Why do you take pictures?

[AndrewWG]

To me is sounds like she is has the images on at least 3 hard drives(2 pcs and an external), yes "electronic media" will fail. But I think the chances of all 3 failing at once are very low.

Although I'm not sure about this, a good lightning strike would possibly take out all 3 of those hard drives and then everything is gone. I've seen surge protectors fail and even with the monetary guarantee that they won't, you won't get your photos back. Money can't replace them.

Edit: and all the stuff that Master Mason just said at basically the same time as me!

 

[Anewman]

yes it might be small, but it could happen, massive power surge, some sort of power snap, her airconditioning could go out and they all 3 over heat... Just a few possiblities that could cause all 3 to go at once.

Working for a large computer company you would be amazed at some of the things I have heard of happening, and that is with systems that have rooms especially built just to protect them.

And there can be a fire that destroys them, along with any CD/DVDs too...

I am not saying she is 100% safe using 3 hard drives, but hardly "nutts" for not using other media IMO.

IMO the best backup method is the one that will actually get used 100% of the time, yes burning discs is considered better for long term storage but I know too many photographers in the REAL WORLD that slack a bit when it comes to burning them in a timely manor(if at all).

 

[Master Mason]

And there can be a fire that destroys them, along with any CD/DVDs too...

I am not saying she is 100% safe using 3 hard drives, but hardly "nutts" for not using other media IMO.

IMO the best backup method is the one that will actually get used 100% of the time, yes burning discs is considered better for long term storage but I know too many photographers in the REAL WORLD that slack a bit when it comes to burning them in a timely manor(if at all).

Well Nutts is probably a little strong, but I was just playing with the words she had written, and did qualify it as well.

And your correct about the fire, off site back up is really the best if you really want to be safe you would need to burn 2 copies and keep them elsewhere...

 

[Anewman]

And your correct about the fire, off site back up is really the best if you really want to be safe you would need to burn 2 copies and keep them elsewhere...

If it is a BIG FIRE it can take out both copies...

It is possible

but seriously, you said it was a matter of "when" not "if". IMO that only applies if you are talking about a single hard drive, with multiple drives it becomes a very small "if" again.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Why do you take pictures? Why not just buy postcards? They're almost always better than any picture an amateur is likely to take. Why not just use other people's pictures? You can find someone willing to give you a picture of just about anything Disney related here.

Sometimes I do buy postcards to put in my albums if I want a really good shot of something but haven't been able to get it myself. Or I might buy one that has the name and picture of wherever we are on it to head off a particular section of my album, etc. But I know it's not mine. For me, with my own photos, there's a pride there that a picture I took came out pretty good and successfully captured the memory of the moment.

Looking back on it, ever since I was a kid I was always the one taking pictures. I enjoyed it (and have others have said, I'm otherwise not very artsy). I got into it more as a hobby in the early 90s when I got a 35mm camera. I took a stab at learning terms and such then, but life got busy and I didn't pursue it beyond the very basics. I got a digital camera in 2002 or so, and was very happy to not have to buy film or worry about how many pictures I took, etc.

Having cancer several years ago influenced my interest in photography in two ways. One, I wanted to preserve as many memories as I could for my children (unlike in my own family) and two, it was something I always wanted to do and dammit, I was going to do it now!

Once you're done with all the bother of buying a camera, figuring out how to use it, taking the pictures, and doing whatever else you do to get them ready, what the heck do you do with them?

I am pretty good about getting all of our Disney trip photos in albums. I also try to keep running albums of the kids in everyday life. Like most people, I have tons of photos that aren't in albums, including a whole container under my bed of photos of my kids' first two years of life which I've been procrastinating about. (That would be a good business for someone - photo organization, LOL.) We do have an external hard drive but put them to disc before they go on there. We lost a ton of photos last year when our laptop overheated and died before we'd put them to disc; luckily we recovered some of them off the hard drive.

Interesting thread, Mark!

 

[DVC Jen]

I think one thing that makes me love photography so much is the fact that it forces me to look at the world differently.

You can capture beauty, joy, sadness, tragedy, humor and so many other facets of human life - and MAYBE - just MAYBE if you get really lucky you can get someone else to fee what you were feeling when you took the shot.

Still photography versus video - I dunno. Just never been drawn to video.

And besides all that I stated above - it's fun!

 

[jann1033]

for me it means nothing about capturing memories but more recording what i see hopefully creatively...

really, i'm only in it for the glory prestige and big bucks..ok so i have no glory prestige or big bucks...

guess i do it cause i like to waste money...

thinking about it i'm not sure why i am so sure anyone wants me to record what i see, like who really is waiting to get my take on a matter and basic really no one but the few on here ever see anything i take but i'm driven like a madwoman to do it anyway

having read the other comments, i find my (and anyone else's) videos boring...i really don't care to see "kid a in front of a big rock", "kid b in front of a big rock", "mom in front of a big rock", "a,b and mom waving in front of a big rock". i know what they look like and know where we were so snooze,yawn, wake me when it's over...but a photo does spark some emotion in me and i want to look at it again and again, unless it's kid a in front of a big rock, followed by kid b etc etc etc. then once is enough (unless it's my own kid)

 

[DVC Jen]

making a mental note - never post photos of my kids in front of a big rock!

 

[jann1033]

nope a photo is fine since it would be done artistically i'm sure ..i'm thinking more a long the lines of the infamous tigger smackdown video and now i feel really dumb since i just saw mark's old video...which is fun to watch btw, i didn't yawn once during it so i am rethinking my aforementioned video opinions

 

[fitzperry]

nope a photo is fine since it would be done artistically i'm sure ..i'm thinking more a long the lines of the infamous tigger smackdown video and now i feel really dumb since i just saw mark's old video...which is fun to watch btw, i didn't yawn once during it so i am rethinking my aforementioned video opinions

Not having found the time to click on that video thread, perhaps I should keep my mouth shut. But it seems to me that it's fun to watch old videos--remembering what something was like in the past. Video of something that happened last week--not so much. The last video I took was a few days ago of my 4yo playing on our new Wii game system. The way she throws her whole body into it is absolutely hysterical, and I have no doubt that we'll get a kick out of watching it at some point in the future, but I can't say I want to watch it now.

A photo, on the other hand, I can enjoy right away. Maybe it's just my own technique and perspective, but I at least try to inject some creativity or artistry into some of my photos. Our videos are really just documentation.

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

I do plenty of both. I prefer video to pictures for really active things, especially their sporting events. It's much better to watch a video of your son running for a touchdown than seeing a picture of it.
What's really funny is seeing me at their home football games. My husband does the announcing so he can't handle the videocamera or the camera, so I am usually carrying both, alternating.
But I think pictures are necessary especially to share with others, Grandparents, etc. Most other people don't want to sit and watch hours of video I have taken but they do like to see the pictures.

I to LOL at the sight of this, because that's exactly what I do when I want to video or photograph my son in his band performances. DH just doesn't like or know anything about photos/videos so I do both -- at the same time. One or the other usually suffers, or I miss something that would have been a really good shot. I usually take one tripod and one monopod. If DH sees me getting really flustered he'll occasionally step in and run the camcorder for me so I can snap off a few photos. Maybe I need to have 2 tripods set up side by side to make it easier.

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

I do it to preserve memories so you can go back and relive the events that take place by viewing the photos.
I also grew up in a photo enthusiast family, I have tons of photos that go back to my great great grandparents time.
I also take a lot of video, but as with other posters, find it easier to pull out the photos than to pop in a dvd. I am learning about dslr photography and hope to learn to take better, more creative photos in the near future.
I learned a lot about family history, right and wrong, morals and values by learning about my family members and their history. As a child, I wouldn't have been interested in any of that if I hadn't had my family photos of my great great grandparents and other extended family members to look at. Somehow the photos made the stories come to life. So photos are good not just for the creativity and sharing memories but also as a teaching tools for parents/grandparents.
Before he passed, my photo enthusiast grandfather made copies of photos of himself as a young man in his military uniform. He was so handsome, and I treasure those photos...In those photos he will be forever young....

 

[Tuffcookie]

I think I take pictures because I inherited the "kodak" gene from my late dad. He passed away when I was about 9. He gave me my first camera, a Kodak Brownie (I still have that camera!) My mom passed away last December and I took possession of all the family photos. There are a ton of pictures! My dad was definately a camera buff and would have loved the digital age!

TC

 

[fan1080]

First and foremost, memories.

Secondly, I've always been interested in capturing "the moment", a single snap shot of emotion that in my opinion can say so much more than video can.

Thirdly, there's an artistic beast inside me (haven't been able to find him yet though, lol).

I could probably go on and on. Photography is just something I enjoy. It gives me yet another reason to get the family together and enjoy some quality time together. Whether that's on the soccer field watching my daughters play, or getting out on the weekend to visit some of the places we haven't been to in a while and even some of the not so obvious places off the beaten trail.

What do I do with the pictures? I share them, print them and frame them; but most importantly, I cherish them. They define my family's history, they tell our story like no one else can.

 

[Nikel]

Why take pictures? I'm assuming you're specifically referring to while on vaca at DW here, so it's fun and pays the bills won't work as my answer.

It's fun, like I already mentioned. O can capture my family's memories the way I see them. My vision and preferences aren't exactly the same as what I can find on postcards. Plus there's the whole my kids aren't on postcards thing. And what would I do with a postcard? They're too small for me to want to frame them and hang them. I don't scrapbook either. With a picture I can have any size I want within seconds, from a wallet all the way up to a poster sized print.

When I get home, I do a quick sort through to get rid of any duds - bad expressions, out of focus, etc. Then I burn them all to a disc. Then I edit any that I want to order as prints. And finally, I work on my book. I put together a coffee table book of our vacation.

 

[miss missy]

Well I would say your a bit nutts (in a very nice way) for not burning them to cd's or dvds, electronic media will fail, it is not an if it is simply a when, why take risks with your pictures.

Well my new puter has dvd burner so I am sure I will use it at some point. But the pics are printed too don't forget. They are also on the web at kodak. I am backed pretty good. I guess I just know the DVD media will fail at some point too. I am pretty comfortable once I have a print though.

 

[miss missy]

If it is a BIG FIRE it can take out both copies...

It is possible

but seriously, you said it was a matter of "when" not "if". IMO that only applies if you are talking about a single hard drive, with multiple drives it becomes a very small "if" again.

I know about crashing hard drives, it just happened.... the external saved me Also the laptop wont get a lightening strike at the same time the other puter could, it isn't plugged in when I am not here

 

[jann1033]

I know about crashing hard drives, it just happened.... the external saved me Also the laptop wont get a lightening strike at the same time the other puter could, it isn't plugged in when I am not here

once again excuse my computer ignorance but aren't surge protectors supposed to stop that from happening? or have i been deceived by micro center yet again

 

[Marinerbaby]

I take pictures because I love what I do. I am a photographer and feel that I can capture my children's personality and spirit in the portraits that no postcard or photopass could.

I know my children and to capture the look the first time my three year old met Mickey Mouse or saw the castle for me was priceless. I have a video camera but don't use it often because I always have a camera around my neck. I grew up with one just as my Dad did and it is very much a part of our family. I love having all of the pictures from growing up. I no longer have my Mom and soon my Dad but I will "always" have the pictures to bring back those special memories and allow me to share them with my own children.

Why I take pictures everyday? Because I believe it was what I was ment to do. To help capture those memories (both happy and sad) for other families as well as my own. It is why I do a lot of work for NILMDTS. I know that may sound crazy but I truely feel that way.

 

[LPZ_Stitch!]

once again excuse my computer ignorance but aren't surge protectors supposed to stop that from happening? or have i been deceived by micro center yet again

Nope. Your standard surge protectors can't do a thing about lightning. They don't blow fast enough to protect delicate electronics from the overwhelming blast of a lightning strike.

There *are* lightning arrestor surge protectors but they're really expensive and even they aren't 100% effective either. Though they usually guarantee your hardware -- your pics could still be fried.