusional for nearly anyone to harbor such expectations, too.

The fact is that the print has been, is, and will continue to be the primary medium by which any future generations will see your work. Your prints may be reproduced electronically but the print will still be the source, not your image files.

Make the best prints you can make, publish (books, not short-life mags) when possible, store the prints carefully, distribute copies to those who enjoy your work, and die peacefully.
 

Mike Shimwell

New member
The fact is that the print has been, is, and will continue to be the primary medium by which any future generations will see your work. Your prints may be reproduced electronically but the print will still be the source, not your image files.

Make the best prints you can make, publish (books, not short-life mags) when possible, store the prints carefully, distribute copies to those who enjoy your work, and die peacefully.

All good advice I think. I think that it is almost certainly the case that prints will be the most archival way of sending work into the future, and given how (relatively) few people print now it is possible that future archives will have a different shape than those we have from the 20th century. Even, or perhaps particularly, if you photograph the mundane make some prints and keep them safe.

I keep a box of prints on 13.5 by 9 paper that is my repository of things I found interesting. They are not all art or even very good, but I keep them as my record.

Mike

Edit - yes, I archive digital files to a couple HDDs, but the reality for me is that I tend to be more interested in what I'm photographing now than what I did.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
The fact is that the print has been, is, and will continue to be the primary medium by which any future generations will see your work. Your prints may be reproduced electronically but the print will still be the source, not your image files.

Make the best prints you can make, publish (books, not short-life mags) when possible, store the prints carefully, distribute copies to those who enjoy your work, and die peacefully.
I's like to take this thinking a little further. Let's question the purpose of all these files. In a way they stand for unfulfilled promises or plans for something not made. I used to say "Ideas are ten a penny", then Great ideas are ten a penny" but few end up realized. The extra mental and physical effort, discipline and craft to make intent into something to treasure is not as easy to put into the good ideas we have. It's even more so with photography today.

Each image file merely stored is an idea unfulfilled. If we do not rank the image worthy of recruiting the resources to make it into something tangible we value, then why should anyone else!

That's just what I'm starting to think.

We have excuses, but they are not the reasons we store so much and print so little.

Asher
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
The fact is that the print has been, is, and will continue to be the primary medium by which any future generations will see your work. Your prints may be reproduced electronically but the print will still be the source, not your image files.

Make the best prints you can make, publish (books, not short-life mags) when possible, store the prints carefully, distribute copies to those who enjoy your work, and die peacefully.
This is good thinking, Ken!

I'd like to take this further. Let's question the purpose of all these files! In a way they stand for unfulfilled promises or plans for something not made.

I used to say "Ideas are ten a penny", then Great ideas are ten a penny" but few end up realized. The extra mental and physical effort, discipline and craft to make intent into something to treasure is not as easy to put into the good ideas we have. It's even more so with photography today.

Each image file, merely stored, is an idea unfulfilled. If we do not rank the image worthy of recruiting the resources to make it into something tangible we value, now, when we're alive, then why should anyone else value them particularly over countless other images when we are gone? I we looking for some posthumous recognition?

That's just what I'm starting to think.

We have excuses, but they are not the reasons we store so much and print so little.

Asher
 
and 8 copes?

I name one complete shoot in a file which comprises RAW, Selected RAW, Retouched Images in TIFF or PSD and JPEG's for Web use. I.e. "Alien Intervention" to eight separate HD's under a Menu Called "Pro Photos 1,2,3 etc. So, NOT 8 times in one HD. Once in 8 separate HD's. In fact, I must go out shortly and purchase several HD's as my HD's are soon to be full.
 

Lucas Guilloy

New member
well, I have 4 external drives and two internal hard drives in my PC. I think if you're taking a lot of photos you have to store them safely and accurately. That's why I put them on my external drives and make regular backups to avoid data loss as good as it gets.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
well, I have 4 external drives and two internal hard drives in my PC. I think if you're taking a lot of photos you have to store them safely and accurately. That's why I put them on my external drives and make regular backups to avoid data loss as good as it gets.

Lucas,

But are all the drives in the same location?

Asher
 
Top