Ok, so what does transitory even mean? It means not permanent, and that is a scary thing when we think about our cherished images sitting on a thumb drive in a desk drawer collecting dust. Your loved digital images are eventually going to disappear. Why is that? well, there are a few reasons.
1. The USB gets corrupted and becomes unreadable.
2. The USB Gets destroyed. Yep, I've been there, I was sitting in my chair at my office and spun around and my chair caught the USB that was sticking out of my computer, and CRUNCH that was that.
3. Technology has moved on and there isn't a way to view the images any longer. Awe yes, I have been around long enough to see this happen many times over. We are a very intelligent species and things are always getting better when it comes to technology and the old ways of doing things get left in the dust.
But what about the cloud? That's not on a USB or old CD's you ask. Well, it's still an issue. Cloud-based services are great. I use them. But the files are still being stored in a server somewhere. And servers are not safe from getting corrupted either or even destroyed.
Did you know that Printing can be archival? That if you print with archival inks and papers with proper care those printed images will last 100's of years! So pretty much long after both, you and I are gone the photographs and our story through images will live on.
So get those images off of your device and into your hands.
Another Reason to Print
There is another benefit to printing other than just preserving. Do you know what that is? I'll wait...
Ok, I'm going to bet that you didn't come up with what I'm going to say, and if you did I owe you an apology. (If you are a fellow photographer that doesn't count, No soup...oops, sorry for you)!
The benefit is, that there is 65% more emotional connection when we hold a printed image in our hands as opposed to viewing them on a device. That's a huge difference!
Now mind you I'm not saying there is no place for digital images in fact I think they are very important to our way of life and find it amazing that we can share images digitally with loved ones and within seconds. In fact, my Photography studio is a hybrid studio, which means most clients end up with an art piece an archival art piece I might add, and their digital files.
Caring For Your Digital Files
At Courtney Ranck-Copher Photography we make sure our clients go home with care instructions for all of the products they purchase. But in case you have a USB device or about 100. You should know how to care for those.
1. Make sure to always keep the cap on your device so that harmful dust and other particles don't ruin the device.
2. Store it in a safe place. Not rolling around in the bottom of your purse. (Raise your hand if you've done that. Picture me with my hand raised).
3. Don't turn your computer on or off while it's inserted.
4. Be sure to make copies and store them in separate locations. Like in the cloud and on an external hard drive. So for example your house burns down you have your images safe because you didn't keep all the copies at home.
5. Insert them and eject them per your computer's instructions.
I hope this was helpful and that you care for your USBs and also make sure you are printing your images through a reputable place to make sure they are archival.
Let me know how you are taking care of your USBs and if you are planning on being better about printing those cherished images.
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