Storing Your Memories in Your Memory

Many of our memories are best preserved in our collection of pictures. Formerly we were told to preserve not only the picture but also the negative; then other prints could be made. The younger generation doesn’t even know what a negative is! So how can I preserve my digital memories?

First, make sure you take plenty of pictures and have family members do the same. With the ability to take large numbers of pictures at no cost today, you can get several shots of every scene, just to be sure. To prepare for a recent trip to visit relatives, I purchased a camera with a four gig card. When I got home, I still had room to take more than 10,000 shots!

After collecting your numerous pictures, delete the ones that are not clear, exposure is wrong, people are frowning or in the shadows, or duplicates. Don’t feel you have to keep every picture. On the other hand, don’t be shy about keeping one that is special, though it isn’t your best shot. It doesn’t cost any more to keep it.

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 many colored slides taken by my parents in Europe but I don’t how of what they are taken. Clear labels can minimize this frustration.

You may think you are done now. Yet, consider how fragile your preserved memories are. If they only exist on your hard drive, it only takes one crash and all is lost! Or if you have them on floppies, the media may be obsolete and they are as good as erased! Floppies are also vulnerable to magnetic fields.

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

One answer to this is storing your photos in several places and several locations. If you store them on a CD, for example, make extra copies and store them in a safety deposit box, in another home, or, at least, in another place at your home. Be sure to back up your hard drives and, if possible, subscribe to a service that backs up your data on a server somewhere else. As the media changes, be sure to transfer the pictures to the new media, lest it become unavailable. If all your pictures were on 5 ¼ floppy disks, you might not ever be able to see them!

Today without printing, we can take huge numbers of pictures and share them with just about anyone at no cost. Just don’t allow those memories to be lost by not labeling them or by neglecting their preservation.

Hopefully these tips will help you. But if you’re more interested in a professional handling your photography, consider the services of Del Haven Studio, an accomplished photographer in Virginia Beach.  View their website portfolio for samples of their quality.