Over the new year, I got a new network drive that allows me to wirelessly backup my images when I am connected to my home network. It was a very exciting toy that +Alex Kennberg set up for me. Storing and backing up images is a big topic for photographers. I recently listened to a story from a friend who lost 2 years of images on her hard drive. As a creator of images, it’s painful to hear this happen to a fellow photographer and friend. And I’m sure it’s even more painful to experience it first hand.

Luckily, I have never lost an image due to storage or backup problems. Frankly, I’m paranoid about losing images and in this instance - unlike in most others - my paranoia has been a gift.

Home Storage and Backup
The RAW files from my camera gets downloaded to my computer, an external hard drive, and my wireless network storage. After editing images, I save a jpg and a psd version of edited images in all 3 locations. Every 10 days, I also run time machine on my Mac on another hard drive. Once I am done with my images and no longer need them on my laptop, I delete the files from my laptop.

At any point, I have 2 different sources where my images are stored: my external hard drive as primary storage, and wireless network as backup. At the very worst, I can also look into Time Machine to recover any files. If I had a studio office, I would also keep my hard drive at home and my network storage drive at the office. Yeah, didn’t I tell you I’m paranoid?

Storing and Backing up on the road

It’s trickier to store and backup images when I’m on the road as I don’t always have reliable Internet coverage to upload anything online. My routine on the road is to bring a portable external hard drive and as many memory cards as possible. I tend to shoot on different memory cards, label them by date, and backup all images on the hard drive. This way the images are available on the memory card as well as the hard drive. When I get home, I will immediately upload the images to my network drive.

There isn't unique technology that will always protect your images. Hard drives break, offices get flooded, and there’s always an element of human error. The only solution is to make sure your image files are available on different sources. It’s the best way to reduce your chance of losing a photograph.

When I was in New York, I met up with a friend to explore the city and I insisted that we walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. It was a terribly touristy thing to do but I felt it necessary for the sake of getting some images if anything else. I have to say, perhaps it was because of the overcast weather and heavy fog, the experience was underwhelming. But, it did give me an opportunity to play with some black and white images.



When the weather is grey and the colors in the photographs are muted, one of my favorite things to do is to turn the photos into black and whites. This preference is rooted in my B&W film photography days. Oh how I love myself some B&Ws. Here is a tip for doing black and white images, the key is in the contrast. I always try to get my blacks to look darker, whites to look brighter, and the other colors in between to show range in contrast. This way you create a strong, dynamic image without worrying the image falling flat due to lack of colors.

The following is a guest post from Holiday Hypermarket UK. In this post, they tell us about one of my favorite European destinations, Spain.

Spain is a wonderfully eclectic nation and each city contributes to that perfect image of a culture unlike any other. For this reason, it's the perfect destination for a variety of holidays limited only by one's imagination and budget; the Spanish people do love to put on a show with rich variations of music and colorful dances. Book early and search around for the best deals going as there will be plenty.

Have a taste of Spain's many varied attractions by spending time in Barcelona, one of the most recognisable cities in the world. Not only do they house the greatest football team in the world and one of the greatest stadiums at the Camp Nou, but there is an atmosphere there that never sleeps. Stroll down Las Ramblas or visit the Ciutat Vella for a full idea of this magnificent culture. Take in Flamenco shows and experience the festivities during Fira de Santa Llúcia, the renowned Christmas festival held in mid-December.

Others may wish to travel inland to the nation's capital city, Madrid. Madrid is an artistic delight, stunning in design and proud in terms of heritage. It boasts an impressive nightlife and offers a little something for everyone. The Spanish Empire is characterised by the impressive Palacio Real and its contemporary aura is showcased by the equally stunning Puerta del Sol, a common gathering place for excitable tourists. The amount of plazas in the city is overwhelming as well and you're unlikely to ever be too far away from one, making shopping and seeking delicious local cuisine an easy challenge.

The southern and eastern coasts of Spain are broken down into separate destinations when it comes to tourists. The Costa del Sol lies on the south whilst the beautiful white cliffs of the Costa Blanca seep up Spain's east coast. Both are fantastic destinations and feature renowned cities such as Malaga, in the south, and Alicante in the west, a perfect place for a relaxing city break.

Valencia and Seville are both overlooked by the larger cities in Spain but are worth visiting for their own unique reasons. Whilst Valencia prides itself on its artsy glow and beautiful architecture, such as the City of Arts and Sciencewhich glows perpetually by the River Turia, Seville is perhaps the most culturally important place in the nation with its selection of cathedrals, museums and the celebration of regional holidays and festivals such as Semana Santa (Holy Week).

I have long suspected that my preference for physical books to e-readers stem from my early education in film photography, where I learned to love the texture and weight of film prints in my hands. I enjoy reading fiction and nonfiction alike, but I tend to donate those books after I read them. The only exception is photography books.


Michael Freeman’s book, The Photographer’s Eye, is the staple of my photo book collection. It is a classic teaching manual on the fundamentals of making a great photograph. Michael Freeman offers theory on design, color, contrast, and intent without being overly technical in his language. When I first got this book, I was already 3 years into my photography career, but I held onto it because of the level of detail in which Freeman discusses the key elements of photography.

My resolution for 2013 is to read one photo book a month. I revisited The Photographer's Eye for my January book since it is a great refresher on photography fundamentals. For February, I’ll be reading David Duchemin’s Photographically Speaking, follow along!

What else should I be reading? Leave a recommendation below.

When I met up with fellow photographer Sivan Askayo in New York, we got to talking about her project "Intimacy Under the Wire". I expressed that I also wanted to do a personal project but couldn't find something that struck a chord with me.

Personal projects are a healthy creative practice for photographers. It allows you to perfect your craft over a consistent period of time. It is a long-term practice in theme, concept, and vision. Street photographer Eric Kim did a piece on starting personal projects that will be helpful for any photography newcomers thinking about their own projects. There are many personal project ideas: 365 day project, 52 week project, self portraits. But I wasn't interested in any project templates. I wanted to work on something that was entirely my own, like Sivan's "Intimacy Under the Wire". I wanted something that I would stumble upon almost by accident, yet feel compelled to continue polishing for months, if not years, after.

Sivan suggested that I flip through my images and look for patterns, photos that could work together as a series. Upon returning home, I did this exercise with my most recent shots from New York, Seattle, New Orleans, and Vancouver, and came up with more than a few good ideas for personal projects. I might just decide to pursue one of these in the near future!

Scooters

Lately I've been noticing these joyful methods of transportation from Toronto to New Orleans. Visually, I am drawn to the colors of the vehicle like the pop of red on the left image. Although I don't feel a strong connection to the subject, it would certainly make for an interesting project if I were able to continue it.

Doors & Windows

This set of images immediately jumped out at me, I've been a long time fan of interesting door ways and windows. I've always like photographing different shapes and crafts and this subject lends itself nicely.

Red

My favorite color, a timeless classic. It is no surprise that the scooter shot was red and the Doors & Windows I found were against a red background. The color carries different meaning in different cultures: love, lust, death. I would love to build a collection of 25-30 images from around the world with a strong red color focus. This project could lend itself to so many possibilities.

10,000 Feet

In profiling a location for a travel story, an overview shot of the city is almost always necessary, so I always have this image in my arsenal of photos. To date, I have built up a collection of images shot from high up, that gives an overview of the destinations from "10,000 feet".

I never had the chance to go skiing when I was little since neither my parents nor close friends were skiers. Once my elementary school organized a ski trip but that was my entire encounter with any type of alpine sports. Despite growing up 2 hrs outside of Whistler and being local to another handful beautiful mountains, I never learned how to ski.

This season, I decided to take up a lesson at Mount Seymour, followed by a ski trip with friends to Grouse Mountain, when I was in Vancouver. My initial excitement quickly sizzled into anxiety on the day before my ski lesson. I recalled stories of family friends and co-workers who had broken wrists and legs while skiing or snowboarding, and I almost let myself listen to my snow-fearing parents try to talk me out of going all together. I thought I would definitely break something. I was brooding with fear.

When I did get to my lesson, I immediately realized that the experience would be nothing like the near-death experience I had created in my mind. I actually really enjoyed being in the snow and riding the powder. In fact, I was kind of good at skiing, well, at least pizza-ing and falling. Yeah, I was very good at falling. Given how much fun I had, I don’t know why I waited so long before learning how to ski. It’s silly how we let ourselves believe what we want at the hint of fear. The next time I’m afraid of the unknown, I’ll let my ski experience be a reminder to stop dreaming up fictional excuses.

Also, I want to provide a shameless (and unsolicited) plug for my ski instructor. If you are looking for a ski lesson on Mount Seymour, I recommend Jordan - young guy who recently moved to Vancouver from the UK. He was all smiles and gave me the confidence I needed to really enjoy my first ski experience.

Happy New Year & let 2013 be the year you overcome your fear!

A pitstop in the northwest whilst on my way home to Vancouver led me to Seattle. As a travel photographer, I enjoy visiting local markets everywhere I go and this Washington city was no exception. Of course, famous for its Pike Place Market, Seattle showed me its abundance of seafood and fresh produce. I also couldn't resist a stop at the first Starbucks and famous piroshkis.

I have thought about moving to Seattle a few times in the last year. I have heard that the city is beautiful when it's sunny, but I think I would go crazy with 10 months of rain every year. If you're wondering why I have been stressing over moving lately - and writing about whether I should move to California - it's because I am moving next summer. Although I'm settled in Toronto, I have little ties to the city and I'm on the hunt for my next home. In the last few months, I have narrowed down potential optionals to Asia, Singapore or Tokyo to be specific, or California.

If you could move to anywhere in the world, where would you go?

I prefer to spend time in New York in the early winter because the Holidays/New Year always brings out a fresh energy in the city. This winter, I headed down to Manhattan to spend some time with fellow photographer Sivan Askayo. It was great to meet an online friend in person. Sivan and I talked about our families, personal and professional goals, and of course, New York. Sivan was kind enough to take me on a tour of her favorite places and shops in the city while we exchanged photo tips.

In a city as massive as New York, I actually find myself drawn to small visual details: a bright red storefront, a pop of graffiti, a wreath hung on a garden gate. These details are everywhere, all you have to do is pay attention. Everywhere I looked, people were busy shopping, greeting friends, and warming up around a hot drink. I love capturing the city in such great spirits.

Happy 2013 & happy travels!