As a wedding photographer it’s so important that I have systems in place to ensure client photos are stored safely and securely. Unfortunately, things go wrong, mistakes can be made or technology fails and it’s not a matter of if, but when this will occur.

Last week I had a bit of a wakeup call. There was the potential that I could have deleted a whole card full of wedding photos before they were backed up on a hard drive. Ouch! This is something that all wedding photographers have nightmares about. Losing a couples wedding photos forever and not being able to anything about it.

So I revisited my processes to ensure I have everything in place to cover myself and the priceless images we capture for our couples.

Here’s my new backup workflow from start to finish.

1. I have TWO camera bodies on me at all weddings. If one fails for whatever reason I will always have a second camera on hand to continue shooting. During a first dance a few years ago the lens came off my camera and fell on the ground breaking it instantly. Without the other camera I would have had to run to my camera bag and get a spare lens. By that time the first dance would have finished and I would have missed capturing some very important images for the bride and groom.

2. Inside my cameras are TWO cards recording every photo simultaneously. Again, if one card fails I have the second card recording as backup.

3. As soon as I return home from a wedding the very first thing I do (after kissing my wife) is to transfer the files from the cards to a folder on my external hard drive. This means the photos are now stored in TWO locations.

4. I also have a 2nd backup external hard drive which mirrors my main hard drive and I run my cloning software to copy any new files across to it. The photos are now stored in THREE locations.

5. Finally, I have cloud software (Backblaze) which automatically uploads all the photos to the cloud. Offsite security in case of losing all the above hardware in a house fire etc. The photos are now stored in FOUR locations!

6. I can now format my cards.

Not only is the above a great way of storing wedding photos, but ALL my important files, documents, apps, software etc. which I use to run my business on a day to day basis.

So, please don’t be lazy when it comes to backup guys! All of these tools don’t cost an arm and a leg and hard drives are getting cheaper by the day.