DJ Paine

long time no post… what can i say i’ve been crazy busy!

but let’s cut to the chase: BACK UP.
Backing Up Your Mac’s….

here is what i have:

PHYSICAL Back Up:
Righteo! Hard Drives. at the moment you can get one TeraByte drives for $99 Australian from the mighty nerd store Umart
i have about 9 drives- 3 of them are what i call “master” drives that are kept here in the office, 3 of them are copies of those masters that are kept here in the office, and finally 3 of them are copies as well but are kept in a pelican case offsite {at my parent’s place to be exact}.
my drives are all “naked” off the shelf “internal” sata drives {i prefer silent samsung drives} – i do not have enclosures on them. instead i use a hard drive dock. at the moment i have a DUAL dock from vantec {once again from umart}

i also back up some “important” jobs to DVD {weddings}, but i am trying to totally ween myself off this practise… they take up too much space and are a total hassle to catalogue… but i’ll probably keep doing it for now.

CLOUD Back Up:
i have decided to go with BACKBLAZE for my online no brainer back up. Don’t be put off {like i was} with the stupid “i’m so confident in my online back up i can set fire to this 20 year old laptap i found at the tip” video they have on the front page. here’s the deal: it works with Snow Leopard, it also backs up my external drives and it’s cheap. if you want to use them use the coupon code “online10″ for 10% off – so that works out to a total of $45 a year for unlimited online backup.

i also use DROPBOX for another type of online back up. it’s what i call online backup and synching, and it rocks the casbah like nobodies business! The great news is that you can use dropbox 100% for free for up to 2 gig, if you have friends who might use it, refer them and you get more space for free! SO PEASE SIGN UP USING THIS LINK: https://www.getdropbox.com/referrals/NTI1Njk5
anyway, you download dropbox to all your machines, sign up for an account and then on each machine you have a Dropbox folder, and whatever is in this folder is synched over all of your machines over the internet.
The files are in the folder are downloaded onto each machine, so you have a local copy of everything, as well as a copy on dropbox online. This is perfect if you have any apps like 1Password or Things that you want to synch over multiple machines, just place the app’s library/background goodness onto your dropbox and booyeah you have the app synched over the machines. i LOVE ME SOME DROPBOX. been a big fan of these guys since they started, seriously check out their tour and then sign up using me as a referal so i can get more space to back up my Chick Tract collectable list.
anyway – check their awesome tour here getdropbox.com/tour

i also back up a LOT of personal photographs on my pro accounts at ZOOOMR & FLICKR – i set them as private so only i can see and download them.
i do the same with video on my pro/plus account at VIMEO

so there ya go. anything i’m missing? what are you doing? let me know!

i just added PHOTOSHELTER to the mix. i emailed the original email to them and have received their automated “we got your email” response. i have been following Photoshelter for some time now; their journey into the stock photo world and just this month their sudden departure from it. so they are obviously in the middle of some big changes. they did have a terrific photo blog, which was run by the interesting and astute rachel hulin, she got the sack from photoshelter and started her own blog that is worth checking out. 

anyway, there are now 6 players in the mix, 4 of which i have heard back from already…. the journey continues!

DSLR-killer… – Reduser.net.

if you have nor idea what a “red” movie camera is then head over to red.com

anyway, the dude who created red cameras posted on the red user forums the following:

i first heard about “Big Black Bag” from the one and only Scott Bourne {one of the strangest men on the internets} on one of the many podcasts he pops up on. now this might sound horrible to some {all you scott bourne fans}, but the fact that Mr Bourne was pushing it sorta put me off it. i mean his whole style of photography {not to mention dress sense} is very different to me, which is not bad thing, we’re just different. so mr bourne’s online photo needs might be as different to mine as our taste in Hawaiian shirts.

anyway, this response is from the 4th company in the 5 i emailed. it came after 13 hours and i appreciate the simple “to the point” reply.…

(more…)

moving right along, we are now 3 for 5 in our responses! this next response is from the “underdog” of the group: Exposure Manager. when i did my initial research on this area a couple of months ago everyone was talking about zenfolio & smugmug, it was only a slight blip on the pulse that mentioned Exposure Manager.

so the response came after about 12 hours, and i am very impressed that the reply is inline within my email. top marks… check out the reply.

(more…)

ok, proving the “you have not because you ask not” principal – the next reply to my very long email was from the very popular SmugMug. the reply i got was around 6 hours after i sent the email, which is still very prompt and is enough time to see that someone has actually read it. so even though they are “second” – so far this response is the best.

the smugmug support person took the time to answer every question “inline” within my email! awesome. they win points for that. so to see the amazing response keep reading….

(more…)

despite the nay-sayers {cough -aaron spence- cough}, i am getting replies to my questions to the five contenders for my online photo needs… and all the replies i get will be shown to you here to keep you in the loop.

now keep in mind that my email was sent on 19 September 2008 4:04:41 PM. the first reply i got was from Zenfolio – less than 5 minutes later – hmmmm….. prompt reply is one thing but…. so zenfolio win the award for the first reply but let’s have a look at their reply:

{note i am finally using the “insert more” tag so my blog page doesn’t assault your good sense with great big long entries…. so as they say in the blogging world: read the email after the jump…}

(more…)

it is way past due time for me to get my clients online photo experience too the best level possible! i am sadly still using flickr for a lot of my online needs – which is fine for my personal / social needs – but not great for clients… and with almost 80,000 items on flickr {& nearly 200,000 views} it’s time for me to dive in to the wild world of online photo ocean!

here are the 5 players:

zenfolio.com

smugmug.com

bigblackbag.com

exposuremanager.com

redbubble.com

and here is the opening play: my introduction letter to them:

G’day!
my name is dj paine and i am a professional photographer from the Gold Coast, Australia. i shoot people. weddings, families, kids, music, portraits in a {hopefully} creative and fresh style. i shoot canon {5D} for digital and lot’s of lomography cameras for film. i run apple mac only. i have a good fast fat connection to the internet and use the net a lot!
i have my business website {that is going through a drastic overhaul} www.djpphotography.com – and i will use that for information, contact, sample galleries etc.
i have just registered a new domain – www.photographsof.me  – and i want to use that as my client galleries.
i have been searching online, asking friends and generally just going crazy trying to work out what companies out there would be best to “partner” with to do everything i want to do with my client galleries.
so… i have lots of questions that i am hoping you can help me with.
i am more than happy to call you on the phone / skype / ichat to ask these questions in “real time” – i just need your details and a good time to contact you.
but if emailing / online is the best way, that’s cool too.
but if you reply to my questions with “just look at the website the answers can be found there somewhere….”, then you have lost me already.
if you reply with direct links to the website that answer my questions, great, but i don’t want to go looking for a needle in the proverbial haystack…
{sorry to sound negative, i’ve had some bad responses – and good ones too! – from emailing companies for help.}

so… questions:
{in no order of importance}
1} private client login
2} can i use my own web address {as mentioned?}
3} what is the domain name structure like – i’d love to use simple domain names for my clients. for example: wwwphotographsof.me/clientname  -  wwwphotographsof.me/johnnyb   -   wwwphotographsof.me/bobby
4} how much space does you company provide?
5} how flexible are your “slideshows”? are they embed-able?
6} self fulfilment, how easy is that to do? what percentages do you take for that?
7} i know anyone can do a screen capture of any images online, but how do you protect my images online? can people just right click and copy?
8} do you do “sets within sets” – or “albums” within “sets” – for example i would love to have my long term clients have multiple sets online and the domain name structure make sense for that – so if my client Susie Q. knows her page with me is wwwphotographsof.me/susieq and she comes to me every year so her albums / sets are under that umbrella – example wwwphotographsof.me/susieq/2008 wwwphotographsof.me/susieq/2009 – hope that makes sense…
9} can i sell my images as digital downloads?
10} payment methods- how easy is it for my clients to pay online and offline?
11} how do i get my money? how do you pay me?
12} custom price lists? how easy is that to do?
13} can i upload my original raw images for back up? size limits for uploading?
14} i am on the Gold Coast of Australia, how would that hinder or help my experience with you?

and finally….
15} why should i choose you?

let me apologise for such a long email, once again, i’d be happy to call you and talk in person.
please be as detailed as possible, and explain everything as simply as possible…
i am looking forward to hearing from you and establishing a great partnership with a company that take me to the next level. i am using flickr for alot of my online photo needs – i currently have almost 80,000 items on flickr & nearly 200,000 views. So i am not new to “being online”…
ok that’s enough for now, let’s get the ball rolling….

thanks
d.j. paine
djp photography

ok… there ya go.
my journey has begun. i hope you stick with me as we decide on where to go…
any suggestions, ideas etc – let me know!

this week i have had my future told! early 2009 i will be rocking the following tools in my camera bag:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
read more about specs here.
read initial review here.

Canon PowerShot G10
read more about it here.

these two bad boys along with my trusty 5D {mark 1} will work together quite nicely….
also on my list of camera gear “to-do” is:
a couple more canon lenses… i am still determining exactly what i should get and what i can afford… and i will be building my own “strobist” kit. 3 more flash/speedlight heads, some umbrellas, stands and triggers…
i have some serious equipment goals for 2009, i’ll keep ya updated.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II: 21MP and HD movies: Digital Photography Review

21MP CMOS sensor

an expanded ISO range of 50-25,600  

full 1080p HD movie recording at 30fps

live view, 3.0″ 920k dot LCD

DIGIC IV processor

increased battery capacity

sensor dust reduction

Body-only prices: US: $ 2,699

WOW.