Remember Me
forgot your password?

3 Fireproof Ways Of Protecting Your Family Photos

It is probably one of our greatest fears of loss, to be standing amidst the burnt out remains of what used to the place where our family home once stood. The absolute devastation of not know where to start in putting the pieces all back together, personal keepsakes, important documents, your clothes, insurance papers, financial information and your photos all lost.

Devastating.

Okay so you are glad to be alive, to have gotten your family and pets out safely, you can be thankful to God for this, but this is a situation that you never thought you would find yourself in. Doesn't this just happen to other people?

Yes this does happen to other people, in the wake of the recent tragic Australian bus fires that swept through Victoria and at a pace so ferocious that caused the destruction of over 700 homes and claimed almost 200 lives. It is something that is happening more and more as our planet's temperature continues to rise.

Listening to some of the survivors stories, you hear over and over again how many of them lost their treasured family memories, that were taken away in the flash of the flames. Pictures of ancestors from past generations, those dear sweet photos of the grand children and the precious moments when your own children were young, your own wedding day - all gone.

One thing that stood out as a major contributing factor in the high numbers of lives lost in these fires was the speed at which properties and people were caught by the flames rapid onset. Being able to get everyone out including the last dash back to the house to get the photos albums was not a privilege afford by many, in fact some reports indicate that this one act may have contributed to the loss of some peoples lives.

Tragic.

So How Do We Get Better Prepared For Such Events?

3 Ways to Protect Your Family Treasures

Method One - Back Up Your Photos To CD or DVD

The first way to ensure that your family photos are safe in the event of a fire or hurricane, or tornado is to have them backed up and stored off site.

You can have your photos scanned on to your home computer if they are original prints, then saved to a CD or DVD and stored with a relative.

This method is fairly inexpensive to do but the downside is you need to be vigilant in remembering to do the scan or save to your computer from your digital camera and then on to the removable media CD or DVD for storage.

This method is the most time consuming.

The Second Way Photo Backup the Free Method

The second method is to use a free photo sharing service such as Flickr or Picasaweb to store your photos online. The advantage with using such a service you can get into the habit of uploading all your photos to online web albums that you can easily with friends and relatives.

Your friends are able to download your photos and have prints made for themselves, which in itself is another level of extra insurance that your photos are going to survive come what may.

The only downside to the free method of online photo backup is that you can never be sure that your photos will not be removed or lost from their servers. In fact many stories can be found of people who have used free photo back up or sharing sites as their only source of their photos, and had all their memories swiped.

Some of us may be familiar with the process here, when we are uploading our photos from our cameras memory we are asked if we want to delete the originals or keep them. Don't know about you but I always click to delete. Now this method is okay if you them stored on your home computer as well as your photo sharing back up website service but some people for want of space saving have deleted their home copies.

Another problem associated with most things free on the web these days is advertising. If you don't want your photos sharing their web space along side of annoying advertising then you may need to consider my suggestion of the third way of ensuring your photos survive.

The last and perhaps the most prevalent and offensive an issue you will no doubt come up against on the free photo sharing sites is the presence of pornographic images and advertisements that people upload. In fact when doing my research for this article I was confronted by an overwhelming amount of sexually explicit materials both video and still images, that left my stomach churning with disgust.

As they say, like all things in life, "you get what you pay for" and in this case not paying you get more than you bargained for. And it stands to reason that these free sites just don't have the staff or resource to ensure the porn is kept out as they only make money from their ads.

The Third Way To Safe Back Up Photos - Paid Photo Storage

It may come as no surprise that the third way to achieve safe, secure and guaranteed backup of your treasured family photos is to use a photo storage website that charges a small fee, of around $40 per year is the same as about .10c a day. Not bad insurance for your life most treasured memories.

All the advantages of online easy to upload storage that in some cases is unlimited, as the free websites usually limit your photos storage amounts so you eventually run out, but not on the paid service websites, it is usually all you upload you can store.

Of course there are no annoying advertisements, the pornography is strictly excluded by the vigilant staff, so you can rest assured that the photos of your daughters 5 birthday party you send to your aunt in Sassquandicha are not going to be presented alongside an ad for an adult xxxx rated website.

There are many of the paid services to choose from but from my research the very best at this point in time would have to be Smug Mug. They have the best and easiest to use service I have found. They even come with a free 14 day trial that allows you to upload a few photos to test them out and see if they are as good as they claim to be.

I don't' know about you but if you are anything like me you are pretty tired of paying for things on the Internet that don't work out. I know I am so the fact of being able to safely test the service before I pay, is paramount to me trying anything these days.

Free Trial and No Credit Card Required

Another good thing with the free trial is you don't need to give any credit card details, just sign up and upload your photos.

So if safe, secure photo back up Is what will help you sleep better at night is what you are after then I can thoroughly recommend you check out the paid online photo sites for total peace of mind.

Greg Gillespie

To find out more about safe and secure photo storage and sign up for a Free Trial for 14 days to Smug Mug, please click this link:
http://www.consumer--reports.org/SmugMug/

The author of this article is Greg Gillespie the founder of the alternate photo back up service www.photospotlight.ning.com

Rate this Article: 4 / 5 stars - 1 vote(s)
Print Email Re-Publish

Add new Comment



Captcha

  • Latest Digital Photography Articles
  • More from Greg Gillespie

Casio Digital Cameras

By: Steven Letsinger | 03/01/2010
Founded in Tokyo in 1946, and incorporated in 1957 as Casio Computer Co., Ltd, Casio Computers are the manufactures of the world famous Casio products. It makes a broad assortment of electronics that consists of, among others, calculators, mobile phones, watches, TVs,PCs, PDAs and Casio digital cameras too. It entered the digital camera market in 1995, introducing the world’s first consumer digital camera with an LCD monitor.

Learn Digital Photography - 3 Ways to Start Thinking Outside the Box

By: Wayne Turner | 02/01/2010
The creative photographer is one who has learnt to think outside the box and take their photography to a higher level. Now if you are like me this statement doesn't mean much but it has been bandied about for decades. Often I am told that successful people think outside the box.

Use White Balance to Improve the Look of Your Photos

By: Brian Higdon | 01/01/2010
Just as with film based cameras, digital photographers face a problem of getting pictures with accurate color. A common problem is getting a picture that has a color cast that is wrong, such as too much red, blue or green in the photo. This problem is generally because of an improper white balance setting in the camera.

Creating a Compelling Stock Photo

By: John M. Lund | 01/01/2010
There is just no getting around the fact that we are drowning in images and it will only get worse. As any of you who regularly read this stock photo blog will know, this is something I think about constantly, along with how stock photographers can continue to thrive in such an environment

Why ISO Still Matters for Digital Cameras

By: Brian Higdon | 31/12/2009
Digital cameras have an ISO setting. However instead of being set each time you change the film, you can change the ISO setting for each picture. The ISO setting you select, or the one the camera auto selects for you can make a big difference in the quality of your image.

Downloading Photos from your new iPhone can be done

By: Paul Ingersole | 31/12/2009
What Software can I use? There are many options like Photoshop elements or lightroom,Apples aperture or Adobes Bridge downloader just to name a few. Obviously a few minutes on Google will give you many options and many facts about, the various software offered. I will forget the fancy options for a minute and provide you with some basic instructions on photo downloading.

Choose the Right Image File Format For Your Digital Photo Needs

By: Brian Higdon | 30/12/2009
When you are taking photos with a digital camera, be it a point and shoot or a 35mm SLR, the image you capture is stored to a memory card using a particular file format. Most digital cameras offer you the ability to store files in JPEG, TIFF or RAW format.

Tips to Extend the Battery Life of Your Digital Camera

By: Brian Higdon | 30/12/2009
As with most consumer electronic items these days, digital cameras are battery hogs. They are responsible for powering a number of items within the camera that explains the battery drain including the LCD display, photo storage to the memory card, the flash and the motor that controls the zoom lens.

Is The USA The Fattest Nation On Earth?

By: Greg Gillespie | 23/07/2009 | Health
It is hard to believe the recent findings of health researchers that Australia has overtaken the US in obesity numbers, a race that no one really wants to win. It is especially hard to believe when you see the record crowds turning out for events like the annual Great Brisbane Bike Ride. Perhaps it was the wake-up call we needed and people are finally taking heed of the dire warnings issued about the consequences of a sedentary lifestyle.

How To Make Money With Twitter, Fully Automated

By: Greg Gillespie | 02/07/2009 | Business Opportunities
For one of the seemingly stupidest ideas ever released on the general web population, Twitter surprisingly now has an effective way of making you money that is truly an automated stream of cash for those in the know.

Can Any SEO Consultant Justify a Fee of $4,000 per hour?

By: Greg Gillespie | 01/07/2009 | Online Promotion
What is SEO or search engine optimization really worth? The answer to that question depends upon the results the seo consultant can create for the customer and what that return on investment produces for their business.

Great Holiday Activities On Oahu Hawaii and Beyond

By: Greg Gillespie | 24/06/2009 | Vacation Rentals
 If you are planning a vacation to Oahu, we recommend that you spend some time on the other islands such as Maui, Kauai and the Big Island (Hawaii). Sure there are plenty of fun things to do in Honululu but the real Hawaii is to be found out there beyond the concrete and neon lights.

Photography Tips for a Great Pet Painting

By: Greg Gillespie | 23/06/2009 | Visual Art
So you have decided to get your favourite pet immortalised in pet portrait or oil painting and now you want to prepare your photographs to be submitted to the chosen artist and you are wondering how best to photograph your fine feathered or furry friend.

Vacation Rental Sunset Beach Hawaii

By: Greg Gillespie | 09/06/2009 | Vacation Rentals
Have you ever dreamt of escaping the winter blues to a tropical paradise complete with incredible surf, warm water, swaying palm trees and friendly locals? If the answer is yes then I have the perfect recipe to warm the cockles of your heart for the coming winter season.

Live Active Lose Weight Naturally

By: Greg Gillespie | 12/05/2009 | Supplements & Vitamins
Your body, all your organs and cells, need energy in order to function. This energy is provided by the fuel you eat, and a calorie is the fuel, or energy, value of food. Calories are most often comprised of fat and carbohydrates, and sometimes amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. Whether you are sitting still or running a marathon, calories are burned, or metabolized. The best weight loss pills might aid in your calorie-burning efforts.

Painter Tips For Surface Preparation On The Northern Beaches of Sydney

By: Greg Gillespie | 06/05/2009 | Remodeling
It comes as no surprise that painting your house is a task that many of us are rewarded with if you are on a tight budget and the letters D I Y don't scare you too much.

Submit Your Articles Free: Signup
Article Categories




Use of this web site constitutes acceptance of the Terms Of Use and Privacy Policy | User published content is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Copyright © 2005-2008 Free Articles by ArticlesBase.com, All rights reserved. (0.23, 1, w2)