Words and Pictures

Computers and digital photography have changed many things about photography. There is a total absence of guilt associated with shooting a digital “roll of film” because you know that if none of the pictures turn out, you can always delete them. When I was shooting film (Kodachrome was my favorite) I always asked myself, “is it worth it?” before taking a picture.

There is a downside to the sense of freedom associated with digital photography that can actually be very dangerous. With film, once you got the slides or negatives back from the lab it was a matter of filing or storing the pictures in a safe place, but unless your house went up in smoke it was not likely that you would lose your entire photo collection. With digital though, it is all too easy to lose a photograph, a days shoot or your entire photo library with the accidental click of a button or an “unexpected” hard drive crash.

If we are honest with ourselves, we all know that no hard drive is going to last forever. In fact, it is guaranteed that all hard drives will crash. The only question is, “when?”. Which brings me to the point of this entry: back up your photo files.

It is absolutely critical to have a backup drive and backup at least daily. I am absolutely sold on the backup features in Apple’s latest operating system, Leopard. Time Machine because it backs up my entire computer every hour and I can retrieve lost files without a hitch. In addition it is smart to make backup files to DVD and storing them offsite as added protection.

I photographed these twins at a youth performance in Beijing. They were both deaf.