Business Tips

Your Photography Business Is One Hard Drive Failure Away From Losing Everything
Business & Workflow

Your Photography Business Is One Hard Drive Failure Away From Losing Everything

The Day I Learned What “Paranoid” Really Means It was a Saturday in 2008. I was a newspaper photographer moonlighting on weddings to pay down my gear debt, and I had just wrapped what felt like a flawless six-hour shoot. Ceremony, portraits, reception, dancing. Good light, cooperative family, a groom who actually smiled. I got home, poured a coffee, and plugged in my CF card. Corrupted. Every single frame. Gone.

Your Photography Business Is One Hard Drive Failure Away From Collapse — Here's How to Fix That
Photography Business

Your Photography Business Is One Hard Drive Failure Away From Collapse — Here's How to Fix That

Your Photography Business Is One Hard Drive Failure Away From Collapse — Here’s How to Fix That In 2008, I lost an entire wedding. Not misplaced it. Lost it. A corrupted memory card, a rookie mistake about waiting to offload files, and suddenly 847 frames from a six-hour ceremony were gone. I spent two days and $1,200 on data recovery software before accepting that most of it was unrecoverable. I had to call that couple on a Sunday morning and tell them.

Your Photography Business Is Only As Strong As the Systems Behind It
Business & Workflow

Your Photography Business Is Only As Strong As the Systems Behind It

The Shot That Almost Ended My Career In 2008, I was shooting a wedding outside Sacramento. Full day, 400 frames, some of the best light I’d caught all year. I got home, went to transfer the card, and watched my computer read it as blank. Completely blank. The kind of silence that follows that moment is unlike anything else. I tried recovery software. I tried a second machine. Gone. I had to call the couple that night and tell them I had nothing.