My photo archive system: an intro
Hey.
Once in a while I should write about some tech stuff… and what other topic than the one that us visual artists care most about: our archives…
Many articles on the web about this, but I’ve always felt that they assume incorrect things. Obviously I don’t want to go as far as being safe for Extinction Events, or being able to administer my archive on my 1987 Nokia phone… let’s say that I stay within certain limits of reason/feasibility, given the fact that I’m a one-man operation. I guess I’m writing this as much for myself as for others :-)
So what do I want to achieve? I want, once and for all, peace in my mind as to the archive of my images, videos, designs and products (magazines, books, posters, etc) (all four of which exist in both analog and/or digital form): that they are secured and controlled accessible.
I want this to be the case for past work, and “live” work that I am doing right now (because of the long term projects I’m involved in). And obviously I want to be able to add future projects.
For that, I have sketched out an archive system, both digital and analog, both online and offline, both home and somewhere else. I believe that this combination offers me the greatest flexibility in working, security for my archived work, and accessibility for others involved. As always, it is a combination of things, tailored precisely to the kind of person I am and the knowledge I possess.
It is that archive system that I’ll be describing here over a series of posts. This first article can serve as an introduction, touching base with different aspects with as much common sense as possible. These are (loosely) the topics that I’ll dive into:
- Description, purpose & terminology
- Archive typology + relationships
- File typology + relationships
- Keywording + IPTC meta data
- File naming + Folder structure
Note the above should work for digital as well as analog: go ahead, read the above topics again, while thinking of film or original prints in a fireproof cabinet of sorts.
I’m not intending to get into debates which technology is best, or which system is better: yes, of course online storage is only 99.99% secure, of course buying all hard disks from the same brand is slightly more risky, of course we don’t really know (yet) if archival quality ink jet prints actually will last 100+ years. And the list goes on. My main point here is: if I make a good combination of all these “ninety-nine percents”, and then relate them to my particular situation, and given the fact I can tweak along the way by adding or changing parts, then i will de facto achieve my optimal “mix”.
Important is that I believe that every archive system should be tailored towards the particular situation of every photographer… Many photographers will have different particulars…. Mine are as follows:
- I travel a lot
- I own a house
- I know technology
- I use a laptop + external disks for at least part of the process
- I create digital (images, video, design, text) and analog (images, video, design, text) content, often mixed
- I work with “stories”, “projects” and “products”
- I have limited time
- I’m not rich :-/
Here is an abstract description of what my archive could be, given the above particulars:
My work is stored across several archives that differ according to type, format, location and accessibility.
Every archive contains a number of files that each have a floating status, format, type, date and a fixed identifier.
What is the reason that I even have an archive in the first place?
The purpose of my archive is to offer security for the original files and master files, workability for the edit files,
and accessibility for the copy files.
OK that was the hardest part…. really. To be able to describe in abstract terms, means you have to have thought this through and tested it all the way to the end: the above description and the purpose were the last things that I distilled after sketching and testing the whole system.
Again, this description or purpose can be very different for others… this is just what I feel is optimal for the way I live, the way I work, and the way I do business.
So now an explanation of the terms used above. Again, I cannot stress enough to think both digital AND analog.
Archive Type:
On one side we have an EDIT and a DEF archive, on the other side we have a LIVE archive, a BACKUP archive, or a VAULT archive. More about this terminology later, but both the EDIT archive and the DEF archive are live, backed up, and vaulted.
Archive Format:
Digital format (HDD, memory card, optical media,…) or Analog format (acid free box with images, filing cabinet, folder,…)
Archive Location:
The physical location of the archive
Archive Accessibility:
How can the archive be accessed: secured physically, digitally, location, connected to power, connected to internet….
File Status:
Original (singular), Edit (work in progress), Master (edition, multiple), Version (connected to job/story/project)
File Type:
Digital, Print, Film or Tape
File Format:
Digital formats (DNG-RAW-PSD-TIF-JPG || MOV-AIFF-MP3 || TXT-INDD-AI-PDF || etc…) and Analog formats (paper type, film type, chemical type, ink type, press type…)
File Date:
Creation date of the Master File (or Original File, if it is the Original File)
File Identifier:
A unique serial number
Security:
Protection against loss/damage/theft
Workability:
Optimal circumstance to be able to work with the archive and its files, depending on the situation
Accessibility:
Levels of accessibility by myself vs. other people (physical and virtual)
Floating:
can change over time until a Master or a Version is reached
Fixed:
Does not change after original creation date
Phew. Enough already… Next time more in detail about archive type, format, location and accessibility.
An interesting footnote: Getting this solution op and running will need an initial investment of max $5,ooo (hardware, software, online storage), and 6 months of work (given the fact that I keep on working my projects as I usually do). It seems like a lot of trouble, but once up and running, this can all be integrated into my standard workflow without extra time needed for future projects, and an annual cost of less than $1,000 (mainly projected estimates of buying hardware and sofware updates and paying for online storage).
The hardest part, as usual, is consistently keywording and captioning works. Don’t we all hate doing that one….
a
attiks
August 8, 2010 at 19:42 //
interesting ;p
koen
August 10, 2010 at 10:21 //
Dat ziet er wel cool uit… ik heb gewoon 2 externe HD’s… een gewone van 1TB en een RAID1 schijf van dezelfde grootte (2x 1TB dus). De laatste is de werkschijf, en die kopieer ik van tijd tot tijd naar de eerste schijf, die overigens niet thuis ligt maar elders…
anton
August 10, 2010 at 10:52 //
Hey Koen!
Om mijn plannetje uit te voeren, waarbij ik gerekend heb op 1TB werkruimte, heb ik een 17TB aan schijven in verschillende configuraties nodig… slik… Maar ik denk wel een goed systeem. De combo’s van RAID, mirror, manuele en automatisch backup e.d. beschrijf ik binnenkort.
Mijn eerste berekeningen kwamen uit op een totaal van bijna 30TB, maar toen ik prijzen begon op te tellen heb ik mijn plan snel aangepast en de factor “ik ben gene rijke mens” toegevoegd :-/
a
Jeroen
August 13, 2010 at 13:16 //
17 TB. That’s quite the porn stash you’ve got there.
anton
August 13, 2010 at 17:45 //
jeroen –
you bet… and I’ll archive all yours too if you want :-)
Guillaume Groen
September 1, 2010 at 23:47 //
Anton, Ik weet niet hoe groot je archief nu is maar ik heb wel gezien dat je lightroom gebruikt. Aangezien dat dat non-destructive editing is. Als je nu 1. bij import naar een aparte plek bewaard. 2. nadat je de foto’s in combinatie naar een nas zet. ik heb nu 6TB bruto in raid-5. en dat moet eigenlijk 2keer waarbij ik de originele die tijdens import gemaakt zijn op losse HDD zet. als je dan op reis bent kan je een kopie maken van de foto’s die je gemaakt heb tijdens he reis naar een ftp server thuis of in een data center waar je voor niet al teveel geld al ruimte kan huren.
het gaat vooral om een robuuste manier van data opslag creeeren maar dan wel over meerdere locaties verspreid. zodat als de 1 gaat heb je altijd de andere nog,
als je wat meer ideeen wilt dan kan je me mailen
anton
September 5, 2010 at 14:22 //
Hey Guillaume,
Inderdaad, dat is precies wat ik doe… maar omdat het niet enkel over foto’s gaat maar ook over dingen die ik met de foto’s doe (ontwerpen, magazines, boeken,…) moeten die ook een plaats krijgen en daar is lightroom spijtig genoeg niet voor geschikt… dus ik moet een algemener toegankelijk systeem hebben (op “finder” niveau bvb, of met bridge) met een dedicated backup systeem (retrospect)
Voor het gedeelte “beeld” gebruik ik inderdaad Lightroom en haar “backup” en “save a copy to” functies, ook op locatie
Eigenlijk zou ik het liefst een kruisbestuiving tussen Adobe Bridge en Adobe Lightroom zien…. voorlopig gebruik ik ze maar gewoon beiden :-)
voor 1-2TB netto heb ik 17TB bruto, verdeeld over online, offline, RAID 5+1, mirror en verschillende locaties. Ik gebruik geen NAS maar een server, of werk rechtstreeks via FW800
groetjes!
anton
Guillaume Groen
September 14, 2010 at 22:49 //
Anton, er was vroeger een systeem dat door microsoft is opgekocht. en er is een open-source DAM zoals ze dat noemen.. maar dat heeft de voordelen niet van lightroom.
misschien dat adobe ooit met een uitgebreidere versie komen van lightroom. Ik hoop zelf op iets van een lightroom server waar dit soort dingen in te regelen zijn. en dat je niet meer hoeft te schuiven met data waarna je weer alles handmatig om moet gaan zetten.
zelf doe ik nog niet veel met boeken ed. maar misschien komt dat nog wel.
suc6 met je projecten. en ga zo door ik vind ze mooi.
Suryo
October 23, 2010 at 12:32 //
hi Anton,
nice to read this post. I agree that we have to tailor our own archive system according to our situation. I think the hardest part is to think through about the system, creating the barebones and then start doing all archiving for the past works which hadn’t been archived (or even keyworded and captioned…) hahaha…
and I’m still working on it!. thanks for sharing though!
regards
sw
Xaver
October 25, 2010 at 11:50 //
Thanks ! Hope to see more on that, I like the way you speak of it.
Javier
November 5, 2010 at 11:07 //
Great article, waiting for the second part!
Appart of this archive system, do you use any management system, such as lightroom or expression media?
regards,
javier
anton
November 6, 2010 at 09:47 //
Hey Javier,
Yes I’ll be going into that part soon… I use a combination of Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Bridge and the plain ol’ Finder…
cheers,
a
André
September 6, 2011 at 12:07 //
I just discovered this article and I had to laugh. My devices are named the same way (“my” Leela is broken, but I got Farnsworth and Scruffy, too – and Nibbler)! Futurama rocks! HAHA!
Thanks for sharing all these ideas here on your site. I wish I had discovered it earlier and even get one of the Yakuza books. :-(