My days as a photographer

Backing up your data locally: is it enough? Think of online backups!

2011-11-19T13:03:00.000-08:00

No, it's not enough! I am a strong believer in online backup. Simply because of all the things that can happen to your backup drive(s) and your computers...It can get stolen, your place can burn down, or maybe be flooded and what good does a local backup do in that case? Nothing! Your data is gone! That's why you need to backup your data online and also why I do it and have been doing it for years. There are many online backup solutions out there and some are way more affordable than others. I use Backblaze.com; they offer unlimited online backup for only $5/month per computer. I had been using another service before who was the same price, but I left them when they removed the "unlimited" option...seriously, it would have costed me $25 a month, so they lost me.

If you are not convinced yet, find more info about backblaze here: http://www.backblaze.com/

Also, one advice I can give you before you start backing up your images online, you might want to remove the images that are not used from your library. I'm talking about those 150+ images from a shoot that do not get selected but that you still want to keep, just in case...You may not care about backing those up online. If you do, go ahead but you may reconsider, like I did, once you realize that they take up 150 Gb of data, and that it takes 2 weeks to back those up, and that you may have to pay your ISP for extra bandwidth if you exceed their cap. If you are using Lightroom, you can export these pictures to another catalog, this way they will be still available and you can easily re-import them to your main library if you chose to.

So, I hope this helps and happy backup everyone! I would love to hear your comments and let me know in the future if this tip saved you from losing your precious data...:)

Photographers, Stop doing free shoots!

2011-10-26T09:31:00.000-07:00

I'm in the talks with a few models right now and I am asking them to pay me to do a shoot. I posted a travel notice on MM (see my profile here: http://www.modelmayhem.com/yvallee ). A few models have contacted me saying they want to do a shoot with me, but none of them want to pay for the shoot. They either want it for free, or they want to be paid. Seriously, I think the quality of my work deserves remuneration and I am not willing to do any shoot for free. I think there are just too many photographers out there that give their work for free and models now expect everything for free. This is not fair. I just want to send a message to my fellow photographers who read this...Please don't do any work for free, unless you are a beginner in this field. If your work is good, you deserve to be paid and don't accept anything for free, otherwise you are cheapening the market for all of us (and yourself as well, if you want to be a photographer in the future). Thanks for understanding and great shooting everyone!

First Day as a full time photographer

2011-01-15T03:09:00.000-08:00

My first shoot today since I left my programmer job. I'm very excited and can't wait to get shooting. I'm working on some product shots for a local (Montréal, Canada) handbag designer who's now renowned worldwide. I will post pictures later once I get a release...