Zenfolio; All good things must end ?

[Randy]

I suspect the e-commerce has worked well for your sports photography as it did for me shooting agility. It's a real PITA for one-off image sales. Which in my case isn't highly relevant any more as I'm not actively marketing now. I was gearing up to significantly increase my local/tourist marketing efforts when covid came along. All of the venues I had set up for this summer were closed/cancelled and tourist season didn't happen. Probably just as well. May have saved me from failing at retirement

I can’t sell high school pics anymore so I should downgrade. NCHSAA insists I sell via Maxpreps which is way better for me in every way. Maxpreps takes a 0% commission and handles all the CC paperwork and direct deposits my money and they charge 3x more than I did

 

[Butlerkid]

SmugMug is not the same as it was 7-10 years ago. SM made the painful choice of suffering through a major software update that enabled it to improve its product a LOT. I suffered through the change. Many stayed with SM.....others went to Zenfolio or somewhere else.

But it is not 7-10 years ago. It is 2020. Since hubby is using Zenfolio now and I am using SM, so I can compare the products. SM is definitely easier to use and customize. Heck, I'm setting up a new SM website for Justin as we speak due to his displeasure with ZF. (Disclaimer: neither Justin nor I sell......) And the SM support is outstanding. Yesterday evening, Thanksgiving, I got a response from SM help within 6 hours. No it is not always that fast, but it is rare that a response takes 12-24 hours.

 

[Commodorefirst]

I have been with ZF for nearly 13 years, looked at smugmug initially, but was clunky until software update that Karen noted. I for sure do not want to upload again, any of my files or galleries because that would take so much time and bandwidth. Even with me only using low res files. But several thousand pics, uh.... no thank you. Fortunately, I only rarely add photos and in smaller quantities. The last big upload and new gallery was where I uploaded 300-400 dance project photos for the cast members to look at and share.

went smoothly, no issues, but I did notice their marketing and advertising for the features, which was new, and annoying.

 

[gnagel]

I have been with ZF for nearly 13 years, looked at smugmug initially, but was clunky until software update that Karen noted. I for sure do not want to upload again, any of my files or galleries because that would take so much time and bandwidth. Even with me only using low res files. But several thousand pics, uh.... no thank you. Fortunately, I only rarely add photos and in smaller quantities. The last big upload and new gallery was where I uploaded 300-400 dance project photos for the cast members to look at and share.

went smoothly, no issues, but I did notice their marketing and advertising for the features, which was new, and annoying.

Same with me...I have tens of thousands of images on Zenfolio and many customized pages and links. I just don't want to take the time to migrate everything to a new site.

My subscription rate is grandfathered in, so I currently pay far less annually for the service now that I otherwise would.

I'm not as happy with Zenfolio as I once was. I find that the outages are more frequent and longer than in the past. Sometimes it takes a while to view certain photos as I see a spinning circle while waiting for them to render. But, I find the service to be acceptable still.

Glenn

 

[Mike Buckley]

Sometimes it takes a while to view certain photos as I see a spinning circle while waiting for them to render. But, I find the service to be acceptable still.

Same for me on both counts.

 

[Butlerkid]

Same with me...I have tens of thousands of images on Zenfolio and many customized pages and links. I just don't want to take the time to migrate everything to a new site.

My subscription rate is grandfathered in, so I currently pay far less annually for the service now that I otherwise would.

I'm not as happy with Zenfolio as I once was. I find that the outages are more frequent and longer than in the past. Sometimes it takes a while to view certain photos as I see a spinning circle while waiting for them to render. But, I find the service to be acceptable still.

Glenn

Speaking of re-uploading. Justin has almost 200 videos he will have to upload!!!!!! Most are 15-20 minutes in length! And videos take substantially longer to upload than photos. The plan to is batch up-load over night - for many nights! LOL!

However, I'm sure having fun setting up his new site!

 

[gnagel]

Speaking of re-uploading. Justin has almost 200 videos he will have to upload!!!!!! Most are 15-20 minutes in length! And videos take substantially longer to upload than photos. The plan to is batch up-load over night - for many nights! LOL!

However, I'm sure having fun setting up his new site!

I decided to subscribe to a cloud backup service. I do maintain multiple external hard drive backup drives (with one offsite in a safety deposit box). But, I wanted to keep an additional copy of everything in the cloud...somewhere that I can go to pull up old versions of everything in the event that my drives get corrupted.

I went with Backblaze because they offer unlimited storage for $60 per year ($110 for two years). And, I like that I can access those files at any time...and that if I ever need to access all of them at once they will ship an 8 TB hard drive to me with all my files on it (for no cost other than shipping if I return the drive).

The reason I am mentioning this is that it took nearly two weeks to upload my files with the computer running 24/7! In the end, I have nearly 3 TB of files up on Backblaze now!

Glenn

 

[Mike Buckley]

one offsite in a safety deposit box

It would be good to find a practical place other than a safe deposit box to store the drives if being able to gain access to them immediately after your death is important to you. Depending on the situation, gaining immediate access can become dicey.

 

[gnagel]

It would be good to find a practical place other than a safe deposit box to store the drives if being able to gain access to them immediately after your death is important to you. Depending on the situation, gaining immediate access can become dicey.

I keep at least two backup drives in my home office. I like to keep one offsite (that one is usually not the most current one as I only swap the drives out once a quarter). In any event, all of my paperwork (i.e., trust, will, titles, etc.) are all kept in the box as well. My executor has a key and access to the box. Hopefully this won't come into play anytime soon!

Glenn

 

[Clix Pix]

It would be good to find a practical place other than a safe deposit box to store the drives if being able to gain access to them immediately after your death is important to you. Depending on the situation, gaining immediate access can become dicey.

Each month I put some external SSDs with my important data files and photo files into my safe deposit box and I bring home the ones which have been living in there for the past month. Needless to say, COVID-19 really screwed up my usual system for quite a while but now at least for the moment, we're back on track as I have access to my box whenever I feel the need to get to it.

Being able to gain access to my photo files or my data files after my death -- well, since I will be DEAD that won't matter a flying fig to me, then, will it? Certain important data I also have made available in a print format which would be available to my heirs fairly soon after my death. I actually suspect that my photo files and most of the data files really won't be of interest to my heirs anyway, and that they'll do with them as they choose.....which probably means looking at them maybe once and then wiping the drives to use for their own current purposes. Fine with me..... For now, while I'm alive and kicking and shooting, I want to have backups of my files that are important to me available in several ways, including in offsite locations. I don't have the luxury of family or trusted friends living close enough by that it would be convenient to stash some of my external SSDs in their homes, nor do I have a desk drawer in an office at work, since I am retired.

Whatever happens with my stuff after I'm gone will no longer be my concern. Since my remaining small family isn't all that close anyway, I don't anticipate a lot of interest in much of my stuff, especially the photos. I'm not a prize-winning photojournalist or someone who has put out best-selling photograph-laden "coffee-table" books. While I am of course interested in what I shoot I am not harboring any illusions that anyone else is or would be.

The younger generation has their own concerns, own priorities, own focus on life. That said, though, yes, older family photographs are still readily available in various photograph albums lovingly put together by those who came before me and a few by me as well, and I'm sure that those will be cherished by my heirs. They aren't going to give a darn about my photos of Alfred, the Great Blue Heron or the Hooded Mergansers -- they'll be more interested in photos of themselves as children with their parents and grandparents, etc.

 

[Mike Buckley]

Under normal circumstances, the only reason people would want immediate access to our photos upon our death is to present a slide show of them at a memorial service and/or social event that celebrates our life. And under normal circumstances, they wouldn't need to access the image files in the safe deposit box because they'll be available on our computers.

 

[drr1531]

...I'm not a prize-winning photojournalist or someone who has put out best-selling photograph-laden "coffee-table" books. While I am of course interested in what I shoot I am not harboring any illusions that anyone else is or would be...

Interesting I was just thinking about this recently. Historically I've put a good bit of thought/effort into how to leave my photography files in a manner that might be of some use/value to someone. The other day I was thinking about how much time/effort has to go into marketing to produce any tangible value to an image. Our images in and of themselves have no inherent(tangible) value. Until someone has put in the necessary work to bring them to market the only value they have is to us. So unless one already has an established market or plans to leave the files to someone with the skill, time, and inclination to market them, they have no monetary value.

What a relief. Beyond keeping my files adequately backed up/secured for my own use, I've quit thinking/worrying about it. I keep one folder with all of the master files for images that we've printed and hung on the walls of our homes. If my bride survives me she may want to re-print some of those some day. And I'm in the process of cataloging all of our family/travel photos in a manner that she will be able to access them as well. More importantly, and more useful to my bride, I'm in the process of producing a couple of (way overdue) picture books of our life together.

 

[Mike Buckley]

I've put a good bit of thought/effort into how to leave my photography files in a manner that might be of some use/value to someone.

I've done that mostly for having value for myself while alive and, secondarily, for my wife after I'm gone. Nobody else will care.

 

[Clix Pix]

Under normal circumstances, the only reason people would want immediate access to our photos upon our death is to present a slide show of them at a memorial service and/or social event that celebrates our life. And under normal circumstances, they wouldn't need to access the image files in the safe deposit box because they'll be available on our computers.

Nobody's going to be finding many photos of ME in my photo files! I don't take photos of myself, I'm not into the "selfie" thing at all....
Any slide show showing me would have to come from someone else's photo collection, not mine. While over the years, yes, I did serve as "the photographer" for various events, many of them were not family-related and so may be disregarded by family.

Also, of course my bank safe deposit box contains other important items in addition to my external SSDs, including things like car title, passport, papers related to the purchase of my home, jewelry appraisals, etc.....

 

[Mike Buckley]

Nobody's going to be finding many photos of ME in my photo files!

I meant to mention a slide show by them, not of them, for presentation at a memorial occasion.