Recently, I read an article from 2015– that the stated the average cell phone user takes an average of 150 photos per month, AND has over 600 photos stored on their phones. But I did a poll on my FB page and the average number on the phone was thousands—with and “s”. We have thousands of photos on our phones…some…with NO backups. We’ve become digital photo horders people! What happens if those photos vanish? Due to phone loss or an unexpected device failure?? OH…or WATER! It has happened to me! It’s terrible– the solution a back up–OR 2.
After losing several very important photos when my phone died unexpectedly, I became a backup addict. I will admit it…I spent a ridiculous amount of hours trying to find the lost photos, spent a decent amount of money on recovery software…and still to this day ((6 years later)) I hope the photos will just POP up. They havent. 🙁 Anyway– From that moment forward I have had several back up systems in place. 1. Home computer 2. External Hard Drive 3. DropBox 4. iCloud and 5. Google Photos. YES–5 back up systems! My photos are so important to me.
My personal computer has an ALL PHOTOS folder. There– all the photos are organized into YEAR folder, inside each YEAR folder there are 12 MONTH folders. I upload from my Dropbox, copy to my ALL Photos YEAR/MONTH folders then immediately to my External Hard Drive every month. I run DropBox, iCloud, Google Photos in the background of my phone always. Having these methods of storage make me feel “photo secure”. Is that even a thing?? If not, lets make it a thing! Shout it from the roof tops—LET’S BE PHOTO SECURE. lol.
Given how carefree we can be with our photos, and how easy it is to lose or delete a digital photo; you must have at least 1 backup system in place. There is a great danger that the most important memories shot today will never be seen by future generations. Don’t you want to see your great-grandma in her 12th duck lips selfie??! OF COURSE YOU DO!! I’m kidding!
there is one more thing I’ve added to my “security protocol”. Why not feel really secure with your memories–Photo books are tangible memory keeper that will stand the test of time; and they offer such a wonderful viewing experience for the family. Books are made to last forever! I personally want all my family memories to last for future generations.
Photo albums are great too, however, you need to print the photos, then buy a photo album and put all the photos in the album. It takes nearly the same amount of time–and money– to arrange the photos in a photo book and have them printed. But the best part of the photo book is will last a lot longer than a photo album, photos are always the right orientation AND the photos will not slide around ((or get stolen-by a kid or family member)). <<MOM–I’m sorry…I confess– I stole pictures from the photo albums..but I promise I will make it up to you! Surprise!! I’ve secretly digitized all your albums–seriously–ALL of them>
Oh…another neat thing about photo books is that they can also be reprinted by the company if another family member wants a copy, they get damaged or lost.
I use Mixbook for all my photobooks. I love the quality, the customer service, the easy to use software, the pre-made cute layouts. Mixbook is the only company I use for photo book printing.
If you need help getting ‘photo secure’…please reach out. It hurts my heart knowing that someone could lose their memories!
