Forget jewellery, gadgets and other material objects around your home- I reckon most of us would say, without a doubt that photographs are one of our most treasured possessions.  So once those amazing memories are captured and are on the memory card- what do we do with them then?  As a professional photographer, I do everything in my power to make sure client images are backed up and safe and I now make sure I adopt the same care to my personal images.  Here are a few things that you can think about to make sure you never have that awful sick feeling in your stomach, that comes when you  think you have lost those precious family memories.

Get Them Printed

Sounds so simple right?  But how many of us take those memories that are stored on our computers and actually print them to keep?  A print, in a frame, or an album is so powerful.  Prints will out last all technology (as long as they are cared for!).  Our Grandparents, parents and other people we love may have held these prints before us and our photographs get passed down through generations, creating those everlasting stories and memories.

I love being surrounded by framed images in my home.  They trigger memories of happy times, special moments and keep the people I love close.  As a family, we never sit at the computer looking through images, but my children will often leaf through photo albums of holidays and their baby images.  At Christmas, my In-Laws dug out the old photo albums from when they were children and it was a brilliant evening of reminiscing, laughing and learning about family.

Back Them Up

I use a rule of 3- I have the original image and I back it up with 2 other copies on different devices.  You can buy external hard drives with a lot of storage space for a reasonable price.  Anyone who has ever had a hard drive fail will tell you the importance of having another copy stored somewhere else.

You can get cloud storage too which is a great reassurance incase of a fire or theft in your home.

USB’s

These are great little devices for external storage- but being little they can be easily lost!  Great for transferring files, they can be really handy.  Be aware though that technology is changing so fast, future generations may not have the technology to use a USB and may not be able to access the files stored on here.  Remember floppy disks? Exactly!!

Create Your Own Book

I love photo books.  Beautifully printed, they are a fantastic way to present and treasure those wonderful memories.  They look great on your shelf or fit perfectly under your coffee table and are really easy to access and enjoy. A great way for parents and children to look back at memories and they provide great talking points.  If they are looked after, they can be passed through generations.  They make great presents too!

Mobile Phones

How many of us have ever had that heart wrenching, stomach churning feeling if we have mis-placed our phones?  The photographs on it!! There are a few online options for backing up your phone images, but a personal favourite of mine is Google Photos.  You can download the app on your phone and it will automatically back up your photographs and videos when you are connected to wifi.

Enjoy those memories and make sure they are safe!