6 ms·
Actually, once we started getting into the market, we found that most do not know they need to do regular, offsite backups. Consider the some examples: * An o
by tghw 13y ago
Actually, once we started getting into the market, we found that most do not know they need to do regular, offsite backups.
Consider the some examples:
* An older photographer who grew up in the days of film who has just transitioned over to digital.
* A homemaker who is trying to add some much needed income for her family, with a passion but no formal training.
* A well-off software developer who moonlights as a photographer for fun and a little extra money.
Of those, only the third has been exposed, formally, to correct data backup procedures. The others are likely to keep their photos in folders on the desktop of their laptop.
Furthermore, photography is not a very lucrative profession for most photographers. That limits the amount you can charge. Our original pricing was much higher, but we realized that would be problematic, considering the average photographer brings in around $30k per year.
- mgkimsal 13y agoNone of your examples contradict "Professional photographers know they need to backup their photos." A homemaker or techie moonlighting for extra income aren't really 'professional photographers'. They may take photographs that look professional, but it's not the same thing. One might say that professional developers use version control, then have counter examples of "well, this web design student doesn't ever uer version control, but she's the only person working on the code, so it doesn't matter". This is not a professional developer, even if she is capable of producing results that look like they were done by a professional. A professional, imo, is defined as much by their habits and practices as by the output.
- tghw 13y agoYour definition is not what defines the market.
- mgkimsal 13y agoDoes a homemaker moonlighting as a photographer really pass herself off as a 'professional'?
- tghw 13y agoAbsolutely. The advances in digital photography has opened it up to almost everyone. They're not doing Disney's next add campaign, but they are doing several family sessions per week, and they are bringing in money. A friend of mine had her wedding photographer lose 6 months of data in a hard drive crash. She should have known better, and may have, but she didn't do proper backups.
- joelhooks 13y agoYes, my wife's done this for almost a decade. She gets paid well, provides professional service, and works under an LLC What else would you call it, if not professional? That said, I have to harass her about backups.
- agravier 13y agoI smell a no true Scotsman fallacy.
- kevinpet 13y agoNo, this is "an American of no Scottish descent who has never visited Scotland is not a Scotsman merely because he owns a plaid shirt."
- jwarren 13y agoI was a professional photographer for a couple of years (as in, paid most of my rent with it until web dev became a more lucrative venture) and assisted some VERY big and experienced photographers. Everyone I know backed up on-site, using manual methods as and when they remembered. I did actually set up a good automated backup solution for one of them, but there's definitely a limit to their interest. Remember they're making pretty much all their money off commissions, and are only keeping backups out of some sense of pride/responsibility. Another blow is that, at least here in the UK, we're only starting to get the kind of upstream bandwidth necessary to make this level of data transfer feasible. So, it's a brilliant idea and, as long as confidence in cloud storage grows, as time goes on the market will grow and grow. I'm just not sure it's quite there yet.
- xanderstrike 13y ago> doesn't ever use version control, but she's the only person working on the code, so it doesn't matter As a web developer who works on a lot of solo projects, this sentence hurts me.
- cowpewter 13y agoDo you use version control? If you do, that sentence doesn't even apply to you.
- xtracto 13y agoOr maybe your company's problem was this (from one of your blog posts): > It did this by compressing the photos to full resolution, high quality JPEGs, which saved anywhere from 50%-90% of the size. The downside of this, of course, is that photographers who shoot in RAW would only have a JPEG copy backed up. We figured this was a reasonable compromise. In a catastrophic event, wouldn't a photographer rather have a JPEG copy than nothing at all? It turns out the answer was no. But we didn't ask that question, because we thought the answer was so obvious. I am no photographer... but from what I can see in this thread, what people are looking for is a solution to store RAW image files. I am sure photographers can find already good solutions to store good-quality JPG copies of their files.