Protecting Your Assets

Well, I try to update this blog on a weekly basis, but life sometimes gets in the way and it's been several weeks since the last update.

Nonetheless, I thought I would share some advice for the photographers out there who may be reading. One of the biggest challenges of modern photography is protecting your digital assets. This is otherwise known as Digital Asset Management (DAM).

First, a book recommendation - go get a copy of "The DAM Book" by Peter Krogh from O'Reilly (ISBN# 0-596-10018-3). This is probably the standard text for understanding both the technology and the issues involved with proper digital management. This is not a simple subject, but it does break up into nice simple to understand parts. Taken in pieces, it's pretty easy to look at your own requirements and make informed decisions.



Peter Krogh also has an excellent website supporting readers of his book:
http://www.thedambook.com/

One of the big elements to proper Digital Asset Management is making sure you have backup copies of everything of value. If you're shooting as a hobby the loss of your work is heart breaking. If you're shooting for a living, it's professionally fatal. Clients generally do not accept any excuse for the loss of their work, nor should they.

I have multiple copies of everything on multiple drives, usually in three different places. I'll talk more about my office data management in a future post, but challenge of my own DAM is how to protect myself from theft or loss. For example, some miserable soul, breaks in and steals my equipment. Everything is insured, but what happens when they steal my harddrives and backup harddrives? As well, what happens if there is a fire or other event that damages my office.

Everything is replaceable under my insurance policy, but I can't get my data back. Scary thought, losing thousands upon thousands of photographs, never to be able to replace them.

My first solution, was to backup my data onto removable hardrives and simply put them in a safety deposit box. I do this once a quarter and might increase this to once a month, but I am still exposed between bank visits. Some shooters I know keep the backup disks at home and the studio.

Now I'm taking advantage of the services of Photoshelter. This company was formed to focus specifically on the storage requirements of photographers and offer an online storage from 100MB to over a terabyte. I'm currently chewing into a terabyte, but I can upload a shoot as soon as I complete it and access these files form anywhere in the world. I'm still bringing all of my files online, but I'm pretty happy with this solution and their customer service.

More info here