Do I really need a mobile friendly website?

Here are some StatCounter stats about ways that people are viewing some of my websites, based on the last 500 visits. While we tend to think we need to move quickly to the next biggest thing because it's always flashing across our TV screen and other people are freaking out about it, we're better served by analyzing the hard data of what's actually happening:

From AnneRuthmann.com - audience is generally people interested in hiring me.


From My Blog - audience is mostly people who find me via google searches, and through referring links from other websites.


From PhotoLovecat.com - audience is mostly photographers and people searching through google.


My guess is that the few iPhone and Android user hits I get, may actually be other photographers, rather than clients doing their photographer shopping on their cell phone. That doesn't mean I don't plan to pursue a non-flash version of my site in the future, but that I'm not over-eager to make major changes right now while the market is still young and mobile views are still quite low in comparison. If I see the mobile device figures jump to 10%- you bet your butt I'm switching. My guess is that by then, there may be an even newer technology which allows flash to be viewed on mobile devices, or creates an entirely new platform. Is this helpful to you? Do you ever notice what people are really using to view your website?

Anne Ruthmann is a lifestyle & wedding photographer from Boston, MA. She spent 10 years practicing marketing & management in corporate and non-profit businesses before pursuing her passion for photography as an independent small business. She loves helping others find creative and low-cost solutions to business problems. Follow her on Twitter to see her daily adventures and thoughts.

Review: Shootsac

Continuing the trend of my reviews of camera bags, I figured I needed to add my favoritest bag of them all, Shootsac. I use this sucker more than any other bag and I have to say that (bag cost only... we need not discuss my shameful cover habit) this product may have the greatest return of interest out of any product that I've purchased for photography.

Item: Shootsac

Product Website: Shootsac

Price: $179.00

What I Bought Bag For/What I Expected: I purchased this bag because from the get-go in my career I knew two things, one - that I'm klutzy as all heck so I knew there was NO way I could carry two cameras and not drop/bash/break one in the course of the day and two - that I love changing lenses and being forgetful, I'd be apt to leave one behind if I continued my method of leaving the lenses in convenient places. I loved the ads and the raves I heard online about how wonderful it was to carry lenses on you and how easy it was to use. I purchased this bag in early 2008 and have used it on practically every shoot since.

Expectation Met: YES! *wahoo*

Pros:
+ The bag very easily wraps around your body, making it less cumbersome than more traditional camera bags.

+ With the introduction of the shoulder pad (a MUST buy!) it became much more comfortable and easy to carry.

+ The lenses are secure. Two + years later and my lenses still don't wobble or fall out, even though the neoprene has stretched.

+ Cute, cute, cute covers. I try to match my weddings (color wise) and the brides always notice and comment.

+ Cover comes in handy when asking bride to sit anywhere that may mess the dress up.

+ Easy to get in and out of during a wedding.

+ Getting in/out of the bag during a wedding is silent, unlike other bags that have velcro, zippers etc.

+ There are often sales and perks through various times of the year.

Cons:
- The bag is not cheap, nor are the covers and the shipping can be steep (they often have free shipping sales though!).

- Some people have had issues with the 70-200 falling out, personally I haven't *knocks on wood* but it's been talked about enough that it is a concern. I believe though with the newer model the pockets are deeper and that helps the issue.

- It doesn't hold a SLR. I've seen it done but I could never make mine fit.

- You cannot put a lens in with the hood on facing out, can sometimes get the lens in with the hood backwards but not easy to get in/out.

- While it's becoming a bit more male angled with some mantastic covers, it's still a smidge feminine (according to my hubs anyways).

- Some do complain about the bag not sitting up when set down. This isn't a problem that bothers me but is one you should be aware of if this could be a problem for you.

Picture of me shooting in Punta Cana with the Shootsac:

What's in the bag? Nikon 70-200 VR (which is in use here), Nikon 24-70 2.8, Nikon 60 macro, Nikon 85 1.4, CF card wallet, extra camera batteries, iPhone. During the wedding I also will carry my SB-900 and battery backup (with the battery backup going into a pocket with the flash on the camera).

Corey Ann is a wedding & lifestyle photographer from North Canton, OH. She is a mix of everything - fashionista (runs Clothes for Pros, clothing suggestions for photographers), travel guru, deal hound and geek rolled into one. She's had a website online since 1997 and a blog since 1999. When not plotting world domination or her next trip, she can be found reading one of the 100+ books she reads a year. Follow her on Twitter.

Why You Need to Watermark Online Images

You would think this is common sense.

However, there are still people out there giving away their work and their rights to anyone who knows how to right click or screen capture. Some of it has stemmed from blogs who love publishing work from photographers, but insist on only publishing your images if you're willing to submit them without any logo, branding, or even copyright info on them. They promise crediting your work in the text and with a link, but that doesn't protect your work once it leaves the blog with the click of a reader who loved the photo and wants to store it elsewhere.

Please don't screw yourself over.

You deserve credit for your work! Anytime it appears online in an easy to grab format (flickr, smugmug, blogs, etc.) it really needs, at the very minimum, a reference name for the original creator somewhere on the image. If people go out of their way to crop your info out without your permission, than you have the ability to take action and charge them for the use of your work (especially if you've uploaded and linked to your image on flickr where it states the permission for use as a creative commons or copyright license.) However, if you never attach your name to a photo, than you are unintentionally giving up your online rights to claim that work. You could still take action against someone, however, it would be much more difficult for them to claim they KNOWINGLY did anything wrong if they didn't have a way to get in touch with you to credit the work properly.

- If putting your name into the "I'm feeling lucky" search on Google turns up your website on the first try, than you can totally get away with just your name on your images
- If you have a commmon name, use your website instead, for example © anneruthmann.com
- If you have a common website or business name, use your logo/branding to avoid confusion with other brands or similar website names

There are ways to include copyrights and logos without interrupting a visual aesthetic- it's really not that difficult to find a solution that works for the blogger and for the photographer. It's also GREAT marketing if people love your images so much that they are downloading them to their hard drives or using them on other websites! I'm all about making it easy to share my work, as long as I get credit for the work I've created!! After-all, it's some of the best free marketing available! So, fly free pretty photos, but make sure people have a way to find your creator no matter where you end up.

Anne Ruthmann is a lifestyle & wedding photographer from Boston, MA. She spent 10 years practicing marketing & management in corporate and non-profit businesses before pursuing her passion for photography as an independent small business. She loves helping others find creative and low-cost solutions to business problems. Follow her on Twitter or Facebook to see her daily adventures and thoughts.

Black Friday Sales for Photographers

Who doesn't love Black Friday deals??? I know that I do! When I was looking for the deals I was hoping to nab I thought I'd list some of the items that photogs may want to snag on Black Friday as well. I didn't list computers etc. because that would take up PAGES! If there's a store or a deal you're hoping to nab, let me know and I'll see if I can find it!

I will update this if any more stores release their ads with something pertinent to photogs!

Best Buy

Canon Rebel T2i Digital SLR Kit (incl 55-250 lens, 8 GB SD Card, bag) - $999.96 *Doorbuster

Nikon D3000DX Digital SLR Kit (incl 18-55 VR lens, camera bag, gadget bag, manual) - $629.95

PNY 8GB SDHC Card - $19.99 *Doorbuster

Sandisk 4GB SDHC - $7.99

Sandisk 8GB Ultra SDHC - $19.99 *Doorbuster

Seagate 2TB Free Agent Go Flex External Hard Drive - $89.99 *Doorbuster

Western Digital 1TB Internal 7200 RPM SARA Hard Drive - $59.99 *Doorbuster

Costco

Western Digital My Book Elite 1 TB External Hard Drive - $84.99

Meijer

Memorex 100 Pack CD-Rs - $9.99 *Doorbuster

Sandisk 4GB SDHC Memory Card - $6.99 *Doorbuster

Western Digital 2TB MyBook Essential External Hard Drive - $99.99 *Doorbuster

Office Depot

APC Back up UPS XS Series 1500va Battery Backup - $99.99

CD-R 100 Pack - $5.99

DVD +/- R 50 Pack - $5.99

DVD +/- R 100 Pack - $16.99

Memorex Black 50 Pack CD-R - $6.99

Sandisk 4GB SDHC Memory Card - $7.99

Sandisk 8GB SDHC Memory Card - $12.99

Seagate 1TB Internal SATA Hard Drive - $49.99

Seagate 500GB Expansion External Hard Drive - $59.99

Seagate 2TB Expansion External Hard Drive - $89.99

Seagate 750GB Expansion External Portable Hard Drive - $59.99

Seagate 1TB FreeAgent GoFlex Home Network Storage System - $129.99

Verbatim 640 GB Leather Wallet Portable Hard Drive - $89.99

Verbatim 1TB Acclaim External Hard Drive - $99.99

Office Max

Hitachi 1TB X-Series Desktop Hard Drive - $49.99

Hitachi 1TB LifeStudio Desk Plus External Hard Drive - $99.99

Hitachi 500GB X-Series Portable Hard Drive - $49.99

Magnavox 100 CD-R Pack - $9.99

Magnavox 100 DVD +/-R Pack - $14.99

Sandisk 4GB SDHC Memory Card - $7.99

Sandisk 8GB SDHC Memory Card - $14.99

Seagate 640GB Expansion Portable Hard Drive - $59.99

Seagate 1TB FreeAgent External Hard Drive - $59.99

Seagate 500GB Momentus XT Internal Hybrid Drive - $139.99

Radio Shack

Gigaware 50 Pack 52x CDs - $4.99

Gigaware 50 Pack 16x DVDs - $6.99

Iomega 500 GB Portable Hard Drive - $49.99

Sandisk 4GB SDHC Memory Card - $8.99

Sandisk 8GB SDHC Memory Card - $16.99

Sears

Canon Rebel XS Digital SLR Kit (includes 18-55 & 75-300 lenses) - $579.98

PNY 4GB SDHC Memory Card - $6.99 *Doorbuster

Sandisk 4GB SDHC Memory Card - $7.99

Staples

HP 500G Simple Save Portable Hard Drive - $49.99

PNY 8GB SDHC Memory Card - $17.99

Sandisk 4GB SDHC Memory Card - $7.99

Sandisk 4GB Ultra SDHC Memory Card - $12.99

Sandisk 8GB SDHC Memory Card - $14.99

Sandisk 8GB Ultra SDHC Memory Card - $19.99

Sandisk 8GB Ultra Compact Flash Memory Card - $24.99

Seagate 1TB Expansion External Hard Drive - $49.99

Seagate 1TB FreeAgent Go Portable Hard Drive - $89.99

Sony CD-R 50 Pack - $1.99

Sony CD-R 100 Pack - $16.99

Sony DVD +/-R 50 Pack - $16.99

Sony DVD +/-R 100 Pack - $24.99

Staples DVD +/-R 100 Pack - $9.99

Western Digital 750GB My Passport Essential Portable Hard Drive - $69.99

Western Digital 2TB My Book Essential External Hard Drive - $99.99

Target

Lexar 8GB SDHC Memory Card - $14.99

Western Digital Elements 2 TB External Hard Drive or 1 TB Portable Hard Drive - $69 *Doorbuster

Wal Mart

Canon Rebel XS Digital SLR Kit (includes 18-55 lens, 2GB SD Card, instructional DVD and bag) - $479 *Doorbuster

Seagate Free Agent 1.5TB Desktop Hard Drive - $70 *Doorbuster

Western Digital Essential 500GB Portable Hard Drive - $39 *Doorbuster

Corey Ann is a wedding & lifestyle photographer from North Canton, OH. She is a mix of everything - fashionista (runs Clothes for Pros, clothing suggestions for photographers), travel guru, deal hound and geek rolled into one. She's had a website online since 1997 and a blog since 1999. When not plotting world domination or her next trip, she can be found reading one of the 100+ books she reads a year. Follow her on Twitter.

Why You Need To Fail

“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” - Robert Francis Kennedy

Think about some of the things you've learned how to do in your life: how to ride a bike, how to cook, how to tie your shoelaces. Most likely, you had to fail a few times before you really felt like you could do these things well. I'm still learning how to cook and making plenty mistakes along the way. We were really good at making mistakes and accepting them as children, but somewhere along the trajectory into adulthood, we started to become afraid of making mistakes. For some of us, that fear is so paralyzing that we might not even start to try because we are overwhelmed by the idea of failing.

“Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall.” - Confucius

When money enters the equation, we're even more afraid of failing, because money represents our personal freedom and security. We become bound by our own set of "gold handcuffs." We imagine a certain lifestyle full of material comforts, and then become bound by that idea. We decide we can't afford to fail, which also means, we decide that we can't afford to take risks.

“The majority of men meet with failure because of their lack of persistence in creating new plans to take the place of those which fail.” - Napoleon Hill

A really good batter with a .300 average, fails 7 out of 10 times at bat. That 30% success rate might not look good on the high school report card, but for an inventor, even a 1% success rate could equal a nobel prize. Successful people become comfortable with the possibility of failure because they don't believe they're failing, they're just learning how to be more successful. If something doesn't work, they investigate how and why it didn't work, and then build on that new knowledge to get closer to successs.

“A man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure till he gives up.” - Unknown

There's no replacement for making your own mistakes. You can read for years about what you should avoid and what you should plan for, but there's always so much more to be learned from actually attempting something on your own. Different people yield different results. Rather than trying to go in with all of the answers, allow yourself to uncover the answers as you go. Go in curious and willing to be flexible when things don't work out the way you had hoped. The important part is starting. The hard part is not giving up.

“If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.” - Unknown

Anne Ruthmann is a lifestyle & wedding photographer from Boston, MA. She spent 10 years practicing marketing & management in corporate and non-profit businesses before pursuing her passion for photography as an independent small business. She loves helping others find creative and low-cost solutions to business problems. Follow her on Twitter to see her daily adventures and thoughts.