With the publication of the 52-page guide Photo Backup, local photo specialist publisher Media Publishing has responded to an urgent demand for a simple pocket guide on managing personal and family photo collections spread across multiple digital devices, storage cards, CDs and DVDs and the internet.
‘Could the most photographed generation the world has ever seen end up having little or no photographic record in 20, or even just five years from now?’ author (and PhotoCounter publisher) Keith Shipton asks in the introduction. The answer is, ‘Highly likely’ if individuals and families keep putting photo organisation in to the too-hard basket, or banking on ‘The Cloud’ to keep their precious photographic memories secure.
In a recent survey of readers of photo enthusiast magazine Photo Review Australia (published by Media Publishing) half of the respondents said they had ‘lost an important photo’, with computer failure, memory failure and external/portable drive failure among the main reasons supplied. One respondent lost their image collection upgrading to Windows 10, another when they re-formatted a memory card before downloading existing images, and a third through deterioration of writable CDs.
With personal computers and tablets replaced every few years, smartphones having an average life of under two years, external hard disk drives (backup drives) having a median life of 5 – 6 years before failing, and some optical media (CDs and DVDs) prone to rapid deterioration, a family’s photo collection is vulnerable on many fronts. Theft and accidental damage reduce security even further.
The various ‘free’ or low cost internet-based storage solutions are weakened by changing rules, sudden increases in or introduction of fees, and a growing awareness that the internet is a long way from being entirely secure.
Photo Backup argues that photo organisation starts the moment the camera shutter button is pressed, and is a lot simpler when ‘also-ran’ images are deleted straight away: ‘Delete early, delete often!’ is the mantra.
The guide tackles the alphabet soup of memory card formats and capabilities in non-technical language, and looks at the various media options available for storing a photo collection.
This is a guide for the vast majority of picture-takers who aren’t experts in sophisticated image editing programs and don’t need an industrial strength digital asset management system. It focusses on using basic file management tools such as Windows Explorer and the Apple equivalent, Finder, to bring together a photo collection under a logical structure.
The guide also subscribes to the notion that hard copy has a lot to offer when it comes to taking care of your favourite photos, and looks at the advanced photo printing technologies which are available today. There’s more than one way to print a photograph these days, with traditional photo printing just one of many options.
In short, Photo Backup is a simple guide ‘for the rest of us’ on how to bring a little order to the chaos that is the average 21st Century photo collection.
Print Edition – Pre-order for July 2017 delivery
RRP: $19.95 (inc GST)
A5, 52 pages, PUR bound, printed with ISO 14001 Environmental Accreditation
ISBN: 978-1-922156-28-0
Order the print edition at Photo Review’s online bookstore TaluBooks.com
Ebook Edition
RRP: $9.99 (inc GST)
Format: PDF
ISBN: 978-1-922156-29-7
Order and instant download at Photo Review’s online bookstore TaluBooks.com.
Also available at Amazon Kindle and Apple iTunes.
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