Learning to Love Photo Management by Bradley Chamber is a book that should not need to exist. He says it right at the beginning. But since photo management is not as easy as it should be, the book does. And we are all better off for it. This is your how-to manual for managing photos.

I was lucky enough to get an advance copy and read through it quickly. It’s only 16 pages but each one has real, actionable information. This is a book I could easily hand my mother and she could follow the steps. She has a massive, ever-growing photo library and more than once I’ve needed to help her out in trying to bring some order to the madness. This book deserves to be sold with all new cameras and smartphones. I live by a simple rule. If it doesn’t exist in two places, it doesn’t exist. I don’t remember who I stole the line from but it applies to anything important.

Photos certainly fall into that category. If you want to keep a photo safe, it needs to be backed up. It needs to be kept in a safe place and on your phone is not a safe place. Many people often feel that Dropbox is a safe backup on its own. But what happens to a file that’s deleted from Dropbox? It deletes the file everywhere else too. This is why a true backup solution is needed. Bradley recommends Crashplan which is also what I use and recommend. (Crashplan link offers 20% off for new subscribers.)

The advice within these pages will take you from hoping Apple has your back and not really knowing where yours photos are stored to being in total control. I know when geeks talk about being in control of something it sounds like they’re saying this takes a lot of work. But this will not. With a set of very simple, inexpensive tools Learning to Love Photo Management will have you doing just that.

The screenshots and examples are from iPhones and Macs but the ideas are universal and can easily be applied to an Android/Windows setup or any other combination of phone and computer.

Stop worrying about where your photos are and hoping Apple is handling your backups if you lose or break your phone. They’re not. If you’re like me, or my mother, you’ve spent many hours taking and enjoying photos of children, family events, vacations and the beauty life has to offer. You’ve spent hundreds on a smartphone or nice camera setup. Spend a few dollars and a few minutes on protecting those photos for years to come.

The solutions offered in this book don’t rely on any specialized software or one particularly company so even if they go out of business tomorrow, your photos will be stored locally so you’ll always have them. The rest of the pieces are interchangeable.

It’s great advice in a small package. After reading through the book I am rethinking the way I manage my photos and you will too. It is available as a PDF download or an iPad-only iBook and it’s only $2.99. Take control of your photos and learn to love photo management. Once you do, you can enjoy your photos and not worry about losing them.