"I'll cry if I want to"
A few months ago, my hard drive melted. It wasn’t the first time, so I didn’t worry about my data. I had a lot backed up on external hard drives, not my emails that dated from 2002 or so, but almost everything else of consequence with one glaring omission: my website.
I had no clue on how to back it up so I just trusted to luck. I had combined two software applications: Front Page, now defunct, and Shozam. I had fitted Shozam into Front Page with the help of several website designers. To me this is complicated.
Here’s a tip: don’t hire someone who resides in a foreign country no matter how reasonable their prices are. You will never understand them and they will never understand you. When I finally found a local guy who was a Front Page expert, combining the two apps was a breeze for him. And I was able to catch on primarily because he practiced ‘tough love’. Once he left me, he didn’t return my calls and I had to get busy and DO IT which I did.
A few years later here I am in the same predicament with my ‘new’ meltdown. The diagnosis was that my disk arrived at the repair shop DOA. My old webdesigner was still not taking my calls (He could make better money elsewhere. I don’t blame him.) so I started hunting for new software. Front Page was Last Page now. No one wants to touch it. Blogs are in. WordPress is cutting edge.
So, I’m re-making my site. I feel bad because you won’t find what you are looking for if you open my site. They tell me it isn’t professional to explain on your site what the hell happened, but it is kosher to explain in a blog. So here it is.
I’m trying to get my pics back up. I’ve started with the Wodaabe. I know not many are interested in them, but they were a big source of viewers for me. Then the Sahara Desert pics, my other biggie.
It takes a long time. I’m scanning slides and negs and Photoshopping them and then uploading them and adding blurbs. But surprisingly, it is fun. I’m looking over old negs and slides that I ignored back in the day.
For instance, this boy’s photo. I knew it was a good shot, but I never printed it in the darkroom. I used to spend hours and hours in there and I already had one photogenic Wodaabe boy. I ignored this little fellow. How could I have? Look how beautiful he is.
I’ve posted more than a hundred Wodaabe photos. There is the Geerewol, of course, but I also have some behind the scenes shots of the men making up, plus Wodaabe women and children in their camp. Almost every photo has a brief ‘story’. Just click on PORTFOLIO at the top of the page in the menu bar.