Don't Loose Your Memories!

I often get people telling me how they accidentally erased their photos off their digital cameras or memory cards. People don't realize that some of those images can be recovered through image recovery software that is often free or available for a small fee. This software can search the erased card and recover some of the photos that have been recently deleted. The biggest this is not to use the card again until you run the software program to recover your images. You will be surprised at how many images can be recovered.. some images that you even been deleted months before.

I always took comfort in knowing that I've never accidental deleted photos and was almost cocky at saying that I always protect my images from any catastrophes. Well.. a catastrophe happened three weeks ago when I went to access my external SimpleTech external hard drive that contains not only all of my work files over the past year or two, but also over 80,000 images that I've taken. This contained not only wedding, portrait and corporate photography, but also a lot of cherished photos of family and friends over the last couple of years too.

For those reading this... I do have a backup of all of my wedding and portrait photography. Any photo that I've made a print of, those images have been burned to a CD or DVD so they are safe. Photos that I have taken of family and friends, trips that I've been on, events, etc... those I have lost. How much are some of these photos to me? Well.. unfortunately, there is a price. Just like the digital files on a memory card, the hard drive still contains all of my beloved images, but the cost of recovery isn't cheap.

I called several data recovery companies, none of them local, and the estimate is $500 - $2,400. Yes.. To get those pictures of my nephews at Christmas or Easter back could cost me $2,400. Those might not be worth that expense, but I would pay $500-$1,000 to get these images back. Also.. even though alot of my images are safe, they are on CD's and DVD's, many are not labeled or directly at my fingertips like they were on my hard drive.

So.. what I am doing and what I am recommending EVERYONE to do is have a backup of your backup. This means whenever you have a big photo event whether it be a family gathering or a once in a lifetime event or vacation, save those images to a CD and store them in a save place. I would also recommend giving a CD of those images to a family friend or relative that is also in the photos as not only a gift, but as another person who will have your images for safe keeping.

I also recommend at the end of a year, save those images again to a DVD. DVD's are able to save more images that traditional CD's and then you not only have a CD of the event, but a DVD of your yearly photos. For myself, a person that takes a lot of photos throughout the year, I like the convenience of having my photos easily viewable at any given time, I will continue to store my photos on a portable hard drive. I will also have another hard drive solely as a backup drive in case the other drive fails. Isn't this expensive and hard to do? NO.... I just purchased a small 320 GB drive for $100 and another 1 TB (terabyte) drive for $170 as a backup. And.. with the software that comes with the drive, you can easily schedule a time when the device automatically backs up all of the files. So.. there are no reasons or excuses not to back up your images. You may never need a terabyte drive, but getting just one $100 external drive is a small price to pay for not having to go through a loss of data or the expense of data recovery.

Daylight Savings Time

I hope everyone is enjoying the warmer weather and especially the extra daylight that we have now. I don't know about your, but even though we had a relatively mild winter here in South, the past couple of weeks have been dreary, rainy and cold. What a difference a week or two makes.

I'm looking forward to getting out and shooting more scenic photos. I remember in college I would spend hours driving down country roads, scouting out places to shoot. Just me and my camera... I regretfully got out of doing that with the demands of other obligations, but getting back to the core of who I am as a photographer is important to me.. so I am devoting some time to traveling a little around the area and seeing what I can capture.

This also benefits my clients as I am anxiously waiting to photograph in new locations capturing my clients personalities in a natural setting.

Viewing it Differently

~Patrick

Blogging for a Purpose

I have had personal blogs from time to time just to express my thoughts, vent, and reveal the good or the bad events in my live. Now.. I'm excited to embark on blogging with a purpose. Yes... I might actually have something relevant to share. This is where this blog comes in. Patrick King Photography has been around in one capacity or another since I was 10-11 years old when I began shooting my own family portraits.

For 2009, I'm launching a new website, changing my photography style, and redefining my line of products that will be available to all of my clients. With all of these changes, one thing will not change, the person behind the camera capturing your special event, that moment in life that you can share with others through your images.

I am going to try to forgo calling the finished product "photographs", because in this digital age, "images" are displayed online, viewed through dvd slides shows, emailed to friends, stored on mobile phones and yes, still displayed on walls as cherished heirlooms. We see our lives as images captured in our mind and I am honored to deliver those images to you through my photography.