Nothing too fancy — just us hanging out for an hour or so somewhere you like. Perfect if you want to update your family photos or Facebook profile shots, or “just because,” but don’t want those stodgy overly-posed photos in front of the boring photo backdrop.

I’m thinking he’s going to be a carnivore when he gets older.

1. Have multiple copies

I know I’m dating myself here, but back in the days of film, storing photos was pretty straightforward: you put your negatives in a shoebox (or maybe a fire-proof safe) and crossed your fingers. With digital images, though, making copies is trivial, and there’s no good reason to rely on luck.

What happens if your hard drive fails? Or your laptop is stolen? Having a simple backup copy of your photos mitigates those threats. And making a backup can be as simple as burning photos to a disk (or two).

2. Multiple formats: make sure to diversify

CDs and DVDs are good because they’re permanent in that the photos can’t accidentally be deleted or overwritten. But disks can deteriorate over time making them unreadable, so they simply aren’t a good solution for long-term storage. Besides, our technology is constantly evolving, and what seems ubiquitous now may be hard to find later. Remember floppy disks? Try to find a computer now that can read one.

Future-proof yourself by having copies on different formats: Disks, external hard drives, and thumb/flash drives, are all good solutions, and online storage is becoming increasingly popular. Check out dropbox.com, Amazon’s Cloud Drive, and Apple’s iCloud, which all have free storage plans.

3. Store in multiple places: don’t put all your eggs in one basket

Great – now you have two (or even three) copies of your photos, just in case. Good job. But what if your house burns down? I don’t want to start sounding like a downer here, but given the value we place on personal photos, considering worst case scenarios isn’t a bad idea. Having all your copies in a single location just doesn’t make much sense.

If you’re using online storage, of course, you’re covered. But if you’re not, consider dropping off an external hard drive at mom’s house or a safe-deposit box.

And — most importantly — don’t forget to actually back them up! Get in the habit of doing this once a week or month or on whatever schedule makes sense for you. Having a backup plan is good, but not actually doing it doesn’t get you anywhere.

]]> http://www.martinbeebee.com/news/a-look-back-some-favorites-from-2011/feed/ 0 http://www.martinbeebee.com/news/a-look-back-some-favorites-from-2011/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MartinBeebeePhotography/~3/qp_M4R4wwWY/ http://www.martinbeebee.com/family-pictures/baby-pictures-presenting-drake/#comments Wed, 21 Dec 2011 16:09:38 +0000 admin http://www.martinbeebee.com/?p=962 When I photographed Sydnie and Scott’s wedding, little did I know I’d get the opportunity to document their family actually growing. I photographed a maternity session with them last summer, and then this follow-up shoot with one-month-old Drake. Congrats on the beautiful baby boy, you two! I’m looking forward to watching (and photographing!) Drake grow and change over the next year.

Wei-Lin likes playful photos, and wanted to do a mix of formal-ish and informal/photojournalistic pictures. We were able to start at Justin’s tattoo shop (Faith Tattoo, in Santa Rosa, CA), and I tried finding angles that played off the contrast between typical family photos and the cool surroundings.

Jaydon feigned shyness, but actually hammed it up pretty well.

Wei-Lin also claimed to be shy in front of the camera. Yeah, right.

After a few more candids, we tried to convince Jaydon that it would be fun if he grabbed his dad’s tattoo gear and pretended to give one of them a tattoo. Nope – wasn’t interested. So I came up with the idea of having him draw on his mom’s arm (as if he were giving her a tattoo). Permission to draw on mom’s arm? Oh, yeah – he was all for that.

I love having a variety of spots to shoot in (rather than just exchanging the gray background for a blue one), and we finished up back at their house with a couple of straightforward pics in front of their fireplace.

A great afternoon with a cool family, and we got an awesome selection of shots.

We’ve known Anne-Marie and Michael for several years, ever since we lived in Tucson, Arizona. When we had a chance to visit them recently while shooting a wedding for Lissett & Brig, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to photograph their big fluffy golden retrievers.

If you ever get to choose how and when to come back in a next life, make sure you choose “Dog in Michael and Anne Marie’s House.” It just doesn’t get much better.

Take their wedding, for example.

The wedding was held in an unexpectedly rough-and-tumble Arizona frontier-town-themed Cave Creek Smokehouse, complete with wagon wheels, hay bales, and an old wooden bridge over a pond. Add vibrantly-blooming bougainvillea, pretty tree-lights and a charming brick courtyard, and it was as fresh and surprising and all-together lovely as Brig and Lissett.

And take their reception.

It had a dizzying mix of music styles: there was the soul-grabbing live New Orleans-style jazz band, complete with belted-out trombone and thumping tuba; there was wild Latin music from the iPod, propelling the entire crowd to their feet, dancing with abandon, arms waving, whooping it up; and there was the karaoke. Who could forget the karaoke? People of all ages up on the stage, belting out their songs.

It was truly a night to remember. Surprising. Off-beat. Full of love and passion. Absolutely never a dull moment.

Just like Brig and Lissett.

A big thanks to Donna, the coordinator at the Cave Creek Smokehouse – she was awesome and had everything running like a well-oiled machine. (Which, if you know weddings, is no easy feat.)

They gathered friends and family at the beautiful Bella Vista Bed & Breakfast in Placerville, California, which features stunning views of the Coloma Valley and the American River. We had a wonderful time spending the day with Alicia, Todd, and their friends and family, and wish them all the best for the future. Judging from what we saw, it will be full of laughter.