Digital Workflow While on Safari
Workflow on the road changes because of both time limits and limits on what I can bring. See my other articles for my office based workflow. Good backup procedures saved an entire 3 week safari of pictures and taught me which pieces of equipment to trust. I had my 2 year old 4 lb laptop which I spent over $3k on which had been receiving my photos through a USB cable direct from my camera. I used the software from the camera manufacturer to review the photos. One day at the end of the trip the hard drive started making a sound like a dog retching. I pulled out my iPod and the instructions from my wife (which I had practiced before I left) and backed up all of the photos onto the iPod. The transfer took all night and the next time I turned on the computer it could not even do the “blue screen of death”. Back home no recovery method could get any data off the disk: it had had a total mechanical failure. The photos on the 50GB of photos on the iPod were fine.
Since then my backups at home and in the field have gotten more and more rigorous. I carry my Epson P-7000 with me in its waterproof case. As my cards fill or there is a break in the action, I load the cards onto the Epson, confirm a good copy, then clear the card if I need it again. When back in the room, I connect a LaCie Rugged USB drive (with the AC adapter to power the drive) and make the backup. I use the Epson to review and cull photos (don’t do this until you make the first backup copy in case I goof!) then I backup again and save onto the laptop – so now there are three copies. I maintain 3 copies unless I run out of space. I divide up the drives into different bags (like one in my wife’s bag) so they do not all get lost together if tragedy strikes. If I am traveling in an area with good connectivity (very rare) I use my website space to backup files as well. This is the best strategy, but not usually possible.
I also make room in the bag for my memory card rescue kit. If I am taking the laptop with me or know I will have access to one in an emergency, I bring a USB card reader and the mini DVD of the rescue software that came with the card (all my cards are the same brand so I only need one.) If a card or single photo gets erased by accident and doesn’t make it onto one of the backups, I can use the software to restore the file. Sometimes this will even still work after the card has been reused, but it is a crap shoot at that point whether the file has been overwritten. I have been lucky on occasion. That little bit of software and the rather long time it takes to run has saved the photos from 4 dives in Mozambique. I though they had downloaded, didn’t check, and then erased the cards. Lastly, as pedantic as it sounds, a checklist which you rigorously follow each time is a great tool especially in difficult travel conditions when workflow and attention may be interrupted or done under stress.
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