I recently read an article that debated the origins of the term "The Cloud". Some say that Eric Schmidt from Google coined the term at a Search Engines Strategies conference in 2006. Others say that Dave Winer, a Silicon Valley pundit, should get the credit as he made reference to a "cloud of computers" in a NYT article in 2001. Today, the "Cloud" is a term that we hear maybe daily. To some, however, it is still a bit of a mystery, and like any good mystery, it deserves some looking into.

I often hear people say that they want to store their photos in "The Cloud". While I'm a huge believer in cloud backup, I think before a person chooses this option, it's important that they understand what it means. Here are a few things that I've learned about “The Cloud".

1. The cloud is...basically, a storage place for your photos and other digital documents, located somewhere in a server, somewhere in the world, owned by another person or company. Some of the most common cloud storage companies we hear about for photos are Google, Amazon, Dropbox, OneDrive, and Apple's iCloud. In addition, there are a zillion other companies that want to store your photos, including photo product sites like Shutterfly and Snapfish.

2. They come in all shapes and sizes...Like the puffy ones in the sky, cloud storage comes in all shapes and sizes, as well as price points. Keep in mind, if it's free, there is likely a reason for that. Please read the fine print. Two flags that I pay attention to when it comes to cloud storage for photos are (1) privacy, and (2) what happens to the photo once it's in a company's servers (quality and metadata).

On privacy...Amazon and Google, while both have some amazing services many of us use, are known for their ability to wiggle their way into our world through some really creative advertising techniques. In order to do that, they use data from our online activities. Questions to ask about your cloud service...Do you know if it protects your photos from data mining? Once they hit the company's server, who owns those photos?
On photo quality & metadata...It's important for you to know what happens to your photos once they enter a cloud server. In many systems, the first thing that happens when your photos are uploaded, is that they are compressed to save space. In some cases, it is minimal. In others, it's cause for concern if you want to preserve your photos long-term in the best quality possible. I've also found that the data that is normally attached to your photo file (e.g. date of the photo, location, etc.) does not always come back with your photo when you download it. Questions to ask...Does your cloud company compress your photos? Do they strip the metadata from the photo at any point, particularly when it is downloaded?

3. Clouds come and go...Cloud storage is big business. Several companies have jumped on the bandwagon to provide this service. Some offer it as an "extra" and charge little to nothing, while others have invested in systems that are targeted toward very specific markets, including photos. In the past few years, we've watched the digital photo market explode with companies trying to get a piece of this 80+ billion dollar market. Some have been wildly successful... others... not so much. So think about this before you put all of your memories in one basket. Will this service, by this company, be around for the long haul? How do you get your photos back if you decide not to use their services any longer?

4. Different Clouds fit for different purposes. In the photo world, Cloud services serve 3 purposes.

For backup storage, I like a company called Backblaze. They are not just for photos, but they don't data mine, they don't compress or strip data, and if they go away, I know they are just my backup. They also automatically backup your photos anytime you are online, as long as they are stored on your hard drive or an external hard drive that is connected.
For syncing. We’ve gotten spoiled. We expect to have everything at our fingertips, including our photos, at all times. Many of us use cloud services to sync our photos between our phones and our computers or tablets to achieve this. iCloud is arguably the leader in cloud services for photo syncing. Cloud services like OneDrive and Dropbox also have apps that can be installed on both your phone and your computer to sync photos automatically, which is a great setup and allows you to have hands-free backup for your phone photos.
For sharing, there are quite a few services that can do this well, mostly because we're not always as worried about preservation when we are sharing a photo just to make someone smile. For photo sharing, I like pCloud, OneDrive, and Dropbox. They don't compress your photos and the services are free up to a certain amount. They also work well for online family galleries. I especially like pCloud’s Lifetime plan for this purpose. iCloud also has some good sharing functionality, especially if you are a Mac/iPhone user. I’m not a huge fan of Google because of how they treat your photos in their system, but they do have sharing options.

Bottom line...Digitizing our most precious memories is the future and cloud services will definitely play a role in preserving, sharing, and accessing our memories. However, I recommend to my clients that they own a copy of their original, full-resolution photos, and use cloud services as a backup to protect their digital photos from technology failures, accessing them from different devices, and sharing them.

While cloud services have come a long way since they were originally born, I have yet to find a service that cares about my memories as much as I do.

Originally published in 2018…but 5 years later and few tweaks, still holds up.

What I've learned about the Cloud and organizing your photos