Sadly, in the last month, I have had 2 people call me and tell me their homes had started on fire.
If everyone made it out alive, what would be the first thing your stomach would get sick over losing?
For me, and for many- pictures, memories, your life.
If you only have physical copies of your memories, you run the chance of them going up in flames, water damage, the kids ripping them, and countless other things I'm sure kids or pets could be capable of. haha Get a digital copy to save.
Now let's look at the flip side of this conversation.
Digital copies.
Digital copies you can store in a fireproof box.
That makes you feel a bit better, right?
BUT, again- what happens when you take that disc out and drop it, and you get a huge scratch from one end to the other. Gone. Everything. In 1 swipe. Or you pull out your disc from 10 years ago to find out- uh oh- just like VHS and tapes, your disc isn't the new cool, hip thing and you have no way to access your images.
Always have 2 versions of your images.
We always assume nothing is going to happen, but it can, and if it does, it will be heartbreaking.
I make sure if someone comes to see me they leave with art to show off and enjoy every day AND a digital image to preserve the memory. I make sure if digital files are important to them that they also walk away with a physical copy to hold and pass around. BOTH are so so so important.
Here's a few ways to keep your memories alive, using 2-3 of these options you should have all your bases covered:
Discs or USB sticks stored in a fire proof box.
External hardrive
Online storage system
Quality prints that won't fade in the sun
Properly framed images to help avoid moisture damage
Don't store your images on your computer and only your computer. Computers crash ALL the time and there's NO WAY to get them back.
Don't post images to any online social site and then delete the original copy in hopes they will be around forever. Remember Myspace. Yeah... times have changed, we've all moved on.
And don't get lose prints to float about in a drawer. If a fire does strike you can throw albums and frames out a window a whole lots faster than digging threw your drawer or attepting to throw out your whole china cabinet.