I signed up for a fall photo session with my dogs!

My husband and I had a photo session three years ago with the dogs. We wanted photos with our babies and it was a fun, chaotic experience. I treasure those photos and you can even see one of the photos from that session on the front page of this website.

And we have some great photos, but you know what? I failed to do what I tell my clients to do.

I offer beautiful artwork to my clients knowing most people who get digital images will not print them out. Those photos are still mostly sitting on my computer. The photographer gave us the digital files and I had grand plans to print those photos and put them on the wall in our bedroom, but yet they still sit on my computer. I kept telling myself I would get prints made. I managed to print out one photo as a gift to my husband for his office, but nothing else.

When clients get digital images, I tell them to back up, back up, and back up some more. Do you think I followed my own advice? Of course not! I was switching all my files to a new computer and a bunch of files disappeared, including the photos from our photo session. I cried. I emailed the photographer asking if she still had a copy of them, but she did not send up new copies of the photos. I panicked and I cried some more. Those memories gone. Or so I thought. I used Backblaze to recover those missing files and I now have a few back ups of those photos. (I’m not a spokesperson for Backblaze or anything, but I'll always be thankful to them for providing a service that saved me in so many ways.)

I have to be honest with you….I’m trepidatious about getting our photos taken again. Yes, I do worry about how Lance will get along with a new photographer and if he will get trigger stacked again, but I can deal with that. I gained weight during the pandemic and I’m self-conscious about it. I’m not looking what I consider to be my best and the thought of getting my photos taken with the dogs makes me cringe a little.

Lili turns nine next week. Lance has been with us for over six years and every day, the signs of aging are showing up on them. I see more gray hairs on them, each is starting to have difficulty walking as arthritis sets in, and they have had some health scares in the past year.

I put on my big girls pants and called a local photographer friend today and asked her to take our photos. It doesn’t matter how I look, or how I feel, photos of the four of us are more important. And yes, while I’m going to get some photos I can share online, you had better believe I’m buying artwork to put in our house. I’m not making the same mistake this time around.