USB Memory Direct & Wedding Photography Backups!

Hey there! My name is Emett, and as a wedding and elopement photographer one of the top questions I get is about backing up wedding day photos. There’s a bunch of different methods to go about doing this, and the method that works for me brings peace of mind to both my clients and I. Additionally, they’ll also get a little gift at the end of our working relationship – a USB Memory Direct Branded Flash Drive!

1. Wedding day photos get taken onto two (2) XQD Cards wtihin my camera. Each card records the same exact photographs in RAW format, meaning that if something happens to one of the cards – the exact same, editable copy of the photo still exists on the other card. Most photographers use SD cards and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that! I use XQD Cards simply because that’s what fits in my camera. They’re a bit larger, and thicker, and statistically have less technological issues (so your photos are that much safer).
2. As soon as I’m done photographing the wedding, my top priority is to get the photos backed up onto another harddrive or computer. This creates a 3rd physical backup, whether it be on my desktop PC at home or my laptop on the road.
3. Once that’s done, I cull through and select the photos that’ll get edited and delivered. During this process, virtual copies are created so there’s an additional digital backup, in case something happens to the one of 3 physical copies I already have.
4. Upon editing and exporting the final gallery, they’re uploaded to an online, high resolution gallery hosting service – Pic-Time. Pic-Time not only stores them online, but also helps me present the digital gallery to my client in a beautiful, collage style format. It helps tell the story of the day, and provides a functional link and gallery for easy sharing!
5. From here, I duplicate the photos onto a USB Memory Direct Branded Flash Drive to deliver to my clients! My clients receive a small, wooden, beautifully made flash drive for easy physical storage of their photos. They can keep it in their safe, or another easy to remember location. At this point in the process, there are now 3 copies of each editable photo in a different location (2 cards, 1 laptop), there is the gallery on pic time, a final gallery backed up on my computer, and a finally gallery on the USB flash drive that my client’s posess. If anything happens to any of the photos, there is a myriad of options to get them back!

I also want to give a HUGE shout out to USB Memory Direct for making absolutely beautiful, and functional flash drives. Not only are they gorgeous and fit my branding very well, but they also have a magnetic top so the lid is easy to hold on to and hard to lose. Each of the flash drives’ wood grain is slightly different, givein them each a unique feeling.

I’m ecstatic to deliver my client’s galleries this year, and to give them more ways to hold on to their wedding day memories!