Hey all,

Just wanted to send out a heads-up that I'm going to be taking two weeks off for some greatly-needed vacation time. No shooting - just relaxing. The next 'season' (not sure you could even call it that) of the podcast will resume the second week of August. Until then, enjoy!

Mike

Anyone who follows the podcast and blog knows that I'm a huge fan of Cloud Engine's PogoPlug. It's FTP without the hassle of an FTP for both you and your clients. The one and only negative I consistently find with the product is it's goofy title and pink-accented color theme. For all it does right, I find myself apologizing to clients in advance when I say "you'll be receiving an email invitation from something called a 'PogoPlug', I know, it sounds silly…"

Well, those days are numbered with the introduction of the PogoPlug Biz. It's essentially a beefed-up version of the PogoPlug we know and love, but this iteration gives business users the ability to customize and monitor the presentation and content on the drive(s).

We'll be able to customize the interface, background image, color scheme, even the domain name that invites users to the files. Web-view only sharing allows clients to preview images, but not download them (pretty nifty for use photographers, eh?). The cloud-printing adds a twist to the concept - not sure I'll get any use of it, but good to know it's there. It also has things like multiple users and remote backup.

The one bummer about this product it's cost: $299. I can't help but feel a little gouged on the price when the price of the pink-version is 1/3 the cost - plus it seems like almost all of these features are software-based, not hardware. 

You can check out the PogoPlug Biz info and pre-order page here.

First and foremost, when dealing with the subject of state sales tax, we must acknowledge that the principles of this topic vary from state to state. Now that we've put that out in the open, let's get to the heart of the matter: does a real estate photographer charge sales tax to her/his clients?

Let's begin with the tax itself: it's a tax administered to the end-user for purchasing a good, collected by the party making the sale. The business doesn't make money on the deal, in fact, state sales tax can deter people from purchasing large-priced items.

The Sale of a Good vs Providing a Service:

The whole reason we're even talking about whether or not to charge sales tax is because there's a significant amount of grey area involving what we as photographers provide: do we provide a good or a service? See, goods are subject to state sales tax. Goods are tangible, touchable, purchasable things. You walk into the store, buy a good, and you walk out with it. Services are labor, time, and above all, intangible. This is the crux of the matter - in the digital age, we don't have to create tangible goods to make a living.

Let's go back a few years, to a time when our medium for capturing light was film. In those days, there was no point in taking pictures unless you had the intention of selling them. Quite frankly, you'd be wasting your time. The state tax laws covered everything from head to toe, the prints to the negatives - if you were a photographer, you were definitely collecting sales tax. Fast forward to today - a photographer can be create digital images, deliver them online, never produce a tangible product, and be paid for the service/time/labor. Think about it, when the medium changed, the entire business model was flipped on it's ear - even if your efforts never come to tangible fruition through your own efforts, your service is still valued.

Ok, So What if I do Produce a Tangible Product?

So like I said, each state defines who does and doesn't have to pay sales tax a little differently - so be sure to do your research. In this case, I'm going to use the most common guidelines.

If you make a DVD of the images, prints, photo albums, etc. - you're producing a good. Goods are subject to sales tax, as we've covered, but that's not all - in the field of photography, the good is recorded as a sale, and now the service/labor that went into creating the image is subject to sales tax as well as the good could not exist without the service/labor. I don't make the rules, so don't yell at me. So to be clear: no product, no sales tax. Product, sales tax on the good as well as the service (should be recorded separately as well).

Is This Just Dome Kind of Loophole or Something?

No, I personally don't think it's a loophole, I think some states view digital goods not to be taxable, while others are ‘catching up with the times’ and realizing it’s lost revenue. Try and think about it in another way - when you download software, do you pay sales tax? Most would answer no. Thats because you didn't physically acquire a product, you just transferred 1's and 0's from one place to another. If you purchased that same piece of software in the store, you would have to pay sales tax. The same is true for digital photographers who only deliver their files electronically - no product, no tax. The moment you make a product, you are now required to charge sales tax.

Define the Service in Writing:

The best way to steer clear of any confusion down the pike is to put the terms of service in writing. In your invoices, think about including a one or two-sentence statement outlining how the digital images will be delivered to the client. If you state it in writing and follow-through with it in practice, there should be no doubt of whether or not a tangible product was transferred.

Talk to the Professionals - Interpretation is Key:

This topic came about because a reader/viewer who also lived in my state, Virginia, was informed (incorrectly) by the state tax office that she should be charging sales tax on digital photography. What I did was get on the (electronic) horn and chatted with a number of tax agents, each of which gave me conflicting interpretations of the tax law. I got on the real phone the next morning and got the ‘official’ scoop (everything I just said in this article, essentially) and realized that not even the professionals have this area down to a science. After that, I talked to an accountant and they confirmed what the agent on the phone said. I would highly advise talking through the tax law with a human being and confirming that information with an accountant, it'll not only give you a better understanding of the law, but peace of mind that you are operating your business correctly.

Stay Current:

Know your state’s tax rules and stay current - if the rules change, you probably aren't going to get an email, you're going to be responsible for knowing the rule changed. Knowing and following the tax laws in your state will help your business run smoothly.

Hey all, just wanted to inform everyone that there won't be anything new this week. I'm resting up from non-stop shooting on all fronts - residential shoots during the week, 3 weddings in the past two weekends, as well as gearing up for a massive architectural shoot with a deadline right around the corner. Thanks for understanding.

Well, the day is here. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom has graduated beta and is available for download this very moment.

I'm sure you already know the run-down of features, so there's no need to rewrite the litany of improvements. The only feature I wanted to highlight was the lens correction addition. It seems that Adobe has taken the time and energy to implement an addition that makes our lives easier - kudos Lightroom team. The setting allows you to select the make, model, and profile of the lens, adjust the profile, or even manually adjust the lens correction and save it as a new one. I recall reading something from a company that creates software specifically for this cause - and that company was not impressed with this feature. From what I understand, it's too complicated for end-users and it should be left to the professionals, so they say. Wrong. Anyone with the willingness to learn how to correct lens imperfections is better for it, it'll also teach you a great deal about optics in the process.

The obvious relation between this feature and real estate photography is just that - obvious. Real estate photography demands the accurate recreation of reality and most lenses distort reality in one way or another. Even if the lens is 'perfect', the photographer probably isn't. I'm not suggesting you should ditch PTLens or DxO Optics just yet, I'm just saying that there's another player in this game and so far it looks very promising.

So check out Lightroom 3 here, it's well worth your time and energy.

I wanted to take a moment to share an opinion that I feel a great number of seasoned photographers already know, but for those who are just getting started, this may be news: networking takes time. This concept may seem simple and obvious, but I think it's often overlooked when emerging photographers are six-months into their new profession, low on clients, and trying to pay their bills. I'm just here to say that it may take a full year before your name has established a solid reputation in your area, but once you've reached that point, things will more than likely pick up. It's not luck that takes your business from low volume to high volume, it's good work, strong business skills, and an expanding network.

So how do you expand your network? Well, first and foremost, just do a good job and people will spread the word. That's a good example of passive networking where the only role you play is behind-the-scenes. What about active networking? Here's one: keep your business cards on you at all times - next time you engage in a conversation with someone new, make sure they leave with your contact information. That connection may or may not mature, but you'll never know unless you reach out.

Just remember, it takes time and energy - work at expanding your network, your business will thank you later.

So here's the deal, I've been working 13-hour days for the past three weeks and it's beginning to get to me. To thwart the upcoming burnout, I decided to get away for the weekend - gone, out of town, adios. The one task I didn't complete before I left was, of course, recording this week's podcast. Instead of waiting until next week, here's this week in a blog post since visuals aren’t really necessary for this one.

I've been using a Drobo (2nd gen) for a little over a month now. There’s really nothing special about that fact, lots of folks use them. The differentiating factor is that I use my Drobo as the one and only location for my photo library, sync it with Lightroom, and have removed every single photo from my computer's hard drive. If that piqued your curiosity, read on…

During the busy season, I put on about 8-10 GB of photos each weekday, then about 20 GB on a Saturday wedding (all shot in RAW, of course). There's no way my seemingly measly 500 GB internal hard drive can keep up with that pace, especially during the backup process. My former workflow had me exporting JPG's and dumping RAW's about every other day to conserve drive space, not so much anymore.

So there's the setup - lots of photos, not enough space.

I looked into running my photo library on an external hard drive, but hated the idea that the hard drive could fail at any given moment, which would make me want to back it up, which would then be more cumbersome than just keeping them on my internal drive. That's about the point where I noticed the Drobo. See, it's a little different in the fact that it backs up the data from one drive to the other(s) on-the-fly, no software, no worries (unless all of the drives crash at once, that is) - it’s a RAID for the rest of us. After learning that the Drobo was a safe place for my photo library to live (still vulnerable to fire, flood, or theft, but super-protected against crashes), I went through the process of picking my components.

First, I picked the Drobo 2nd gen (at least) as it has 4 drive bays and the coveted FireWire 800 port, assuming you have one of those on your computer. Running your photo library on an external drive requires a great deal of through-put, and FW 800 can handle it (more on that later). When selecting drives, I didn’t get the 7200 rpm drives as 5400 rpm are plenty. Why not more power, you might be wondering? The bottle-neck of this setup is not the speed of your drives, it's the cable connecting your Drobo to your computer. Getting 7200 rpm drives will only make your Drobo's fans run more often as the drives run warmer - they will also give you the illusion of a performance increase, but I’m not really into that. As a matter of fact, I recommend using 'green' drives/drives that advertise super-low power consumption - those drives will give your Drobo's fans a rest and won't impact your performance in the slightest.

The biggest apprehension I had going into this setup was performance - how well would my library load, import and export my photos, the develop module's adjustments take effect, etc.? The short answer: perfectly. I haven't noticed a decrease in speed since I began using this setup. It's surprising, I know - I was just as shocked. But it works, it genuinely functions just as well on the Drobo through FW 800 as it does internally. I'm sure someone could spit out some statistics that would say otherwise, but as the end-user, my experience has been seamless and smooth.

So what happens when (not if) a hard drive fails? Well, that’s the beauty of a Drobo - if one drive fails, the other(s) will still have all of your data ready for you without a hiccup. Just pop out the old, slap in the new. Same thing if I run out of space - just pop a new one in - it doesn’t even have to be the same capacity as the others. It’s because of the combination of redundancy, stability, and performance that it makes perfect sense to use a Drobo as your primary photo drive.

I just wanted to take a moment and call your attention to both of our sponsors: Tourbuzz and Adorama. To date, there are 36 episodes, 11 hours of content, numerous blog posts - all free of charge. This is only possible because we have others supporting the content we all enjoy. Next time you're thinking of creating a virtual tour, consider following tourbuzz's link and using services. If you are about to make a gear purchase, think about following Adorama's link before doing so. By supporting our sponsors, you're helping support this podcast. We've never asked for your funds, nor do we ever plan to. No guilt trip intended, just wanted to both thank and recognize our sponsors.

Thanks,
Mike

I posted a little while back about the importance of owning and using an iPhone/iPod Touch/Android Device to showcase your portfolio when you’re out and about. Well, add the iPad (or any other tablet device for that matter) to the list, because I have a feeling this sort of presentation method is going to catch on. 

When I told my wife I was thinking about getting an iPad, she wasn't surprised - but she didn't really know why I wanted one. She thought I just wanted one to play games and surf the Internet while she was watching terrible reality TV shows - which was partly true - but those were just the side benefits of having one. I wanted it for a presentation device. I want to put my portfolio in a potential client's hands and let them swipe through my portfolio at their pace. Sure, you could have them 'click' through it on a laptop, but an iPad is more interactive and holds their attention in a different and, I think, better way. No plugs, no arrow keys - just an intuitive touch-based interface. 

So that's in-theory, what about in-practice? I went to a coffee shop on Monday evening to meet with a couple about photographing their wedding, I showed up about 10 minutes early, sat down next to two complete strangers, got into a conversation, 5 minutes later they had already cruised through my entire portfolio and asked for my business card. The key differences between the iPad and a laptop presentation is, a) the iPad isn't threatening and, b) doesn't turn me into a salesman in the same way a laptop does. The laptop is a complicated device, the iPad is an intriguing device. The laptop presentation requires thought and motivation to produce a slideshow, the iPad allows you to give a presentation on-the-fly, if you even want to, that is. I’m not on display when people look through my portfolio on the iPad, my portfolio is.

I'm advocating that you consider the iPad for your business, but at the same time, I'm suggesting any tablet device that allows you to present your work in this fashion, the iPad currently happens to be the one I decided to go with. Another reason to give this presentation method some serious thought is the fact that our competition will probably be doing the same thing.