Hey Girl, Nice Shot

Savvy Sisterhood: Workshop on the Waterfront

I am BEYOND excited to announce the Savvy Sisterhood: Workshop on the Waterfront being put on by the Savvy Photographer!  AND I'LL BE A SPEAKER!!!  Being held in the beautiful St. Michael's Maryland March 28th - March 31st.    Here is a list of the speakers for the Workshop!  I cannot wait to meet the other speakers in person!!!

Mika Beth Edwards 

Jessica Grieves <--- ME!!!

Bev Hollis

Marta Locklear

Melanie Mauer

Jodie Otte

Registration for the event starts on December 1st and there has been so much interest we think it'll sell out quickly so put this at the top of your Christmas list!

 
 

Party Hosting

 

I love my loft space and while I don't do many shoots there (light is not great) it is a great meeting place for clients and the neighborhood is perfect for that urban portrait look!  However, it is a big space and I hope to really use it more for events in the upcoming year.

The first such event was a book release party for the newly published Kirtsy Takes a Bow.  Kirtsy is a site similar to Digg but from a women's perspective, and for women. You can go there to find the most interesting topics online for women...everything from news to fashion to blog posts.  It is a great way to let someone else tell you where to surf online when you have some down time! 

To celebrate the success, they compiled some of the most popular items and put them together into a beautiful book!  The contributors are a who's who of the online world and when they asked if they could have their Houston release party at the loft I didn't even hesitate: YES!

To prepare my new office buddy, the editor of the book, and myself spend the better part of Sunday clearing away the urban jungle that had taken over the patio space in front of my building.  We also all but emptied the loft space to make room for the unknown number of guests that would be attending the party.

 

We couldn't have been luckier with the weather.  A cool front had come through so we could easily leave doors open and guests could come and go.  We had a fire pit outside, and wine inside.  A perfect combination!

I already knew a number of the guests from previous Houston events but the one contributor I was most interested in meeting was Karen Walrond (aka Chookooloonks), a photographer and author. It was love at first sight.  She has such a positive energy around her and was so fun to talk to!  I can't wait to see her again at another event.  Definitely check out her blog, and gain inspiration from one of her projects: Shutter Sisters.

 

So why host the party?  Mainly because I really feel important about community involvement and while my children and job keep me from doing more, I felt like this was a great way to support some pretty impressive women in the Houston area (and beyond).  Also, I think it is rare to get such an interesting and diverse group of people together in one spot which made for some great conversations.  I really enjoyed talking to the guests both about my photography, being in that neighborhood, other artists, and the book!  I encourage to you to get involved and see if there is something you can do to help further others in your community.  Plus, it never hurts to earn a few Karma points.

Another Workshop Option

If I look back and try to pin point the one thing that impacted the quality of my photography the most, I would definitely have to say that it was Learnfest and shooting side by side with Tamara Lackey and Audrey Woulard.  Seeing them in action, how they interacted with clients, and their processing, it just made it all seem so possible.  And it also gave me the confidence to find my style, my voice.   They are so down to earth, fun, and easy to be around.  I was sad when they announced that the last Learnfest was in September because I felt that these ladies had so much to offer!  Well, the good news is that they have a new one day workshop being offered in March just before WPPI in Vegas. 

I personally am trying to figure out how to make WPPI fit into my life because I know it is the party of the year for photographers and spending a day with these fab women would just be the cherry on that sundae!

But I wouldn't hesitate if I were you....the workshop registration begins tomorrow at noon!  I honestly wouldn't hesitate to spend another day with them to just to absorb their energy!  Audrey and Tamara Workshop

Online Backups with LiveDrive | Interview with Jay Grieves

Not to long ago I had my main workstation fail.  The one with all my photographs on it.  And while I had backups on an external drive and on DVD, I wasn't 100% sure that everything was there.  And it highlighted another problem...what if something happened to the physical location of my equipment?  So I tasked my husband (a software developer consulting with large companies) with researching and setting up an online backup and storage solution for me and he came back with Livedrive.  Here's a guest post interview with him to tell you about why we choose to go with Livedrivefor our business.

Who are you and what do you do?
I'm Jay Grieves (http://www.BigSwingingDeveloper.com) and I'm a software developer by day and run the technical infrastructure at Bubblegum Tree at night.

What system are you using for backups?
I'm using the online server Livedrive.

Prior to using an online service, what were you doing for backups?
It was a mix of storing data on a local machine that had a RAID 5 array and burning data to DVD.  The problem with this is that all of the backups were in the same building as the source data, which means there was no protection from destruction like fire.  Backup solutions like drobo, TeraStation, or copying to a My Book drive will save you from accidental deletion and corruption, but not a true disaster.  Burning DVDs and taking them offsite regularly was unlikely, so I started looking into online services.

What were you looking for in an online backup solution?
The number one feature I was looking for was a reasonable price for storing large amounts of data.  RAW files can come in at 20MB each and even JPGs are 5MB+ from a Canon 5D Mark II.  I was also looking for someone who didn't have a bad reputation.  New companies who hadn't established a reputation were in the running, but anyone with angry blog posts about them came off the list.

What other systems did you consider?  What made Livedrive standout?
I looked at Mozy, Amazon S3, iDrive, and a couple of others.  Livedrive stood out for offering unlimited storage and the ability to install the client on multiple computers and have stored files available on them.  For example, files that get backed up from the office appear available on the "L:" drive of our home computer.  The file isn't actually downloaded until we try to open it, so it's not taking up all that space but it is still available in case it's needed outside the office.  They also have a web client for retrieving files on the go.  I also liked that LiveDrive has a 30 day trial so I could see exactly what was going to be involved with using it and give it a test drive before committing.

How much time did it take to get LiveDrive setup and all the existing information backed up?
The download and installation of LiveDrive took about 10 minutes.  There was about 350GB of data (mostly image files) to be copied the first time.  This took about 30 days to upload.  That's not a typo, it took a month. Once the initial load was finished, however, new files are simply copied to the L: drive and they're automatically uploaded.  This means that any data we choose to store online is uploaded each day.


Is there a limit for how much data you can store on LiveDrive?
Live drive offers an unlimited plan for $150/year.  They also have a 100GB plan, but I went straight for the unlimited plan since I had so many images to store.

What are some of the best features of LiveDrive?  What are its limitations?
It's really easy to use and the price can't be beat.  They also add new features periodically so it's constantly improving.  The only limitation that I notice is upload speed, but there are so many factors involved that I really can't complain about that.

Anything else we should know about online backups or LiveDrive?
When it comes to backups in general, you should have a plan.  If your computer, or the building in which it's housed, were destroyed then how would you recover?  While it may seem gloomy to think about, you'll actually feel better once you have a plan in place.  At this point if our office were to become unavailable I know that we can access any of our important files from home and our business could continue with minimal interruption.

I can tell you that since switching to Livedrive, working out of two spaces has become MUCH easier.  I have downloaded proofs off the LiveDrive a number of times when I've been at home and I'm trying to help a client out by placing their order from home instead of waiting until I get to my office.  And some cool features they have added include the ability to share files with others (imagine letting clients download files) and a drag and drop interface to Facebook and flickr.

Thanks Jay for sharing your insight with our readers!