Olivia Is Three!

I say it often: time is so weird.  It goes by so fast and sometimes I look back on something that happened two years ago and it seems like yesterday.  Then I may look back on something that happened two years ago and it seems like it happened forever and a day ago.  I've grown to realize that the most important resource we have is time.  It is fleeting.  It is limited.  We will never have enough of it.  Yet we can share it with another and fill it will love and happiness - whatever we want.  Make each moment memorable!!

As I look at these images in particular, it seems like just a year or so ago that we were taking Olivia's newborn photos - heck, it seems just a bit longer when we were taking Deb's maternity photos at Zilker Botanical Gardens!  And yet, we had this session and there she was - three years tall and full of energy!  It's hard to believe, but our boys are turning 3 and 5 this year!  Where DOES the time go!?

Please enjoy these sneak peeks of Olivia's three year session, and let us know what you think!

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Archiving

Taking photographs for a living means that we have to take steps to save and protect our clients' valuable memories.  I've found myself in a personal meltdown on a couple of occasions when I - GASP - lost client images!  One time in particular, we photographed a national mommy organization's event and lost every single image because we inadvertently formatted a disk we thought we downloaded to the PC.  I cried like a baby and felt like crawling into a hole, never to see the light of day again.

Then we lost 6 months of our then two year old's life ... videos, photographs ... gone.   In this case, it was a hard drive crash.  The thing just bricked.  We haven't looked into data recovery options on that yet, but are hopeful we can retrieve some of the data.  Yet, data recovery is an expensive option, especially when you're looking at tens, if not hundreds, of gigabyte's of data.

Through the years, we've learned to be methodical in backing up and archiving our images.  Still, our greatest vulnerability to data loss starts in our camera itself.  Our camera writes to a single SD memory card.  If that card becomes corrupt or simply stops working (had that happen a few times, too), then your data becomes inaccessible.  In one instance, we had a card stop working that had client images locked within it.  We paid for some data recovery software, which was (luckily) able to access, read and pull most of the data from the card.  PHEW!  

Our current camera model has two SD card slots, which can be used in two ways:  as a continuous storage space for your photos, or split so that images written to one are immediately backed up to the second.   We'd have to have two disks to fail at once to lose data using the write system this way. 

When we get our images back to the office, we import them onto our PC.  The process of importing images is largely automatic, but we have the option to copy images to a separate drive/folder while importing them.  We always do this.  That way we have a complete set on two different drives, in case one fails.  In fact, we have two large drives on our PC dedicated solely to images - complete images of one another.  Then ... for good measure, we have an external drive, which contains a triplicate set of the images.  

We try to back up client images as we edit them.  We may edit a dozen or so, then save them in duplicate.  When finished, the complete edited set will be saved in triplicate.  The external drive is something we'd grab in the case of an emergency - it's portable and contains all the data we need.  We understand there are some risks to this set up - if there was a disaster back here at the office then we could lose considerable data.  We're looking into cloud options, which are getting more and more inexpensive.  Every six months or so, we'll pull a large drive out of our fireproof/waterproof safe and back up the data there.  

As you can imagine, all of this backing up requires considerable hard drive space.  We have about 2 TB of client image data currently, and it's growing.

We always tell our clients to back up their images.  You never know when disaster will strike, a hard drive will fail, parts of files may become corrupt, and you may lose important data.  At the very least, we recommend backing up to an external drive, one which you can place in a fireproof/waterproof safe or give to a family member or friend (someone not on your street).  Or, back up to a cloud.    

"If I was ..."

Time gets behind me so much faster than I want it to.  It's a funny thing, time.  I spent so much of my youth wanting to grow up.  "If I was four inches taller, I could ride that super duper loopy roller coaster!"  So I ate my veggies and grew four inches.  I rode that ride seven times and it was awesome.  "If I was sixteen, I could drive a car and go places I want to go."  So I studied and practiced and aced the driving tests and got my license.  I drove that car everywhere I could afford to go (which wasn't far on my income back then).   "If I was eighteen, I'd be an adult and no one can tell me what to do." That still makes me laugh.  "If I was twenty-one, I could get into that club."  The list went on and on.   I was full of "If I was".

And then something happened.  In my twentieth year, my daughter was born.  And suddenly, I wanted time to stop, or at least slow down to a crawl.  Holding my newborn in my arms, my world did stop for a moment.  Everything I thought was important before immediately changed.  I realized that I held the most important thing in my arms, and that my family was everything. 

My daughter at 3 years.

I remember that moment with my newborn daughter vividly.  Looking at her face, peacefully sleeping, I had a vision of my daughter at 18.  She was a woman, her heart full of "If I was".  I saw her leaving the house, going out into the world to face her future.  My heart rose into a hard lump in my throat.  I wanted to hold the second hand from moving forward.  I wanted that moment to last forever.   "I want to stay just as I am, as she is." I thought. 

In her fifteenth year, I was remarried.  And two years later, her brother was born.  Again, I found myself sitting with my newborn.  But this time, the world didn't stop.  I already knew what was most important in life.  My family.  This time, however, with many years behind me, I was no longer the invincible young man I was when my daughter was born.  I didn't have my entire life before me.  I felt time fleeting by at an accelerated pace.  I found myself worrying if I'd even be around for his eighteenth birthday!   Again, I found myself thinking that I just wanted things to stay as they were in that moment.  I still think that today!

Here's that little guy a few years ago:

Our first son at two weeks.

Soon, my daughter turned 18.  She was as I envisioned her so many years previously.  It had all gone by so fast, even though I had wanted it to slow down.  So much time got away from us and between us.  Then she moved out of the house.  She started a family of her own. 

Just like that. 

My daughter at 18

Two years later, we welcomed her second little brother into our lives and I felt the same way yet again.  But there's just no stopping time.  Our babies just grow up way too fast! 

Our youngest son's newborn session.

Time is short.  Our time together in this world is fleeting.  Life is busy and days are only so long.  We find ourselves preoccupied with things that matter less.  We miss out on so much. 

I find it difficult to be present with my family sometimes.  I have work and other tasks on my mind.  I try to build this business and spend long hours in front of the computer editing, corresponding with clients, giving to others.  It's hard, even in my down time, to disengage from these tasks and relish the moments I have with my children.

There are nights when they are lying in bed and I'm looking at their sleeping faces.  I start to feel guilty that I didn't spend more time with them that day because I was distracted with other things.  It seems that they've suddenly grown.  They no longer look like babies or toddlers.  Too soon, I know, they won't look like boys, but men.  They already tell me, "No" and push to do their own things.  I know they have their own, "If I was...".

But then I remember.  I took the time to play hide-and-seek with them.  We wrestled and rolled around on the floor.  I helped them play superman on my feet.  I sat with them and held them quietly.  I kissed their boo-boo's.  We laughed heartily together and shared hugs and kisses.  We took time to relish was is ... now. 

Last year, my wife's grandmother passed away.  This year, my mom passed.  Losing people you love makes time seem all the more unfair.  And it also makes tomorrow a gift.  There are so many times I wish I could get back now.  So much time got away from us and between us.  I miss my mom.  

Our oldest son is now at the age when he's wrestling with the idea of death.  Last night, he cried to me as we were lying in bed.  He asked me if Grandma died.  He went through the list of people close to him and told me he didn't want them to die.  It broke my heart.

There are no certainties about tomorrow, folks.  I may be in my early forties and there seems to be a lot of life left to live, but there's no guarantee.  The years have a way of getting behind you and things get in the way of what is most important.  I'm thankful that I've never lost sight of my family.  Spending time with them is the most important thing to me.  I know that, all too soon, these years will be gone.

So take time to go adventuring with your kiddos.  Listen to their silly stories.  Speak softly with them and listen to the birds.  Swing with them on the playset.  Go fishing together.  Take lots of photos ... on your iPhone, point and shoot, or hire a professional - whatever, just capture the moments you can.  Roll around on the floor and giggle until you cry.  Play their favorite game with them.  Have story time together. 

Your kids think you're the most awesome person in the world.  Slow down.  Share this time with them.  Share yourself with them in quiet time.  Don't forget to show them what's most important to you.  This moment is the most important you have.  Don't let it get behind you without filling it with all the love you have.

In a flash, our boys are now 2 and 4.  See?  Time gets behind you.  They're growing into two of the most awesome little guys I've ever known, though!  They're kind, sensitive, opinionated, adventurous, funny ... I relish these moments in time with them.  Time has given me the gift of loving them deeper and deeper.  When tomorrow comes, I know I'll love them deeper still.  

Make the most of the gift that is today!   God bless!