In episodes 147 and 148, I talked about how to prepare for a trip as a photographer. Today, I want to talk about what I do when I get back from a trip. The first thing I usually do is charge my batteries. I like having them ready to go for the next shoot, so I don't have to worry about it later. I also clean my equipment because it's been through a lot. I did mention previously that I clean everything before I leave, but the thing is that there's a lot of shooting that happens in between too.
After resetting my gear, I move on to something that's a little more involved: getting all the images off my hard drives and onto my computer. My computer is automatically backed up to the cloud, so once I start uploading my images, I know they're already being backed up. To be clear, I said cloud backup, not cloud storage—there's a difference. It's been invaluable for me to have automatic cloud backup because it keeps my photos safe.
When I copy all the images from the external hard drive onto my computer, I put them in a folder with the name I've picked out for the trip. Then I load them into Lightroom to start organizing. For me, organizing everything in Lightroom right after a trip is key. I like to get it done within a week of returning so my memory is still fresh, especially when it comes to locations. As soon as the photos are in Lightroom, I meta-tag them with location details and any other relevant information, so I can easily find them later. I want to make sure everything is in order before I forget the details.
Of course, aside from the cloud, I back everything up in multiple ways. I keep copies on external hard drives, and I don't delete anything from the travel hard drives until I absolutely need the space for the next trip. Essentially, I have quadruple backups, but the key backups are cloud, local, and external drives that stay here in the office.
This way, I feel secure knowing that my images are safe and sound. For more information about backing up your images, check out episode 8. Basically, that's pretty much my process when I get home from a trip. If you're curious about how I go through editing or want to know more about my workflow, check out my other podcasts on that topic, especially episodes 12, 13, and 14.
That's it for today. I hope that was helpful. Until next time, keep on shooting.
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