I’ll get right to the point. Make sure that your Most Valuable Pictures (MVPs) are safe. MPVs are any of your personal images of family, friends and loved ones.
I was scanning my photographs from my recent Dayton and Cincinnati Weddings and ran across an personal image that I forgot to add to my Lightroom catalog. The image existed on my harddrive, but I failed to add it to my collection. The reason why I decided to post a blog entry about my image, is two fold. First, since the images are mostly digital nowadays there are usually no printed copies and these images are instead simply cataloged on a computer. Secondly and most importantly as I tell my portrait and wedding customer, that even though I technically work for you on your wedding day, I ultimately work for your family. Here is why.
The wedding images that I take of any of my Dayton or Cincinnati brides become most valuable years down the road. Obviously brides and grooms are excited about receiving their wedding album, but how much more value and excitement will this album continue to generate in 20, 40, or 60 years when the bride’s granddaughter comments on how beautifully grandma looked on her wedding day. Unlike fine cheese or aged cognac, the value of the wedding images lives on even after being consumed by succeeding generations. That is why our custom wedding albums are such a cherished memory. Similarly, the personal images become more valuable at time passes. The image below is of the four generations of Surikovs (my grandad, father, myself and Slade (3 days old). Since the image was taken over 7.5 years ago, it has gained in value and can’t be taken again since my grandfather’s passing three years ago.
Four generations of Surikov men
Here are the image of my self, my brother and my dad from 2008 and the three of us and my stepsister from 1976. Again the value at the time of taking these images is limited, but as years go on they will grow in value. The point is that these are digital memories that need to cultivated, but also protected through backups and backups of backups. I also scan all of my hard copy prints (as I did with the image at the bottom) to convert them to digital format for safety.
Three generations of Surikov men
Two Generations of Surikovs
