Okay, folks, a word to the wise: Back-up your data!!! As you know--or will if you read the rest of this website--we are a completely digital studio. Digital is truly my medium, perfect for the kind of artistic expression I like in my photographs. And as for convenience, it is second to none. Organization is not my strong suit, but with today's technology, files basically organize themselves. However, we recently had a very bad scare. Last year we set up a RAID drive storage system, so our data was automatically backed up on several different drives--very safe, secure, all that jazz. Well, as my luck would have it, the whole array of discs went down--statistically it would never happen. However, I am usually the exception that proves the rule. At any rate, after a few weeks of stress we eventually recovered virtually every single file from this hard disc system--but it was extremely expensive, and believe me, I don't want to live through that again. 13 days ago, we received all our files from the data recovery company on two separate drives, which we promptly backed up on other separate hard drives--no more RAID for me, thank you very much. And we have been working very busily ever since. However, today, one of the new drives we received from the data recovery company crashed. A brand new drive! They are replacing that drive with another with all the data that they recovered the first time on it, which is great, and we had other back-ups, which is even better. But my point is, this technology may be wonderful and convenient, but when it fails it can be catastrophic! So, folks, purchase lots of external hard drives to back up your main drives, and for an even better solution, CDs and DVDs are even better. Just be sure to burn two copies of everything and store one in a different location in case of a house fire or something. I have recently read that 13% of all hard drives will fail in the first year of usage. So, when it comes to your precious data, photographs, and whatever else you store on your computer, back up twice and then do it again!

All the best!--T

Okay, Friday nite, and a great time for family fun. Frozen pizzas are all the rage in our household, accompanied by a dose of wii. I am busy while I am playing however, zipping in to the print room to put portraits on the fire, so to speak. I am trying to get ahead of all the Senior Orders, and so far I am staying afloat. Tomorrow we have two shoots, a Senior and an Engagement. I imagine I will be printing and shooting at the same time. More snow will be falling on Sunday as well, so it sounds like a great day to work on work. We have a glass kiln we need to fire up--we are going to work on glass with photographs embedded inside, and I am really excited to give it a shot, but a little intimidated by the kiln itself. Hot!!!. And I have to work on advertising, as well as 2008-09 brochures for Seniors. So much for the downtime. Plus--I have personal projects I am working on. Plus, children--they are all doing so well! They all have snotty noses--me too--but wow, terrific grades. But hey, you can never have too much face time with the kids. And then there is that nagging ingrown toenail. Wow, a lot of pain for just one bit of swollen redness around the nail, but so far, self-care is working really well. But for the remainder of tonite, I must clean the Studio up--when we aren't shooting for a couple days, it tends to collect things--all sorts of things, like laundry, toys, paperwork. I suppose this is exactly what having a business in your home is like, but it feels sort of like we are trying to have a home inside our business. So much for the romantic life of a photographer, huh. Lots of laundry, messes, food to cook, cats to look after, and once in a while, I get to pick up the camera. What a deal. Oh well, tomorrow I shoot.

Preliminary Remarks

Wow, here it is, January, the holidays over, and what's to do? Off-season studio stuff. We are discussing new sets for the coming shooting year, something light and airy, good for families as well as babies and Seniors. And of course, there is always planning for our outdoor shooting areas. I would like to build new stone steps up the back bank, as well as some weathered columns, pedastals, and moss-covered artifacts. Also, more brick patios are in the works as well. I am going to continue to explore new ways to add pizzaz and value to images with art techniques, and of course, and new book possibilities are always on the horizon. For those of you new to our site, check it out. You may also want to go to our ecommerce site--www.tracylovett.ifp3.com--to purchase some original prints for your home. I hope this blog blossoms into an interesting narrative about the life of a photographer/artist/mom and that you check back soon. I would like to write here a couple times a week at least, hopefully with news and observations. Thanx for reading--Tracy