Today I’m sharing something cool from my old archive adventures. Seriously, digging through old hard drives is like a treasure hunt, but with more dust and frustration.
Finding the Raw Stuff
So I found this ancient external drive in my basement. Covered in dust and sticky notes that said “DO NOT DELETE – AA 2005 BACKUP” in my terrible handwriting from like, forever ago. Plugged it into my laptop and my computer froze immediately. Classic. Needed three reboots just to recognize the stupid thing.
Fighting With Old Files
Opened the drive and saw a bunch of .CR2 files – raw photos from a Canon DSLR. Forgot those even existed! Tried opening one in Photoshop and got errors. Totally forgot modern software hates old formats. Googled like crazy, found some sketchy converter software, downloaded it against my better judgement. Installed it, crossed my fingers, and it worked. Barely. Each photo took like 5 minutes to load.
Sorting Chaos
The files were totally scrambled:
- Outtakes from swimwear shots mixed with model laughing in robe
- Random snack table pictures?
- Blurry shots of lighting gear everywhere
- Backstage crowd shots with cellphones from 2005 – tiny bricks with antennas!
Spent ages grouping them into folders:
- Unused – Crazy Faces (Alessandra making goofy expressions at the camera)
- BTS Setup (People taping down cables, holding reflectors)
- Relax Moments (Her just sitting in a chair chilling between sets)
Fixing Years of Damage
Time had NOT been kind to these files. Colors looked sickly green, dust spots everywhere, weird shadows. My editing attempt:
- Opened one in Lightroom – software crashed twice.
- Used brightness sliders until the picture looked semi-normal again.
- Spotted scratches – used clone stamp tool manually for like an hour. Arm was numb.
- Tried sharpening a blurry pic. Instant regret. Looked like plastic surgery gone wrong.
Gave up fancy editing. Just cleaned up stains and adjusted light. Kept the messy backstage vibe. Important to show how chaotic shoots really are.
Why Share These Now?
Honest moment? Found these while cleaning for my kid’s birthday party. Wife yelled at me to stop “playing with old junk.” Showed her one pic – Alessandra barefoot on set holding pizza. “Oh wow,” she said. “That IS cool.” Even my teen niece peeked and laughed at the 2005 hair and flip phones. That reaction? Priceless. Way more interesting than polished catalog shots everybody’s seen before.
Whole project took a full weekend plus two extra late nights. Old tech fights are brutal. But seeing people flip through these lost moments? Makes all the crashes and dust worth it.
