Wedding Photos stolen - how would you react ?

[kiwi]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/christchurch-earthquake/6141340/Photo-theft-adds-to-horror-year

I reacted by wondering about the photographers backup strategy...too harsh ?

[Ezookiel]

Why are they offering the reward? Shouldn't the photographer be the one offering a reward, since it's the Tog's failure to have a backup that has resulted in the loss.

[Cyza]

wow, some people really do have the worst of luck.
sad thing is thieves probably wiped the hard drive clean first thing they got it to minimize tracibility.

[mercho]

That's one thing that always scares me with wedding photos.Something happening in the process of getting them home, and the 12hr ish gap until I can get a copy of them off site.

I would have thought it was the photographers responsibility also?

[kiwi]

Interesting though to consider for a moment an interim protection strategy. I know most serious here have at least two backups, one offsite of all images within 24 hours or a few days at most - but what about in that period between the end of the wedding at that time.

a) camera gets stolen from back at venue
b) camera gets stolen from car on way home, or at home prior to download
c) computer and external hard drives are stolen from home before an offsite backup is done

etc

Can you mitigate all of these risks ? and how ? (I can think of a few ways)

[KeeFy]

My gosh... that is just sad.

There is so much that a photographer can do to ensure that the photographs are safe. I do my backups online via flickr in private albums after processing with a pro account. In order to download them you can use a script rather than downloading each individual one. The best thing is you can also share them with whoever you want using the privacy settings.

Also my NAS is located away from the computer hidden from sight. Even if they do take my computer... my NAS is still around.

As fo the risks kiwi mentioned, i guess you can only do so much to prevent the stuff from going missing.

[Art Vandelay]

Interesting though to consider for a moment an interim protection strategy. I know most serious here have at least two backups, one offsite of all images within 24 hours or a few days at most - but what about in that period between the end of the wedding at that time.

a) camera gets stolen from back at venue
b) camera gets stolen from car on way home, or at home prior to download
c) computer and external hard drives are stolen from home before an offsite backup is done

etc

Can you mitigate all of these risks ? and how ? (I can think of a few ways)

The only real practical and immediate way is with dual cards. Remove one or both from the camera & store seperately.

As soon as possible do your regular backup via computer etc onto a seperate drive & off site etc. You could pretty well do that onsite as well via a laptop if you didn't have a dual card camera..

As for the couple in question, I really feel for them. The photographer on the other hand is just plain negligent. There's really no excuse for having the only copy of the photos stored on a laptop.

[mercho]

While I think dual cards help with card failure, I don't really think they are the answer for theft and unfortunate events(if there even is an answer).

There isn't really much time on the day to be downloading photos to a laptop, and its generally not possible to be storing it separately either. Most of the time the gear is either in your car, with you/in your bag. One of those portable memory card back up devices (example (http://goeurope.about.com/od/photographytips/gr/hyperdrive_HD80.htm))) might be an option, but again, if your gear is in a position to get stolen, it most likely will be as well...

I am a firm believer in getting backups ASAP when I get home on different media, as well as getting copies off site. But there is always going to be the "risky" period when your travelling back home, and when you are shooting on the day. I think the best thing to do is be diligent and careful during that period, and not leave equipment in a position where its possible to get stolen.

In saying that, I would love to hear other peoples opinions if they actually back up "on the day" and how that goes for them, as I do worry about it!

[JM Tran]

While I think dual cards help with card failure, I don't really think they are the answer for theft and unfortunate events(if there even is an answer).

There isn't really much time on the day to be downloading photos to a laptop, and its generally not possible to be storing it separately either. Most of the time the gear is either in your car, with you/in your bag. One of those portable memory card back up devices (example (http://goeurope.about.com/od/photographytips/gr/hyperdrive_HD80.htm))) might be an option, but again, if your gear is in a position to get stolen, it most likely will be as well...

I am a firm believer in getting backups ASAP when I get home on different media, as well as getting copies off site. But there is always going to be the "risky" period when your travelling back home, and when you are shooting on the day. I think the best thing to do is be diligent and careful during that period, and not leave equipment in a position where its possible to get stolen.

In saying that, I would love to hear other peoples opinions if they actually back up "on the day" and how that goes for them, as I do worry about it!


There is actually A LOT of times during a wedding that one can back up photos or miscellaneous tasks. Such as during main meal and entree at the reception, the 'freshening' up gap between arriving at the reception early for the bride and groom to freshen up before appearing formally at the reception, and also during driving around. All of these moments I call down-time at weddings.

Down-time for me at weddings happen at every wedding. The trick and experience when it comes to weddings is not about trying to capture everything and be everywhere possible, its just knowing when and where to do it, and lean towards making quality images rather than quantity of images.

Its not uncommon to see myself and my 2nd shooter at the dinner table with the laptop and external drive out backing up photos before we go home or during dinner.

[mercho]

Snip

Yep Fair point. Where do you store these backups though? Send the ext drive home with the second shooter?

[JM Tran]

Yep Fair point. Where do you store these backups though? Send the ext drive home with the second shooter?

yeah pretty much:) we have an external hard drive we share that he takes home.

in the past he takes home my raws and i take home his raws, but I havent done that for a while, since now I tend to not let anyone else have a copy of them, colleague or not:D

[mercho]

lol fair enough

In my situation, its generally Just me, and my Girlfriend is usually there on the day helping out. So we are both usually in one car both going to the same place. So there is always going to be the "risky' period where everything is together, in the one car most of the time...

Its all about minimising risk I guess, so probably should try to take 2 separate cars, each with a copy of the photos...

[kiwi]

some good tips

another one I think is to have multiple smaller CF cards and never format them until you are sure you have your three backups sorted and safe. Try to keep the CF cards on you at all times. It's not likely you will get stolen. :D

[neil70]

I run smaller cards (4Gig) and back up to a laptop and then external as the cards fill. My wife usually sits at the laptop and does this in the quiet times during the wedding or when only 1 shooter is required. when she is away from the laptop the hard drive is in her or my pocket. we all go home in the one car, and if we get car jacked or something happens on the way home then we really can't help that.

[Bennymiata]

With all the bad luck this couple has had, if I were them, I'd be thinking very hard about whether to have children or not!

[fillum]

I reacted by wondering about the photographers backup strategy...too harsh ?I don't think so. Sounds like he didn't even have a copy of the files, let alone an off-site copy.

I think that pros should be expected to do what is reasonable to protect the data, but I don't believe it's practical to try to cover every single eventuality that might arise - bad stuff happens. What is "reasonable" might vary a bit from one situation to another, but should at the very least include making a copy of the files asap.

Incidentally, I wonder how many photographers periodically test their backup strategy?



Cheers.

[kiwi]

Theres no indication that the photographer was professional in the article either :rolleyes:

[fillum]

Theres no indication that the photographer was professional in the article either :rolleyes:
Good point...

[jasevk]

I think I'm going to go for one of these (http://www.kayellaustralia.com.au/static/viewers/), piece of mind right away... can back up as I'm in-between locations etc, or on the way home. However, my contract has a clause stating that elements out of my control include the loss of photographs while in transit, on location etc. The photographer in this case may well be covered by a similar clause?

At first, I didn't like the look of this clause, but I left it in for the pure fact that sometimes, the holes in the swiss cheese line up along with mars and the moon... and these things can happen...

[Ged]

I know it may not help get all the photos back but with a wedding dress in the background they could always shoot some of the shots recreate the day.