If you’re engaged and looking for a photographer (or just looking for a photographer in general), there are several things to consider and ask. The issue is, a lot of people don’t even know what questions to ask. So I’m going to cover a few of them in the next couple weeks for you!
First one (because I think it’s one of the most important) is WHAT IS YOUR BACKUP PROCESS?
You are investing money in this photographer, as well as trusting them with your irreplaceable memories. It is so important that your photographer have a process that will protect your images and memories, no matter what.
So what should you be looking for? You want them to have multiple copies of your images and that they keep the RAW files indefinitely.
Here is my backup process:
First and foremost, the cameras I use are set to read to TWO SD cards simultaneously - so I have 2 copies right off the get. (ask your photographer if they are set to do this - if an SD card malfunctions, there is still an extra copy right there. otherwise, all those images would be lost)
As soon as I get home, before anything else, I back up all the RAW files onto 4 separate external hard drives and online cloud storage. This brings my total to 7 copies of your images.
When I am on the go, I work off of a travel drive which is an additional copy - not in place of, so then I would have 8 copies.
One of those hard drives lives in a fire proof safe and the others are kept in separate locations. Worst case, if there was a fire, or things got stolen, there’s always extra copies kept safe.
Once the gallery is complete, I back up all the final images onto all 4 external hard drives and cloud storage, upload to my online gallery and send to my clients.
Only after the gallery is delivered, and all final images (with the RAWS) are on all 4 hard drives and online cloud storage, do I format and delete my SD cards. So even after all is said and done, I will have 5 copies of your images and I never delete the RAW files, ever.
I purchase new hard drives every year (and as needed throughout) so that I never need to delete anything. It is worth the extra business expense of a few hundred dollars, to know that I am protecting your images and memories with everything I can. SD cards malfunction, hard drives corrupt and fail - but with multiple copies, even if that happens, I’ve got you covered.
