It Could Happen to You...

A few months ago there was a story on Sunday Morning about how an entire generation's history (both in terms of a national photographic archives as well as people's personal photos) is going to be lost because people don't print their photos. Photos will disappear on hardrives, cds, or simply be deleted to make room for 'new' photos. Lets not forget that technology changes too...records, 8-tracks, cassettes, cds, dvds, blueray....

I have a 'happy snap' camera that I keep in Charlie's diaper bag for impromptu moments. I admit that I was bad and had almost a year's worth of (unprinted or backed up) moments stored on that camera. Needless to say, when the flashcard went bad I was sick to my stomach thinking that the first time Charlie ate spaghetti, got a balloon or went down a slide were lost forever!

Our friends at Fairborn Camera were able to run special data recovery diagnostics on that flashcard and salvaged those images for me. Thank God! I have tears in my eyes just thinking about what I could have lost.

Moral of the Story: PRINT YOUR PHOTOS & BACK THEM UP! Good intentions won't preserve your family's history.

PS. Did you know that a data CD only has a proven shelf life of five years? If you want true archival CDs, buy the gold CDs. You won't find them at local stores. Look for them online.

PPS. Did you know that photographs printed off your home ink jet printer only have a proven shelf life of three years or less? Have your 4x6's printed at a lab on photographic paper. They'll last longer and be cheaper in the long run from buying lots in printer ink.

PPPS. Have a quality professional photograph done and printed with the best archival materials available. I guarantee you won't ever regret it. Ever...