Feb

28

Storing Your Memories in Your Memory

February 28, 2010 | Leave a Comment

Many of our fondest memories are stored in the photos we took and preserved. Of course, it used to be very important to preserve not only the picture but also the negative so that other prints could be made. Now young people don’t even know what a negative is! So what is the best way to preserve those digital memories?

First, make sure you take plenty of pictures and have family members do the same. With massive memory storage capabilities today, we don’t have to worry about the expense of taking an overexposed picture or fumbling with rolls of film. To prepare for a recent trip to visit relatives, I purchased a camera with a four gig card. When I got home, in spite of taking lots of pictures, my camera said I could still take another 10,000 pictures without running out of memory!

After collecting your photos, don’t be shy about deleting ones you don’t want for whatever reason. There is no point in keeping them all. On the other hand, perhaps a certain picture isn’t the best but it preserves a moment you don’t want to forget. After all, it doesn’t cost anything to keep it except memory.

Computer programs allow you to set up electronic photo albums and catalog the pictures in whatever way you want. Be sure to identify each picture clearly. I have boxes of slides my parents took in Europe but I don’t have any idea where they were taken. This frustration can be eliminated by adequate labels.

At this point you may feel you are done with your project. But remember how fragile your memories are. One crash of your hard drive and you may lose everything! Or if you have them on floppies, the media may be obsolete and they are as good as erased! Further, the presence of a random magnetic field could likewise destroy them.

Formerly we thought CDs were more secure. Since nothing needed to touch the surface, nothing wore out. However, scratches, breaks, heat damage could all destroy your memories.

The answer is to store your photos in more than one place and in more than one location. If you store them on a CD, for example, keep copies at another home, at work, or in a safety deposit box. Before your hard drive is backed up regularly, and, if possible, back it up also on a network drive in another location. As media changes, backup your memories on the new media. If all your pictures were on 5 ¼ floppy disks, you might not ever be able to see them!

Today we can take and distribute, without printing, more pictures than people care to see. Just don’t allow those memories to be lost by not labeling them or by neglecting their preservation.

Following these tips should benefit you. But if you’re more interested in a professional handling your photography, consider the services of Expressions Photography, who are skilled in Virginia Beach wedding photography. See their website portfolio for results.


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