I've just posted the first of several articles on minimizing risk in your imaging pursuits. Originally I had intended this series to begin two weeks ago, but the Japanese earthquake and tsunami made me decide to postpone the series. I didn't want to look as if I were insensitive to the greater suffering those events caused.
Still, it's a timely topic. We all encounter and have to deal with risks, and rather than wait until catastrophe strikes you, it's better to have a plan up front and act on it before disaster strikes. Today's article--which I had written prior to the Japanese earthquake--is about the risk of losing images. I'm sure that there are some Japanese who lost their precious images. Indeed, NHK TV had a featurette this past week on just that subject. Apparently the Self-Defense Force is collecting any photograph they find in the rubble while looking for victims and saving it. And people are indeed finding their lost photos in the SDF's collections. But those are printed images. What happened to the ones on their computers?
Today I'll address how to make sure the digital bits of your images get preserved from the moment you capture them to after a big disaster. I'll address other elements of "risk" in photography later in the week.