Backing up Tags on Flickr

I started using Flickr in November of 2007 (although my collection of photos that were uploaded predates that).  I love Flickr and have used tagging extensively so that I can find my photos.  As a cloud service, Flickr hosts my photos, allows me to share them and enables albums, searching and more.  All of this comes at a very low yearly cost with no software to upgrade, patches to apply or something to re-install on my new computer.   I can do all of this on any device, phone, tablet, computer.  Flickr has recently pushed out a large upgrade of their service,  and they apply small improvements all the time.  Flickr is a perfect example of “software as a service”.  

Do You Backup Your Photos?

Do you backup your photos?  Good, glad to hear that you do.  Wait!  you only put them on a USB drive?  You should do better and here’s why.  

1. If you only have one backup, when you go to restore from that USB drive or CD it won’t work.  It’s almost a guarantee.  If you have two options, the first always works.  Its some sort of spooky gadget thing.
   
2. Fire, theft or some other destructive power can ruin your whole day.  
   
3. If you use a USB drive, you won’t be be alone with the people that forget to backup after every shoot.  In fact, some people who have the drives don’t do it but every few months.
   
4. Pictures are irreplaceable moments in time.  If you lose a bunch of documents it may not be too bad (unless it’s your wife’s PHD thesis that she is working on then you better get out of town).  To lose all your photos is a real disaster (unless you are really into the Zen thing and and into full unattachment).  You can’t recreate images.  

Fuji Love

I've always loved solid camera bodies, opting for metal over plastic.  But I've paid the price from the wallet and my neck.  On the plus side, every one of my Nikon SLRs has been super reliable and fun to use.  

I currently have a Nikon D800 and love it.  It produces what I feel is near "medium format" quality pictures.   But here is my single biggest issue with the D800 -- Combine a Nikon metal tank of a body with a Nikon metal pro lens and you are easily over 4 lbs.  I normally shoot with a vertical grip with extra batteries, pushing it to over 5 lbs!  After full day of shooting or touring, I come home with neck and back pain and I'm tired.  Because of this, the Nikon stayed at home when I would have preferred taking it wine tasting, touring down town, or on some other small outing.  I have my iPhone so it lulled me into feeling safe because I had a camera.  (No, I'm not camera obsessive but I have Photography in my blood wanting to work).  This article is about my XT-1.  (I've since upgraded to the XT-2 and wow!  I'll write about that later.)

Nikon, My First Camera Love

Film

I drive Nikon camera bodies; I love the look, and the results.  I've been a Nikon driver since my first SLR 30+ years ago when I received a Nikon EM for Christmas with an E series lens.  I used the camera all through college and figured out how to force it to complete specific assignments in a college photography course where a manual camera would have been much better.  I don't remember how the camera ended it's life.  I think it died of natural causes and when I checked the used market it was worthless.  The E series lens was worth even less.