keeping them safe

I have written before about the reasons to pay for a photographer, please click on the link to read them.

I read about a couple who did have a professional photographer shoot their wedding. The article didn't say if they paid him; he was a close friend.

All of his equipment was stolen. The couple and the writer of the article seem very forgiving, both saying he was doing his best to get the memory cards back and asking other guests to contibute their pictures to an album he is compiling.

At first it appeared the crime occurred soon after the ceremony, but it actually happened a week later. Meaning for a week the photographer carried the only media containing the wedding files around in his camera bag.

This got me thinking. After a shoot I travel home and then copy the files to my computer, which is backed up to an external drive. This is kept at another location when I am not using it. But what about the travel between venues and then the journey home. I’ve read a lot from professional photographers, online and in magazines, they say the camera must have two cards, you must backup your files from the computer. But I haven’t read anything about that period after the shoot but before you get to your computer. Shooting tethered with an internet connection could alow immediate off site backup, but what if you are on location and off line?

I know back in the days of film there was only one copy, and no backup until the negatives could be duplicated. Today photographers are very focused on backups and duplicates. When Nikon released the Z6 and 7 with only one card slot the internet exploded with criticism. It had calmed down by the time Canon released their mirrorless range with only one slot. Even having two slots wouldn't have helped the photographer because they would both have been in the camera.

I guess there is only so much you can do to avert disaster. From now on I’ll remove the memory cards after a shoot and keep them on me.

I’m not sure how practical uploading from the camera or computer straight after a shoot would be.

But I would never leave it a week without backing up my files, and certainly not for a set as valuable as a wedding shoot.

As I said in the post I linked to at the top of this page. Having a professional provide a service should mean you can expect a level of competence. I don’t know if waiting a week to backup the files was normal for this guy or not, but it would seem he let the couple down and showed a lack of professionalism.

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