My camera and I have a very sordid relationship. I love it very much, but it doesn’t always get the attention it deserves. Then when it receives lots love from me, I don’t know what to do with all of the photos I’ve taken.
I’m OCD likes to take over when I’m processing photos. I bought a copy of Lightroom back in 2011 and it was a mixed blessing. I have lots of great tools and editing magic at my finger tips, but it’s easy to get hung up on needing every photo to be perfect. I struggle with that, but am working through it. I also have a very hard time deleting photos, and there’s a good reason for that…
But there are those moments where you and your camera are in sync. There’s something about the lighting, the composition and the timing. It’s like the universe comes together and says, “Quick, take a photo. Now! Click! Wow!” And you’re so happy you did.
In no particular order, here are just a few photos I’ve taken that are on my Flickr account that I care dearly about. I have so many more. I’ll try to share more soon.
Ruth and Christina at Christina’s bridal shower (Tiny Township, Ont. 2010)
Louise and Willie the adorable puppy (Dorset, Ont. 2010)
“Hands” taken at the Brickworks Farmers Market (Toronto, Ont. 2008)
A funky wall hanging in a bar (Montreal, Que. 2008)
Is it possible to be emotionally attached to your photos?
Yes, I think so. When Matt and I were on a cruise in 2009, I accidentally formatted one of my CF cards before downloading the photos. Our first cruise port was Labadee and I took close to 500 photos. It was insane. I just couldn’t stop taking photos. It was so much fun. I even had a chance to take some mocking photos of a Corona bottle next to some beach loungers looking at the ocean. You know that commercial, right?
That night, I thought we downloaded the photos from that particular memory card. The next day we were in Jamaica and I again took a lot of photos. Not as many as when I was in Labadee, but still a nice few shots were taken. Well later that day we were at a skating show on the boat (yes, our boat had an ice rink… is that not a little crazy?) and I don’t know why, but I had a horrible feeling suddenly come over me. I asked Matt about the memory card (we have a few different card sizes with us). Within a few moments I realized the horror: none of the photos from Labadee were copied over. I had erased all of the photos and taken new ones while in Jamaica.
I was heartbroken. I left the skating show and started to cry. I cried and cried and cried some more. I went back to our room and didn’t know what to do with myself. I felt such an overwhelming sense of loss… it’s hard to describe. It was like losing a part of me, like I lost something precious that could never be recovered. A very silly reaction to some photos, but I was so overwhelmed when it happened.
It took a couple of days, but eventually I was able to accept what had happened. To this day I warn fellow amateur photographers to avoid my mistake. I also encourage everyone to sign up for a free Flickr account and to consider getting paid account so that you can back your photos up online. Flickr is a great site that’s reliable and easy to use.
I still get a little sad when I think about all of those poor lost photos. At least we had our little point-n-shoot that Matt was using. So we do have a few photos from our time there.
One of the few photos we have from Labadee, Haiti (2009)
Nice post and good lesson from an unfortunate situation. About four years ago my Gmail and Facebook accounts were hacked…and everything was deleted. Photos, contacts, messages, records, everything – almost 8 years of email – was gone. I was lost. There were no backups (long story) and, aside from a few stiff drinks, my only option was to pick up and move on. Photos and emails do not make me who I am. I don’t like that it happened but I accept it. And hopefully it never happens again…especially with tips likes yours for file sharing & increased-security passwords, etc.
Thanks Karen! I’ll admit that I do have room for improvement when it comes to things like my email. My Gmail account was unavailable and i couldn’t access anything for a few days some years ago and I remember feeling so lost at the thought of not being able to access contacts or my email’s history. Even today, I’m not sure what I would do if it all just went poof.
I’m hoping that while I’m on maternity leave, I can try to move more photos to my Flickr account so that everything is backed up with confidence.