I’ve always said that that the only people who’s opinion I care about is that of my clients.  However it’s always nice when your professional industry colleagues pay attention to your work.  One of the printers that I use to produce my portrait artwork is ColorInc Pro Lab in Grand Rapids, Mi.  Every day they select at “pick of the day” from the hundreds of new images that come through their ordering system from professional photographers all over the country.

I was fortunate enough to have this photograph from the Zanghi’s family session selected as the picture of the day a few weeks ago!  I wasn’t sure if I liked the color version vs. the B&W edition of this image, but I guess since the B&W version got the honors, that makes up my mind!

This was the 2nd time I’ve been fortunate enough to receive the “pick of the day” honor from ColorInc.  The first was this image from Christine & Greg’s wedding a couple of seasons ago.  For more information on ColorInc, check out their BLOG here.

The question of appropriate backup plans always comes up during planning consultations with Brides & Grooms.  And although having the proper backup equipment in place is incredibly important at any assignment (wedding or otherwise), one thing that a lot of people don’t know about is the amount of backup responsibility that’s in place for the photographic image files once the wedding day is over.  When it comes to effective backup of wedding and portrait originals, redundancy is the key.  The more copies of your originals you have, the better off you are.

Here’s a typical backup scenario for me as soon as I walk in the door after a wedding:

• All media cards are out of the cameras, and are immediately copied onto not one, but two seperate hard drives attached to my computer. COPIES #1 AND #2
• All copied files are then uploaded to an online, “cloud” based online storage server.  COPY #3
• Later in the week, a hard drive stored offsite in a secure safe is retrieved and another copy of all originals is made, and this drive is returned to its offsite storage location.  COPY #4

So in addition to the original copy of everything that remains on the camera media cards until the next event, I have a  total of two copies of every original image stored locally on my office computer hard drives, and a total of two copies of  every original stored in two different locations offsite.  Furthermore, depending on if the event timeline permits, I may copy everything to my laptop before I even leave the reception, that would be COPY #5, which stays in the car until I’ve completed steps 1 and 2 above (you never know, the house could catch fire before I have had time to duplicate everything inside).

It might sound like I’m a bit paranoid, but then again I have a professional responsibility to my clients to make sure that the original files from their sessions and events are securely protected.  You can’t re-photograph a wedding, and even with portraits there’s no guarantee you’ll be able to re-create the perfect smile or perfect moment between a mother and  daughter.  Ideally, I wish the camera manufacturers would add the function to immediately create two copies of every image in the camera on two separate media cards.  Currently this is only available in the most expensive camera body models.

I also apply this same process to edited image files, album designs, and proof galleries.  So rather than ask a photographer what type of camera they use, or even how much backup camera equipment they will bring to your event, maybe consider asking about their image backup plans.  Do you really want to trust your photographic investment to someone who does not do as much as they can to protect the original source images?

Since being a well behaved toddler is sometimes beyond his reach, maybe he can become a spokesperson for companies.

Turns out my GoBoda bag is good for holding more than just camera equipment.   Saturday’s Bride didn’t want to lay her flowers down flat because she was afraid the petals would become crushed, so the Boda V3 was able to help out while we made some photographs that didn’t require the bouquet.

P.S. – I so far I really like this bag as an actual lens bag as well, maybe one of these days I’ll get around to actually writing up a short review of my experiences with the bag so far.  Although I am equally interested in the arrival of the junior version of the v3…..so GoBoda, if you’re listening….hint, hint……

P.S.S. – I was in no way compensated by GoBoda for posting this