I’m here to tell you a scary story about why you should print your digital images.

IT SOUNDS DRAMATIC, BUT I LOST SOME OF THE MOST PRECIOUS MEMORIES I’VE EVER HAD.

I cannot get them back. As I sat at the computer, balling, staring at the screen in disbelief, I thought of my own clients. The many images they received online: digital download to their phone or computer. And I started to worry.

Did my clients have their systems backed up?

Have they printed at least one photo of each image they purchased? If their files are corrupted they’ll never get them back.

My computer continued to show me files, saved on disks, that wouldn’t load. Videos that went black. The memories from my wedding day erased forever.

WATCHING EACH VIDEO STRUGGLE TO PLAY, MY HEART CONTINUED TO SINK.

Did I really not have a single file that worked? Was the video of my first dance as husband and wife gone forever?

I panicked and I cried. I was completely heartbroken. Who could I contact that might have copies? I messaged my mother, our friend who took the video – nothing.

This is why you should print your digital images!

Tears streamed down my face as I thought of the memories lost. My dance with my dad: gone. Friends doing my hair: erased. My husband and I saying our vows… I’d never hear those words again.

I wept. Not just for myself but thinking of other memories lost. I gave my clients images of very important moments in their lives. Their wedding day, images of their newborn baby just weeks old. Even their second child’s first birthday.

Then I remembered another friend, who was nice enough to capture some moments during our wedding. I hadn’t talked to her in quite sometime, they moved away, but I figured it was worth a shot.

I hit the Jackpot!

She had the files! I could hear my vows again! See the first dance that we practiced over and over again. My memories weren’t gone forever.

I share this story not to tell you a happy ending, but of how close I came to wiping those precious memories away. My children are going to ask to see our wedding one day and I want to be able to show them. And thanks to someone, who was smart enough to back up their files, I could!

THE SECOND I DOWNLOADED THE FILES I BACKED THEM UP.

I still lost the other videos, memories that this smart woman wasn’t even there for. They are still wiped clean. But I was able to get some of it back. Which I then used to create a gift for him for our 8th Anniversary.

This scare taught me a lesson I’ll never forget. PRINT! Back up your files! Stick them in a fireproof box if you have to. I can restore a photo, I CANNOT fix a corrupted file. Once its gone, it is gone forever.

PROTECT YOUR MEMORIES!

Don’t go through what I did. Don’t take the risk! You’ll regret it, trust me.

Have images you need to print? Contact me to create hard copies of those memories NOW!