Your digital images are at risk

From the beginning you’ve been told… “Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket!”  This life lesson is as important as any other, and it especially applies to your photographs.

I’m noticing a trend where people are putting all of their treasured memories onto one computer with little thought to what happens if the hard drive fails. Hopefully everybody realizes that all of your photos on Facebook are LOW RESOLUTION copies of your originals. They aren’t good for making prints.

There is a rule in computers that goes something like this…. It’s not IF your hard drive fails, it’s when!

Backup your data! Backup your data! BACK UP YOUR DATA!

After returning from covering a World Championship event, my laptop suffered a catastrophic hard drive failure. What a disaster, I was planning on backing up all of my images as soon as I got back into the office, but OOPS…. too late. After trying everything I could, still no images. My magazine spent thousands of dollars to send me thousands of miles to cover this event, so to lose all of those images would have been very bad. This was a nightmare. If my images were gone, I was guaranteed to lose thousands of dollars in editorial and commercial sales. Luckily, I found a company that was able to rebuild my hard drive and get back “MOST” of my images, but at a cost of nearly $2000.

LESSON LEARNED!

This same lesson applies to your treasured personal memories. Back up your files. Don’t put all of your pictures on one storage device! Buy an external hard drive and backup all of your important data. Put it on two hard disks. Store them at an off site location. Ask anybody, if you can save any personal effects from your house during a fire people will usually choose to save their photographs.

When you hire me to document your personal events, rest assured that your images are protected. From the second the shoot is over, my storage devices never leave my side. On any shoot, I own enough storage cards to never have to use the same card twice during your shoot, so there is absolutely no risk of overshooting. Wedding photos are backed up onto a hard disk before I leave the site. The first step in my workflow once I return to the office is to copy your images to two different hard drives before my compact flash cards are reused.

Not only are ALL of your images stored on multiple hard drives, but your High-Resolution files are stored online. Even if both of my hard drives perish at once, your treasured memories are available for download from my online service.

Rest Assured!

October… great month for family portraits – couple of dates left

October is a great month for family portraits… clear skys, great low tides, spectacular sunsets and just in time for Christmas cards.

Email me now to book your date!

Megan and Nathan – Military Couple Free Photography Winners

Hoping to give thanks to those who serve, I ran a promotion to reward one deserving military couple with a completely free Wedding Photography package.

Staff Sergeant Nathan Reimers, a communications specialist in the United States Air Force, and his lovely fiancée Megan Schroeder of Fallbrook will receive free wedding photography services including an Engagement and a “Trash the Dress” session compliments of Robert Oliver, photographer.

I feel it’s important to give back to those who have volunteered to serve their country and to fight for our freedom. I wish I could do it for everybody. I do offer a 15 % discount to any couple who is currently serving in the U.S. Military. I plan on giving free wedding photography services to one deserving couple every year. My next promotion will take place in September of 2011.

Many members of my family have served in the United States military. My wife is a veteran of the first Persian Gulf War, my son is currently serving in the Air Force, my brother served in Iraq with the Marines, my wife’s dad served in Vietnam, my dad and both of my grandfathers both served in the Army.

Congrats to Nathan and Megan and thank you for serving our country.

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Winner of FREE Wedding Photography announced this weekend!

We set out to give one deserving couple with ties to the military a free complimentary wedding package, complete with engagement and ‘trash the dress’ sessions.

Stay tuned for the announcement and engagement photos of this deserving couple this weekend!

Photography = Life

It was the mid 1970′s… My mom set up a temporary darkroom in the bathroom at our house. I remember the smells, the glowing red light… but most importantly I remember seeing that plain white piece of paper magically turn into a photograph in front of my eyes. I can’t think of any other single event, except for the birth of my daughter, that has had as major impact on my life. It changed my life forever.

That single experience instilled in me a passion that has taken me around the world. That experience resulted in having my photographic work seen by millions of people all over the globe. From that experience, I’ve met and photographed some of the most famous celebrities and athletes in the world. Photography has taken me to many of the world’s most beautiful places.

I have learned and honed my craft with the help of some amazing people…. early in my career I benefited from the knowledge and guidance of Joseph Dickerson, the late Patrick Walsh, Lon Allen ( took a chance on an 18-year-old kid with a camera and a passion ), journalists Colleen Bondy, Jeff McMahon and Rick Jackoway and photojournalist Jim Miner. ( to name a few)

My photos have inspired, entertained and have even changed people!

I’ve been so blessed to do what I love for a living. “Do what you love… and you’ll never work a day in your life!”

My life has been shaped by photography. My greatest hope is that my photographs will make a difference in the world and in people’s life.

 

Robert Oliver, early in the learning process

 

Welcome!

Kimm and John at the Crystal Pier in Pacific Beach, CA ( San Diego )

Welcome to my new blog… stay tuned to this space for news, info, specials and more info about Robert Oliver, photographer.