Photographers Guide to the Digital Lifecycle

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final spine = 0.478"

Ben Greisler

Real-life workflow scenarios for managing still and motion photography assets

Photographers Guide to the Digital Lifecycle

New Riderswww.newriders.com

Book Level: Beginner / IntermediateComputer Book Shelf Category: Digital PhotographyCover Photograph: Steve McCurry Cover Design: Aren Howell Straiger

As a digital photographer or videographer, you produce massive amounts of data in the creative process, and protecting and preserving those assets are paramount. The framework for managing your data must go beyond digital asset management to the holistic data lifecycle view. Enter Photographers Guide to the Digital Lifecycle. This is more than just a DAM book. Its a comprehensive guide that gives you the complete data lifecycle perspective, from ingest to archive. Author Ben Greisler, who works with renowned clients such as National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry, presents modern, real-life examples for keeping your photographic still and motion data safe and managed, from raw capture to historical artifact. Youll learn about digital asset storage practices that go beyond things like metadata and tagging to the fundamental strengths and weaknesses of digital storage mediums and the best techniques for applying them.

BEN GREISLER is an experienced IT professional and owner of Kadimac Corp., which provides Macintosh integration services to businesses. He is also co-author of Apple Training Series: Mac OS X Directory Services v10.6and Apple Training Series: Mac OS X Server Essentials v10.6.

US $39.99 Canada $41.99

Photographers Guide to the Digital Lifecycle Real-life workflow scenarios for managing still and motion photography assets

Greisler


0321771605_DigitalLifeCycle_Cvr.indd 1 4/25/11 12:36 PM

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Ben Greisler


Real-life workflow scenarios for managing still and motion photography assets

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Photographers Guide to the Digital Lifecycle Real-life workflow scenarios for managing still and motion photography assets

Ben Greisler

New Riders 1249 Eighth StreetBerkeley, CA 94710510/524-2178510/524-2221 (fax)

Find us on the Web at: www.newriders.comTo report errors, please send a note to: [email protected] Riders is an imprint of Peachpit, a division of Pearson Education.

Copyright 2011 by Ben Greisler

The chapter opener images for Chapters 1 and 5 are copyrighted by WynnPhoto.com (http://WynnPhoto.com); the chapter opener images for Chapters 2, 4, and 6 are copyrighted by Rick Davis; the chapter opener image for Chapter 3 is copyrighted by Ben Greisler; and the chapter opener images for Chapters 7 and 8 are copyrighted by Jay Greisler.

Editor: Rebecca GulickProduction Editor: Hilal SalaInterior Designer and Compositor: Kim Scott, Bumpy DesignDevelopment and Copy Editor: Anne Marie WalkerProofreader: Amy PetersenIndexer: Karin ArrigoniCover Designer: Aren Howell StraigerCover Photograph: Steve McCurry

Notice of Rights

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by anymeans, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior writtenpermission of the publisher. For information on getting permission for reprints and excerpts, [email protected].

Notice of Liability

The information in this book is distributed on an As Is basis, without warranty. While everyprecaution has been taken in the preparation of the book, neither the author nor Peachpit shall haveany liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be causeddirectly or indirectly by the instructions contained in this book or by the computer software andhardware products described in it.

Trademarks

Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimedas trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and Peachpit was aware of a trademarkclaim, the designations appear as requested by the owner of the trademark. All other product namesand services identified throughout this book are used in editorial fashion only and for the benefit ofsuch companies with no intention of infringement of the trademark. No such use, or the use of anytrade name, is intended to convey endorsement or other affiliation with this book.

ISBN-13: 978-0-321-77160-5ISBN-10: 0-321-77160-5

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed and bound in the United States of America

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This book was made possible by the support, patience, and

love of my wife Ronit and our children, Galee and Noam.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

AcknowledgmentsWhat an amazing journey! I have to thank Rebecca Gulick for listening to

my idea and making it happen for me. Anne Marie Walker did an amazing

job editing my words, and I am grateful to have had such a pro on my side.

Thanks to Howard Goldstein for his technical expertise and review. My hat

is off to the rest of the Peachpit/New Riders crew for all its efforts bringing

this book into reality.

A big thanks to the folks at Steve McCurry Studios who were all very sup-

portive and helpful: Steve McCurry, Bonnie VSoske, Hillary Rose, and

Sonny Fabbri. Special thanks to photographers par excellence Rick Davis,

John Wynn, Tori Deslauriers, and Sarah Bones for their continued friend-

ship, support, and help.

Additional guidance and pictures were provided by George Blood, Nick

Choo, Mike Rossi, Randy Seaks, Ben Levy, Todd Schneider, Arek Dreyer,

and Pam Lefkowitz. Technical and conceptual help was provided by

Mathieu Mat X Mauser, Gerard Hickey, Dr. Robert Kite, Sarah Higgens,

Graham Pryor, Kevin Ashley, Noah Wardrip-Fruin, and Nick Montfort.

Jeremy Hammer, Alexandra Tornek, and John Gorman inspired and cre-

ated artwork for the book.

Many thanks to my father, Jay Greisler, and my great-great-grand uncle

David Finklegreen who helped inspire this story and all the other great

artists who give us enjoyment and knowledge.

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Contents

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Introduction . ...............................................................................................ix

one A Starting Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

A Bit of History . .......................................................................................... 4

Questions About the Digital Lifecycle . ................................................. 6

Why Is It a Lifecycle? . ............................................................................ 6

Im Just a One-person Shop, Why All the Effort? . ....................... 8

Is the Digital Lifecycle New? . ........................................................... 10

Why the Concern About the Value of Data? . ................................ 12

Data Can Disappear? . ........................................................................ 12

How Do I Know the Digital Lifecycle Is for Me? . .......................... 14

How Do I Prepare for Implementing the Digital Lifecycle? . . . . 16

How Do I Get Others to Work with the Digital Lifecycle? . ....... 17

What Is the Difference Between the Digital Lifecycle

and Digital Asset Management? . ................................................. 18

Cant My Works Survive Without the Digital Lifecycle? . ............. 19

Will It Cost Much to Implement the Digital Lifecycle? . ............. 20

Where Can I Find Out More About the Digital Lifecycle? . ......... 21

two Planning Your Creative Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Building a Plan . ........................................................................................ 26

Determining Your Situation . ............................................................. 26

Approaching the Planning Process . .............................................. 28

Why Organic Growth Isnt Always Beneficial . .............................. 29

Building Your Workflow . ................................................................... 30

Selecting Your Tools . .......................................................................... 34

Capacity Planning . .............................................................................. 36

Planning for Standards . ..................................................................... 37

Curating Your Works . .............................................................................. 38

Data . .......................................................................................................40

Full Lifecycle Actions . ........................................................................40

Sequential Actions . ............................................................................ 46

Occasional Actions . ............................................................................ 51

Real-world Scenarios . .............................................................................. 53

Preventing a Workflow Crisis . ......................................................... 53

Establishing a Successful Plan . ....................................................... 56

Sayonara Data!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

CONTENTS v

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three Organizing the Ingest Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Keeping Your Data Secure . ................................................................... 62

Choosing Your Secondary Storage Hardware . .................................. 63

Intermediate Storage . ........................................................................ 63

Direct-to-Computer Storage . ......................................................... 65

Uploading to Online Storage . ......................................................... 65

Naming Conventions . .............................................................................. 66

Automating File Renaming and Handling . .................................... 69

Choosing Ingest Software . ................................................................... 73

Asset Management and Cataloging . .............................................. 73

Real-world Scenarios . .............................................................................. 85

A Land Rover as a Studio . ................................................................. 86

Securing the Memories . ................................................................... 87

Travel Video Workflow . ..................................................................... 89

four Understanding Storage and Server Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Examining Storage Devices . ................................................................. 94

Solid State Storage . ............................................................................ 95

Disk Drive Storage . .............................................................................. 97

Tape Storage . .................................................................................... 101

Exploring Storage Systems . ................................................................. 103

External Drive Enclosures . ............................................................. 103

RAID Devices . .................................................................................... 108

Servers . ............................................................................................... 120

Network Attached Storage (NAS) . ................................................. 123

Xsan . ..................................................................................................... 124

Power and Cooling Considerations . ............................................ 125

Real-world Scenarios . ............................................................................ 126

Homemade Recycled Server Solution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Standard Server Solution . ............................................................... 128

High-end Xsan Solution . ................................................................. 128

five Implementing a Backup Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Defining a Backup . ................................................................................ 134

Authentic Backups . .......................................................................... 134

Faux Backup . ...................................................................................... 138

Building a Backup Plan . ........................................................................ 139

Backup Schemes . .............................................................................. 140

Budget Planning . .............................................................................. 143

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Choosing Backup Hardware . ............................................................... 144

Disk Storage . ...................................................................................... 144

Tape Storage . .................................................................................... 145

Network Storage . .............................................................................. 147

Choosing Backup Software . ............................................................... 148

Implementing a Backup System . ....................................................... 149

Backup Scheduling . .......................................................................... 149

Backup Type . ...................................................................................... 150

Backup Rotation . .............................................................................. 152

Media Recycling . .............................................................................. 155

Online Backup . .................................................................................. 157

A Layered Backup Approach . ......................................................... 160

Restoring Data . ...................................................................................... 161

Test Your Backups! . .......................................................................... 161


Marketing Department . ................................................................... 161

Photography Studio . ........................................................................ 165

Video Production Facility . ............................................................... 167

Disaster Recovery: A Lesson Plan . ................................................. 169

six Archiving Your Assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Determining What You Should Archive . .......................................... 177

Archiving Processes . .............................................................................. 178

Taking Lessons from the National Archives . .............................. 178

Practical Considerations for an Archive . .......................................... 183

Cataloging Your Data . ..................................................................... 183

Deciding on Archiving Storage . ..................................................... 186

Automated Archiving Systems . ..................................................... 188

Increasing the Life Span of Your Assets . ...................................... 189


George Blood, L.P. . .......................................................................... 196

Political Organization . ..................................................................... 199

Video Production Company . .........................................................200

seven Recovering Your Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Determining Causes of Data Loss . .....................................................204

Preventing Hardware Failures . ....................................................... 205

Diagnosing Software and Usage Failures . ..................................209

CONTENTS vii


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Losing Your Data . .................................................................................. 211

Triaging Noisy Hard Drives . ........................................................... 212

Resolving Hard Drive Failure . ......................................................... 213

Assessing Malfunctioning Memory Cards and

Other Devices . .............................................................................. 213

Using Procedures and Tools to Recover Data . ................................ 214

Working with Professional Data Recovery Services . ............... 214

Using a DIY Data Recovery Approach . ........................................ 216


Rescued from a Watery Grave . ..................................................... 219

The Best-Laid Recovery Plans . .....................................................220

Dont Drop the Baby . ....................................................................... 221

eight Understanding Digital Asset Management Tools . . . . . . . . . . 225

Defining the Key Attributes of DAM . ................................................... 226

Definition of Structure . ................................................................... 226

Consistency of Action . ................................................................... 227

Incorporating Asset Management Techniques . .............................. 229

Directory-based Manual Management . ...................................... 229

DAM Application Software . ........................................................... 233

DAM as Part of the Lifecycle . ............................................................... 239

Reviewing the Digital Lifecycle for DAM . .................................... 239

Why DAM Can Fail in the Real World . ...............................................244

Preventing Failure . ............................................................................ 246


Performance Media Group . ........................................................... 247

Technical Data Publisher . ............................................................... 248

Architectural Photographer . ........................................................... 249

Appendix: DIY Datacenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

viii PHOTOGRAPHERS GUIDE TO THE DIGITAL LIFECYCLE


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Introduction

The world is wonderfully awash in digital data, and you are one of the

people creating it. You take your ideas and concepts to the world in the

form of images and sound. You get people to pay attention to your work,

whether it is for a commercial client, the sake of art, or simply your desire

to have some fun. In the past you might have created your works with

a film still camera, a Bolex movie camera, or a reel-to-reel audio tape

recorder. Now you use digital cameras that output both stills and video,

computers for audio creation, and electronic drawing tablets. No matter

what you use, all of your work results in a digital data file.

So how do you manage all that data?

This book will help you organize and process your creative data in a way

that protects it from the time of conception through to archiving it. You

will learn how to control your information so it remains easy to find and is

quickly available to you. This book will also help you keep your digital files

safe and useable now and in the future.

Who This Book Is forThis book is for all of you who create or manage content that you store as

a digital file. I like to refer to you as creatives because your artistic skills

go beyond just photography, videography, or other media types. Although

Ill use the term creatives to describe the entire reading audience, Ill also

use photographer, videographer, or another specific term when I want to

define a specialty.

You might wonder whether this book is for beginner, intermediate, or

advanced photographers. Well, in a sense it is for all photographers

regardless of their level of proficiency at their craft because the book is for

all creatives who need to learn more about how to handle their data, the

fruit of their efforts. Even 30-year professionals will find the need to learn

about the new techniques and processes of their craft from time to time.


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When writing the book, I assumed readers would have a certain level of

knowledge about their craft. I based the level of knowledge on my expe-

rience with hundreds of creatives I know personally and professionally. I

tried to err on the side of caution and be realistic about the readers level

of ability.

Knowledge, when graphed, forms a range of peaks and valleys. The peaks

indicate expertise and the valleys indicate areas of lesser knowledge. My

goal is to help fill in those valleys while respecting the peaks.

Although the title of the book asserts that it is a Photographers Guide,

which is true, the techniques you will learn can be applied to any digital

workflow. This can include workflows carried out by graphic artists, vid-

eographers, musicians, and artists of all types. In fact, the trend shows an

increase in the cross-pollination of media.

The tools currently available to you make this cross-pollination almost

second nature. Digital still cameras are capable of producing high-defini-

tion video. Video productions rely heavily on still graphics and computer

animation. Music is scored for video and slide show presentations. Proj-

ects are likely to contain multiple types of media.

Why is this important to you? As an example of how this cross-pollina-

tion impacts you, lets look at a common situation: A still photographer

decides to take advantage of the video capability of his camera. When

shooting stills, his typical RAW file size might be approximately 26 MB,

which translates into all of 4 seconds of video or 24.3 GB an hour. But a

minute of video produces a 405 MB file. This is another world in terms of

data storage management and requires different thinking. In this book you

will explore the similarities and differences of managing data across mul-

tiple formats.

What Youll Learn in This BookThe digital lifecycle defines how media content is manipulated, stored,

tracked, secured, and made available for a defined period of time.

In each chapter I cover various concepts and components of the digital

lifecycle.

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Chapter 1: A Starting PointIn this chapter I lay the groundwork for the digital lifecycle. Through a

series of questions and answers, you will learn why the digital lifecycle is

appropriate and worthwhile for most any creative person.

Chapter 2: Planning Your Creative WorkflowChapter 2 guides you through the building of the plan that becomes your

workflow and ultimately the digital lifecycle. Youll learn about digital cura-

tion and how it will help you create a workflow that meets your needs

now and be flexible for the future.

In a perfect world, you would plan how to manage your digital files prior

to their creation. You would know how they would be created, how you

would tag them, and how the metadata for each would be stored and

retrieved. You dont live in a perfect world, but there is a lot you can do

prior to content creation.

You also need to decide how to name your data files, where they go once

they are created, who has rights to them, and how long they need to live.

Sometimes its impossible to build all the plans you need to manage your

digital data because you might receive data from others, which hasnt

been in your control. You also might find that what you initially planned

no longer works or simply that the plans have changed.

Chapter 3: Organizing the Ingest ProcessOnce your photos, images, and videos have been created, you need

to bring them into your management system. In Chapter 3 youll learn

processes to keep your data safe from the moment of creation until it is

delivered to your production systems. You will see examples of how an

organized ingest process will lay the foundation for all the steps to follow.

Your ingest process could consist of capturing material with one of the

commercial or open-source software packages, simply tracking the files

in a spreadsheet, or making a note in a journal stating the CD number

your files were burned on.

INTRODUCTION xi


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This step is the first task you do when you move your files from their

source to the rest of your workflow. Some of you might need to get

images off your cameras memory card or copy your files from your

computer to a storage server that is tracked by your asset management

system. Others might need to transfer video on a tape or a memory card

onto other storage devices.

Chapter 4: Understanding Storage andServer SolutionsOnce you have created your images and footage, you need to store them

somewhere. Chapter 4 shows you how to determine your storage needs

to develop a safe and secure storage system. Youll also learn about the

function and usage of file servers. Space, security, access, and format are

all considerations in the storage game. You can store your files on optical

storage, USB thumb drives, external hard drives, file servers, and even the

oddly named cloud.

There are plenty of storage issues youll need to resolve: How much stor-

age do you need? Where should your data live? What kind of physical

security should you consider? Who can access your data? Are there per-

formance issues requiring high-bandwidth storage systems, such as what

is needed in high-definition video workflows? Can you move the data on

and off the storage solution you choose fast enough so you dont impede

your workflow?

You also need to consider the technologies available to you at the

moment. What might be appropriate now may not be in the future. Do

you lock into a technology or choose a solution that is open to change?

Can you administer your storage, or do you need someone else to do it

for you? What does your budget allow?

Chapter 5: Implementing a Backup PlanThe topic of backup can be a book in itself. In fact, youll find several

books on the topic, but most are highly technical in their approach.

Chapter 5 guides you through what it takes to keep your data safe using

a real-life approach. Backup is unfortunately treated as an afterthought,

but it needs to be a forethought. Backup doesnt have to be difficult, but it

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does have to work. All too often people find out too late that their systems

dont work because they didnt test their backups. Deleting a backup inad-

vertently, experiencing a storage failure, or requiring an expensive data

recovery effort is potentially devastating and should be a major concern.

Having a backup is only half the job. Successfully restoring data is the true

measure of a good backup. Many people have been burned when they

found out that their backup failed, wasnt running, or wasnt backing up

the data they thought it was.

The many approaches to backup come with a wide range of price tags

from both a financial and workload standpoint. Here, youll read about

some examples that will help you decide what level of backup system you

want to employ from a budget and complexity perspective.

Chapter 6: Archiving Your AssetsThe term archiving can have different meanings to different people.

Mostly, the scale is what differs. In this chapter youll learn various

approaches to archiving and what you need to consider when building

your archive plan. Archiving might mean taking the data offline and stor-

ing it to free up space on a server, or it might mean preserving data for

eternity so future generations can access it. You need to define your goal

for archiving, because it will impact your choices of storage media and

techniques.

You might decide that some of your works can just be deleted because

they are no longer needed or important. For example, if you shoot a video

of an interview and edit an hour of raw footage into five minutes of con-

tent, should you delete the raw footage and just keep the end result? If

you do, are you deleting history or future resources? Who decides? And

how do you delete it once you decide it is no longer needed? Do you

keep a record of what was deleted? Are there any artistic or legal ramifica-

tions to deletion?

Chapter 7: Recovering Your DataIn this chapter youll learn about your choices when a backup fails or

when you lose data before it has been backed up. Data recovery is an

INTRODUCTION xiii


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unfortunate reality, but knowing that you might need it one day, you can

put plans in place to make recovery successful.

Chapter 8: Understanding Digital AssetManagement ToolsChapter 8 combines all the steps in the workflow and explores the man-

agement piece. Material needs to be tracked, notated, and manipulated to

maintain its usefulness. Youll learn that digital asset management doesnt

have to be a software program, but a program can help make your man-

agement tasks easier for you.

You need to choose a process that will work for you. The process can be

automated to a great extent or be simple and manual. It must work well

for you in your situation and be scalable if the situation changes. You need

to decide how to tag data, whose job it is to do so, and how that metadata

will be stored. Digital asset management is not the digital lifecycle, but

instead is a powerful tool to help achieve it.

Appendix: DIY DatacenterIn this appendix youll learn how to build your own IT infrastructure to

help support your digital lifecycle and workflow needs. Youll find out

how to properly house your computer gear, including storage and serv-

ers. Youll learn how to build a basic computer network and how to wire it

together. Ill show you how to take a regular Macintosh computer and turn

it into a file server worthy of a small office or home office business.

note Youll find additional information about building your owndatacenter online. Register this book at www.peachpit.com (its free) togain access to bonus content.

Who I AmAfter a lifetime of photographic experience collided with my current expe-

rience as an IT professional, I saw a need for mixing the two disciplines in

a way that took the needs of the creative professional and combined them

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with solid IT best practices. My goal for this book is to show you how to

do this without being overwhelmed by the process.

I grew up around photography. It was part of my life from an early age,

and it ended up being ingrained in my being.

Although I never intended to become a career photographer, photog-

raphy always found a way of being part of my professional life. From my

early days of shooting as a videographer to building an in-house digital

photography department, photography in its many forms became a major

part of my life and still is today.

I got into the Information Technology (IT) business indirectly. Working

for a well-known publishing house exposed me to desktop-computer-

publishing technology and eventually led me to build its first 100 percent,

digital-photography studio. In the 1990s this was a feat because it was just

the beginning of the digital photography era. Eventually, I broke out on my

own to found the first of my IT firms with the hope of helping other com-

panies build their in-house digital photography departments and related

workflows.

The idea to write this book came about from a number of influences. I

saw what my clients were coping with from a technology and workflow

standpoint and realized there was a story to tell about the digital lifecycle.

But there was one event that triggered an understanding of why I do what

I do. As a member of the Apple Consultants Network (ACN), I had the

opportunity to attend a lecture given by Sing-Si Schwartz at the National

Arts Club in New York City. Sing-Si was an artist, photographer, and com-

puter consultant who explained to us the important role we, as consul-

tants, had in the creative process. He explained how many creative people

are at the mercy of their technology-based tools. By helping make their

tools work for them, we became part of their workflow and helped enable

them to produce their art.

I wanted to bring the information gleaned from years of learning into a

form that I could share with more than one group at a time. I hope you

can incorporate the knowledge provided in this book and make your

efforts more rewarding and successful.

INTRODUCTION xv


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one

A Starting Point


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The digital lifecycle is a way of managing your images, video, and other

documents so they remain available and viable for the near and long term.

It is a combination of planning and workflow actions all placed within a

defined framework.

Every project has a kicking off point, and every journey starts with the first

step. This chapter prepares you for the expedition into the digital lifecycle.

It explains why it exists and why it is helpful to you. Included are some

examples of where you might already have pieces of the digital lifecycle in

place in your creative workflow, which will make it easier for you to com-

plete the circle.

A Bit of HistoryTo understand a process, it helps to understand why you are doing it.

In later chapters I discuss how to handle your digital datayour photos,

graphics, video, and soundbut first it might be helpful to understand

how and why this book was born.

In a sense this book was born in 1924 when David Finklegreen, a

Philadelphia-based photographer, sculptor, and artist, took a trip to the

Middle East for a photographic project. David Finkelgreen is my great-

great-grand uncle. He visited the Middle East again during the Great

Depression to continue his work. My father, Jay Greisler, also a photog-

rapher, inherited the fruits of Davids work in the form of his original glass

negatives, the camera he used, and travel documentation. With these,

he created a pair of photo albums with prints from the original negatives.

As a child I was able to study the two albums, which gave me a window

intohistory.

The materials from the trips as well as an oral history to go with them have

stayed in the family. The actual equipment David used and his travel docu-

ments helped us trace his route. Unfortunately, weve lost the specifics on

each image. Area experts have helped figure out other information about

the images based on their content, but the results are simply educated

guesses for those images without a specific identifier in them. Fortunately,

the glass negatives were preserved with a certain amount of history in

4 PHOTOGRAPHERS GUIDE TO THE DIGITAL LIFECYCLE


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David Finkelgreen at work painting Jules Mastbaum.

Mentor camera and casewith a shipping label.

A STARTING POINT 5


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Davids travel documents to back them up, but how we wish we knew

more about the content of the images.

Fast-forward more than 80 years: A few years ago I started doing some

computer work for Steve McCurry Studios. Initially I helped the company

with its Xsan storage and later with other general IT needs, such as net-

working and server support. Steve is an internationally renowned pho-

tographer with an extensive history and a collection of work that extends

back decades. I got involved when the studio needed help with its ever-

growing collection of digital files that encompass Steves current work

being shot digitally and his film-based work that is being scanned into

digital form for retouching and distribution. At the time of this writing, the

studio had accumulated in excess of 50 TB of files, which represents only

a tiny fraction of all the material.

As I pondered the direction in which to guide McCurry Studios, I thought

back to the box of my uncles images and what could be learned from its

history. How could I ensure that Steves images would still be around 80

or more years from now and also prevent any loss of specifics about his

images that had caused such mystery regarding my uncles glass slides?

How could I secure history so that it would endure in a digital world?

In the following chapters I identify the components needed to build a

workflow and digital lifecycle process that works for artists like you now

and in the future. You undoubtedly have questions about the digital life-

cycle, so Ill answer those next.

Questions About the Digital LifecycleIn the following sections I answer a series of questions you might have

about the digital lifecycle to help you prepare to take on its implementation.

Why Is It a Lifecycle?Before jumping into a dissertation on the digital lifecycle, it helps to

know how the lifecycle came about. Why now? Why is it worthy of



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consideration? Why even imbue a digital file with the concept of life?

Lets look at some answers.

Data doesnt exist in a vacuum. A chunk of 1s and 0s by itself doesnt

mean much. Data needs context for it to reach its full potential. What

good is a computer file if you dont know what it is and what it is for? Even

a picture is just an image until you know something else about it. What is

the subject? Why was the picture taken? When and where did the image

originate? Once you start answering these questions, your data starts tak-

ing on life, and once it has life, there is a lifecycle.

Without a creative mind investing meaning into them, digital files are just

lifeless collections of bits. But when driven by a person with an urge to

communicate and an understanding of the viewer, a snippet of video, a

bit of music, or a photo can carry a meaningful message straight into the

heart of an audience. Creators of pictures, videos, or songs plan on how

the work will appear or sound. They determine the audience for their

work. And once their works exist, they want them to live on for their stated

purpose.

Sometimes the purpose of the existence of certain works is that the mate-

rial lives for a finite period of time; sometimes the works are kept forever

however long forever is. At the time of production, there is a plan for the

material being made. It might be part of a Hollywood movie or images of

war to appear on a magazine cover. Or, it could be something spur-of-

the-moment and a result of a photographer saying, Hey, I should take a

picture of that!

In the past it took some effort to create media, whether it be movies,

slides, or an oil painting. Nowadays, many people walk around with cell

phones that have built-in, high-definition video cameras. An iPad can

be the canvas for art to meet its creation. A laptop computer can help

a video grapher, director, or editor put together the edit list for a major

motion picture release. It happens all the time and is the reason you need

to consider the digital lifecycle.

As the old saying goes, If it is worth doing, it is worth doing right. The

digital lifecycle version of that saying might be, If it is worth creating, it is

A STARTING POINT 7


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worth caring for. And if it is worth caring for, you might as well care for it

from cradle to grave.

The digital lifecycle represents the care process that you give to your cre-

ative works. From the initial concept through production, preservation,

and protection, to the eventual archiving of the data, all steps should be

structured and planned. The resulting framework is a guide and pathway

to follow. It simplifies your efforts as a creative producer. It gives shape to

what can be a creative whirlwind. It also allows data to live beyond its ini-

tial reason to exist, opening up a future for the information.

The digital lifecycle has manyparts and will vary depending onhow they apply to your situation.

Im Just a One-person Shop, Why All the Effort?Dont think of the digital lifecycle as requiring an exhaustive amount of

effort to put into play. The actual construct of an organizations digital

lifecycle plan will vary from exceedingly complex to quite barebones. As

someone thinking of planning a workflow to support your needs, you

have the power to make it as easy or as difficult as you want.

If you are an international corporation with offices all around the globe,

the details of your workflow will be extensive. If you are a hobbyist and

take a few pictures here and there for fun, your workflow will be compa-

rable to your goals.

Creation

Metadata

UtilizePreserve

Archive

Reuse

Plan



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Ive been a part of some very complex workflows that required the pieces

to be documented and charted out for understanding the full scope of the

process. But it doesnt have to be that complex. If you are just starting out

with the lifecycle process, keeping it simple will help you sustain the effort

in the long run.

Although the rest of the book explains how to plan and implement a full

digital lifecycle, here is a quick example of what you could be doing now

to start you down the right path.

From this point on, try standardizing how you work through your pro-

cesses. Set some standards, such as the following:

Fill your memory card only to a certain point and then switch to a

new one.

Implement a method to save your data to another device while

youre still out in the field or at the earliest possible moment.

Keep a notebook with information regarding your shoot. Where were

you? What was the subject? Jot down any interesting information

about your environment or subject.

Keep your data backed up and secure.

A simple notebook with a log of the shots and thecards they are on can helptrack information relatedto the pictures.

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With just these basic steps, youll be well on your way to managing your

digital workflow. Sure, you can get deeper into the processes and develop

a more involved workflow, but the initial buy-in is cheapjust a little time

and minimal effort.

tIP Be sure to experiment with your workflows and processes at thispoint. It will be good practice for doing it for real when you decide toimplement a full digital lifecycle.

Is the Digital Lifecycle New?The concept of data lifecycles isnt new at all. We are just incorporating

digital data into the mix. Digital data requires tools appropriate to the task

of managing it. I discuss the tools throughout the book.

Lets look at a very common example of a data lifecycle that is based on

your granddad and his Brownie camera. Granddad would go out and take

pictures at birthdays, holidays, and vacations. Film and processing were

expensive, and loading the film into the camera required some skill, so it

was unlikely he carried the camera with him all the time just clicking away.

He took pictures of what he wanted or needed to take pictures of. When

the roll was finished, he took it to the processor (if he didnt whip out the

D76 developer to do it himself), and a day or a week later he received an

envelope with some prints. Eventually, he would put the prints in a photo

album with sticky corners and make some notes in the margins with the

date and whose birthday it was. He would then store the album on the

shelf in the living room for safekeeping. Over the years, the album would

have been looked at by your family members and perhaps it has found its

way into your living room, where you now show it to your kids. Sure, they

laugh at the funny pants you wore 40 years ago, but hey, they were fash-

ionable at the time!

That all sounds reasonable, right? It also shows that the concepts of the

digital lifecycle even applied back then. Lets look at the pieces:

Conceptualization . Granddad knew what he wanted to take pictures

ofusually birthdays, holiday gatherings, and vacation travels. He

had an idea of what he wanted to illustrate, such as the birthday

cake, family members in certain situations, or the Old Faithful geyser.



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Planning . Granddad didnt want to run out of film or flashbulbs, so

he always had enough supplies with him. He would figure out what

kind of environment he would be in so he could choose the right

film, such as negative or transparency, for the job. He might even

have been able to choose film speed with a higher or lower ASA.

Protection . Later years had him buying protective bags for his film

when he traveled on airplanes and had to put the film through the

X-ray machine at security checkpoints. He also made sure the film

didnt sit in a hot car on a summer day.

Metadata . Although Granddad didnt think of it this way, by writing

notes about the pictures in the photo album, he was applying

metadatadata about datato the pictures. This is how you are able

to identify your crazy aunt in the pictures or in whose living room

the holiday group shot was taken.

Archiving . Granddad was smart when he chose his photo albums.

He bought the good ones with acid-free paper and carefully

mounted the pictures with corners, not glue. This prevented the

pictures from deteriorating. By keeping the album in a nice, cozy

spot in the living room and not in the attic or out in the shed,

environmental issues were avoided.

Migration . Because Grandads images have survived for so long and

other people in the family wanted copies of them, you scanned the

well-preserved pictures and posted them on your family Web site.

You made some DVDs with the files from the scans, plus put them

on a hard drive. You sent one DVD to your cousin across the country

and stashed the hard drive in your safe deposit box.

As you can see, the lifecycle has been around for ages; we have just

adapted it for digital data in todays world. What is old is new again, and

what goes around, comes around!

note It is sometimes helpful to review how processes were done inthe past because they can illustrate concepts in ways you might be morefamiliar with and help you understand those concepts better.

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Why the Concern About the Value of Data?Digital data is inherently valueless. A collection of bits and bytes doesnt

provide worth on its own. What the digital data represents is where the

value is. Value is in the image that is formed from the digital content or

the video that plays from the file. The actual file is just a method of trans-

portation for the message being delivered by the originator of the art,

graphic, music, or video.

Just as a photographs value isnt in the paper it is printed on, a digitally

stored images value isnt based on the devices it is stored on. Unfortu-

nately, in some discussions about data security, the end result of the secu-

rity process is forgotten, which is to protect your hard work and artistry.

It is simple for storage vendors to claim your data will be safe, but are they

looking at it with the same eyes as you, the person who spent three weeks

out in the field slogging through the mud to get the exact image or foot-

age you did? You have a personal connection to what your data files rep-

resent, and it is important to understand that value.

In the example about Granddad in the previous section, it was obvious

that he cared for and valued his photographs by the attention he paid to

their existence and continued well-being. Throughout this book, you will

learn how to plan for the well-being of your works.

Data Can Disappear?Yes, data can disappear, and the digital lifecycle exists to help prevent

that from happening. Data can disappear for a number of reasons. It can

be lost physically when the storage media is misplaced or accidently

destroyed. It can be deleted by accidental means when someone makes

a mistake and trashes the files. Or, the storage media can degrade to the

point where it is impossible to retrieve data from it.

Data can also disappear as a result of not being tracked. Recently, I came

across a box of disks in my basement that my wife had set aside while

cleaning. The disks held information about a book I wrote back in the

1990s. The box was sitting on a pile of stuff for me to go through and

decide whether to discard or keep. Had I just looked at the label on the



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box, I would have been tempted to just toss it out. But instead I opened

the box and recognized the contents. Those disks would have ended up in

a landfill, lost to the world.

Lost data isnt a new occurrence. Have you ever come across a box of

family photos or photo albums at a flea market? The seller usually knows

nothing about the pictures, such as who the images are of, where they

were shot, or when they were taken. That information is lost to time. No

one ever marked the images or made sure they stayed in the family. The

same thing could happen with a stack of hard drives or DVDs with your

images or video on them.

You may argue that the flea market pictures still physically exist, thus they

arent lost. That is true, but their context is lost. No one knows what the

images represent short of some unknown people. Pictures in a box or on

a hard drive that no one claims is lost or abandoned data. However, by

incorporating the framework of the digital lifecycle, you can prevent that

from happening to your precious photos.

Ironically, the digital lifecycle can also accommodate the times when data

is supposed to disappear. Destroying data might be part of the plan and a

requirement in some workflows, as is noted in the old Mission Impossible

quote, This tape will self-destruct in five seconds. Good luck, Jim.

This USB drive was found ona lawn, and without a way ofknowing whose it was, thedata was functionally lost tothat person.

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EncrypTion: A nEw wAy oF LoSing DATA

Recently, I had a conversation with a col-league about encrypted hard drives, a tech-nology that protects the contents of the harddrive from undesired use by people whomay have stolen or found your data. The lat-est requirement in the corporate IT world isto use whole-disk encryption, where theentire contents of a computers hard drive areencrypted, not just the important files. Thisprevents mistakes from happening if the userdoesnt protect the right files.

Using a very strong algorithm that is for allintents and purposes impossible to crack, thesoftware encrypts the disks information. As aresult, if someone steals or finds an encrypteddisk and doesnt have the password, all thatperson would see is a jumble of characters, if the person even knew how to get that far.Nothing would be useful.

However, this strategy could lead toanother possible way to lose data. Userswanting to protect their data while out inthe field might encrypt their hard drive using

one of the whole-disk encryption products or the built-in encryption capabilities somemachines have. Their data would be safe atthat point, and when they get back from thefield, they might store the encrypted disk on ashelf or in a cabinet.

As time passes, the original users mightforget the password used to decrypt the diskor they might become incapacitated, or pos-sibly even die. The data on the disk wouldbecome irretrievable unless they had providedthe password to someone else. In addition,someone might find the encrypted disk andtry to connect it to a computer, only to findthat the data is encrypted. And because thepassword is unknown, that person mighterase the drive for reuse, losing the originaldata forever.

If you ever decide to use disk encryption,it might be a good idea to stash the passwordin a secure location that can be accessed by atrusted other.

How Do I Know the Digital Lifecycle Is for Me?The digital lifecycle is for anyone who deals with digital data. There is no

limitation to the size of an organization, the number of users, the amount

of data, and so on. In fact, the digital lifecycle impacts people who never

even wanted to think about it.

If you are a photographer, even as a one-person shop, you have the

capability to create a huge body of work and do it quickly. It can be over-

whelming to return from a shoot only to get bogged down with manag-

ing hundreds of new files while trying to track down the thousands, even

tens of thousands, of image files you already have. Imagine getting a call



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from National Geographic or Time magazine asking to use one of your

shots. Do you know where to find it? Can you only find the low-resolution

version of it on a disk? Where is the color-corrected version of the shot?

Wouldnt it be reassuring to be able to post the requested image to the

magazines upload site before you even got off the phone? If you can

identify with this scenario, the digital lifecycle is for you.

And how about those of you who are video production professionals? You

complete a shoot and get to work editing it for your client. You manually

do all the ingest logging and transcoding. You put the captured video on

a disk that subsequently fails. Only by sheer luck are you able to get the

footage back because you fortunately forgot to erase the original source

as you usually do. If you think that there has to be a better way, and one

that doesnt rely on luck, there isfollowing the digital lifecycle.

As a profitable graphic artist, you must have all your image files under

control, but one look at your iMacs Desktop shows it is carpeted with

so many file icons that you can no longer see the Desktop image! Each

image file has a different naming structure and lots of files are named

newImage1.psd and newImage2.psd, and they are unrelated to each

other. A client you worked with last year emails you and wants a replace-

ment file. Good luck finding the exact file you initially uploaded to the cli-

ents FTP server! The digital lifecycle can help you organize your images

and illustrations and make them more easily accessible to you.

You love your job as the soundman for this cool theater and you are

recording each live performance for posterity. You start collecting the

recordings and burn each one to a pair of DVDs. One day you discover

that one of the DVDs is unreadable. Panicked, you burn a new copy onto

a new DVD, but you wonder if the rest of the collection is still viable. You

also wonder how long those disks will last. You suddenly realize that you

are the only one who knows where you keep the recording log, and if

you get run over by the proverbial bus, your lovingly collected recordings

could be lost. The digital lifecycle can provide you with peace of mind.

As you can see, almost anyone who creates digital files can benefit from

the digital lifecycle.

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How Do I Prepare for Implementing the Digital Lifecycle?In Chapter 2, Planning Your Creative Workflow, you will learn all types of

techniques for building your creative workflow and how the various pieces

fit into the digital lifecycle. But you can start preparing for the digital life-

cycle now.

It will help to take an inventory of your physical infrastructure, such as

your computers, hard drives, networking gear, and other related pieces,

such as cameras, scanners, and specialized hardware.

Take a look at the software you use and see if it is up-to-date. Check the

number of different software applications you use and be sure to include

items like Photoshop plug-ins and filters. Take an inventory of all the soft-

ware, including fonts, you have purchased. Make sure you have all the

licensing in place and recorded.

Easy-to-use database applications can help you organize your gear, but remember thatyou need to keep the information up-to-date.



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tIP A simple database program like FileMaker or Bento is a great wayto organize all of your inventory information.

If you work with multiple people, identify who does what in the organiza-

tion. Perhaps draw up a diagram like an organizational chart that shows

your co-workers or employees and their skills. This will help assign roles

to the various folks you work with, making them and the workflow more

efficient. Keep that information up-to-date as people gain skills and

experience.

You might want to check with your peers and colleagues regarding how

they approach their digital lifecycles. See if they have an effective process

in place or if they have more of an ad-hoc style. Find out if they have any

pain points they wish they could alleviate. See how their digital workflows

are set up. You may learn about problems and solutions that you might

not have learned on your own.

How Do I Get Others to Work with the Digital Lifecycle?The most critical decision you will makebecause it is the first stepis to

decide to undertake the digital lifecycle process. You are probably already

doing many of the steps of a digital lifecycle workflow, but the decision to

make it official solidifies the concept in your mind and makes it easier to

take the additional steps that lie in front of you.

Taking a skills inventory is as important as a physical inventory. no matter what kinds ofcool hardware you have, it is the people running it that makes the magic.

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If you work with others, inform them of your decision and prepare them

for what will be coming. Getting the others onboard early in the process

will make it easier for everyone down the road. This is important because

you might need to change some pieces of the workflow that will impact

their daily lives. Some people dont cope well with change, so you might

need to handle them in certain ways to keep them happy. You might just

need to show that what is happening is all for the best, and they get to be

part of the process.

Sometimes you need tobe clever to help enticepeople to participate inyour projects.

When I visit various clients who are part of the creative world, I usually

see a real desire to be part of the process and a willingness to do what it

takes to get their work shown and be useful. It is definitely an advantage

of working with creative folks. It shouldnt be too difficult to get everyone

onboard.

What Is the Difference Between the DigitalLifecycle and Digital Asset Management?Many might think that the term digital lifecycle is just a fancy way of say-

ing digital asset management (DAM). However, the two are not the same.

The digital lifecycle is more than just a collection of technologies. It is an

approach to how you treat your data as a whole. It includes your data and

how the data was created. It includes why the data was created and what

might happen to it later in its life. It helps you plan how you do your work.

It is much more than just DAM.



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DAM is a set of tools that you would use within a digital lifecycle. DAM is

part of how you achieve the digital lifecycle. With DAM you can automate

pieces of your workflow and use them to find and organize your data,

but it still takes the overall design and framework to make the lifecycle

complete.

Dont get me wrong; DAM is an important topic on its own. It needs to

be understood and implemented well. It is a versatile and effective tool

to master or at least come to grips with and utilize it for all its worth. Just

remember that DAM on its own isnt the goal; it is just a step to complet-

ing the digital lifecycle.

Cant My Works Survive Without the Digital Lifecycle?The digital lifecycle isnt something that will or will not allow you to make

your art or your work. It is a way to protect it, keep it usable, and make it

available now and in the future. You can certainly go about your work cre-

ating data and dealing with it in an ad-hoc manner, but once you under-

stand what the digital lifecycle is, you will probably realize you are most

of the way to having the lifecycle in place already! It just takes some addi-

tional thought, organizing, and adjusting some steps to make it official.

Without the digital lifecycle in place, you might find you are reinventing

the wheel over and over again. For each job, shoot, or vacation, you might

deal with your digital data in a different way, either because you forgot

how you did it the last time or dont see the advantage of standardizing

how to achieve your goals.

You might think that because you shoot different subjects all the time it

would be impossible to standardize how you do so. Plus, hardware and

software change regularly, so how do you account for that? Well, certain

tasks you can standardize and others you cant, but the digital lifecycle

provides a framework. Although individual pieces within the framework

might change, the overall concepts remain constant.

For example, you come back from vacation with hundreds of pictures on

your memory cards. The last vacation you took you also had hundreds

of pictures, which you burned copies of onto CDs to store them away for

A STARTING POINT 19


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safekeeping. This trip, you decide to copy the data to your hard drive for

safety. Both of those actions, storing your files on CDs or a hard drive, can

be part of the digital lifecycle, but without the framework of the lifecycle

to indicate where those pieces fit, they are just actions.

The checks on the validity of the data contained on the CDs or hard drive

are missing. If at some point you dont check to make sure that you can

get your data off the CDs, you are missing the validation piece of the life-

cycle process. What if you keep burning CDs and DVDs, only to discover

in ten years that the life span of that type of storage is only five years, and

after that point, the disks start to deteriorate? In this example you might

need to use a different storage medium or migrate your data to a new

data format on a scheduled basis. If you dont check your actions, you

wont gain the knowledge of what is working and what isnt.

You need to keep checking your workflow actions to make sure they

remain feasible. You might need to change a process within the digital

lifecycle framework to keep your data viable now and in the future.

Will It Cost Much to Implement the Digital Lifecycle?The digital lifecycle is free. It comes at no cost except for the time you

spend planning your creative workflow. Sure, your time is worth money

and Im sure you could put a price on your planning time, but in that sense

everything costs something, one way or another.

There is a cost to not implementing the digital lifecycle, too. If you lose

data because its storage isnt workable anymore or if you simply cant find

something you have already done, there is a cost to reproducing your

work. Looking at it that way, the digital lifecycle can end up helping you

save on your expenses.

However, within the actions that comprise the working mechanisms of

the digital lifecycle, there can be real expenditures. You need to purchase

storage devices, computers, cameras, and software. You need to pay for

Internet connections and travel expenses. You might need to hire employ-

ees or contractors to perform certain pieces of your workflow. But all of

those costs are normal business or hobby expenses.



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You will want to set up a budget for the actions that will be defined, but

there are two general ways to derive a budget.

The first method is to just put a number out there. For example, you might

be able to afford $3000 to put towards your digital lifecycle this year to

start off, and then be able to spend $500 each of the following years. This

gives you a limitation on what your expenditures are, and youll have to

determine how to stay on target and within budget. This is a common

approach when just starting out, when you have no idea what expenses

you might incur.

The second method is to define your goals and then define the processes

and actions needed to achieve those goals. With these definitions in place,

you can start to add the expenses associated with those processes or

actions. You might find that your storage requirements will take $5,000

to achieve. You then agree to pay that cost or adjust your goals to allow

you to meet your budget restrictions. As an analogy, given the choice, I

would rather fly first class all the time, but my budget often has me fly-

ing coach. I fly enough that I have status with my preferred airline, so I am

able to upgrade my seat once in a while. This comparison may apply to

your workflow budget situation as well. You might have to fly coach for a

bit until you can upgrade to first class.

Regardless of what your budget is or how you derived it, money shouldnt

be a limitation in building your digital lifecycle. So much of it can be done

with limited or even no funds if you are clever and willing to take on the

challenge. Often, money is just a replacement for time, so if you can

afford the time, you can reduce the amount of money you need for the

implementation. Just remember that the digital lifecycle is a framework,

not a specific item, so it can be designed to be as budget-friendly as you

need it to be.

Where Can I Find Out More About the Digital Lifecycle?As you read through this book, you will find out more about the digi-

tal lifecycle through examples and explanation. You shouldnt limit

your knowledge of the digital lifecycle to just this book. Consider it a

A STARTING POINT 21


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jumping-off point. Throughout the book I make references to places you

can visit, typically on the Internet, to learn more.

While you are jumping on the Internet for more information, be aware

that not all the information on the digital lifecycle will be appropriate

or unbiased. Ive spent a lot of time researching the digital lifecycle and

have come across two general categories of information. One category

involves academic discussions in which librarians and archivists have their

say. This is wonderful information, but its not always easy to derive useful

information for the creative crowd. You end up doing a mental transla-

tion of academic needs into creative workflow needs. As long as you are

prepared for that, you should find the information very interesting. You will

especially find the information published by governmental organizations

fascinating, because it is all open and published.

rEcoMMEnDATionS

Because this is just the kicking-off point forthe rest of the book, you need to prepare totake on the digital lifecycle process. Here aresome recommendations to help you:

Relax! Implementing the digital life-cycle incorporates many techniques andactions you are already familiar with, soit wont be a huge learning curve.

Make sure you have decided on goingthrough the process. It does take sometime and effortnothing strenuous, butbe prepared mentally for it.

Prepare others in your organization forthe process you are about to embark on.Having them onboard and participatingwill make the job much easier and pro-ductive for all concerned.

Understand what resources you haveavailable to you. Make inventories ofboth physical assets and human capabil-ities. You can then apply those resourceswhen needed.

Come up with a budget, both from amonetary and time standpoint. You mayneed a little or a lot of money depend-ing on how you approach the process,but you will need time, regardless of themoney.

Educate yourself regarding the digitallifecycle. This book is a great start, butcontinue learning so you can make yourdigital lifecycle exactly what you need itto be. Search the Internet for more infor-mation or sign up for classes on the vari-ous pieces of your workflow. Talk withothers in your field and keep up withnew technologies as they emerge.



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The second category is aimed directly at the creative group. But when I

dug into this category, I often found that it really just deals with DAM. This

is limiting, because just the physical workflow actions are discussed, with

little on the lifecycle as a whole.

One of the problems with the second category is that often the infor-

mation comes from DAM software vendors who want to sell you their

products. I have no problem with such vendors providing information

regarding how their products can help achieve a goal, but such informa-

tion is often skewed towards how their systems work. So, just be aware of

your information sources.

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two

Planning YourCreative Workflow


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A popular book on building a business, The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most

Small Businesses Dont Work and What to Do About It by Michael E.

Gerber (HarperCollins, 1995), defines three areas of importance in any

business. One is the actual production of the product. The second is sales

and marketing. The third is the management of the business. As a creative,

you are very skilled at producing your wares, and you enjoy the process.

Your passion and pleasure are evident in the presentation of your prod-

ucts to your consumers. But do you manage your process and business

efficiently? It is essential to define your goals and how to achieve them to

ensure that your creative process remains sustainable.

So how do you go about building your plan? Start by outlining your goals

and identifying the various aspects that impact any type of action plan,

such as budget, staff, and industry standards. You then need to build a

cohesive plan that takes all the aspects of your business into account.

In this chapter, youll learn about a model you can follow to help you build

your creative workflow.

Building a PlanBuilding a plan can be tougher than it seems. But with some organiza-

tion and a modicum of effort, you can reduce that effort to a manageable

amount. A proper approach, as described in the following sections, will

help you build a plan that will remain viable for years.

Determining Your SituationEveryone has a unique digital lifecycle situation to contend with; however,

there will be certain similarities that you can leverage while building your

management plan. Consider the following questions:

What is the purpose of the material you are creating?

How long does it have to live?

Who needs to be able to access it?

How easily do the files need to be accessible?



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How much data will be produced in the process and how quickly?

Are there standard, industry, or client requirements you need to

meet?

There are plenty of other questions to be asked. In later chapters you will

fill in the details, but lets start by looking at some of the goals specified in

a few real-life examples.

Still photography: Shooting cars Back in the day, I managed a digital photography department for a pub-

lishing company. The company produced car repair manuals and illus-

trated them with line drawings and photographs produced in-house. My

department had a number of needs:

1. Capture images appropriate for the book being written.

2. Manipulate the images to meet publishing standards.

3. Make images available to the editors for review and selection for

inclusion.

4. Rename images to meet filenaming standards.

5. Keep copies of raw and modified images for future use.

6. Store files in an easily accessible manner.

With just a small budget to achieve these goals, I managed to create a

workable process. The resulting process was very lean and did exactly and

only what was needed. Only by understanding the needs of the depart-

ment could I make the process so precise.

Still photography: Fieldwork Steve McCurry is a world-famous photographer, and even if you dont

know his name, you would probably recognize his Afghan Girl picture

that graced the cover of National Geographic magazine. When I was

introduced to Steve McCurrys organization, I wasnt initially aware of

whom I was working with beyond a name and occupation; we hadnt had

a proper meeting and introduction prior to the start of the work. I was

doing a deep dive into the companys data infrastructure across its two

offices, and it wasnt until I visited his New York office that I realized who I

PLANNING YOUR CREATIVE WORKFLOW 27


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was working for. Steves work can put him into unique settings in terms of

geography, dangerous situations, and treacherous environments. Those

items had an impact on what I was doing because of what Steve and

his photographic assistants had to cope with. Steves fieldwork presents

unique challenges based on the following needs:

1. Track images as they are produced.

2. Secure the images in often challenging environments.

3. Transmit the data back to the studios for processing.

4. Tag the images with metadata (the information about the images).

5. Present images to clients or for stock.

Still photography: Social event and portraitureTori Deslauriers is a new-era digital social photographer. Based in London,

Tori jumped into social function photography solidly in the digital age. Her

major concerns include:

1. Protect the data from the time of creation because the events

unfolding cannot be reproduced.

2. Maintain access to the data throughout the production workflow.

3. Keep the raw data available for a minimum of one year.

4. Keep the edited images available for a minimum of three years.

5. Never disappoint a bride!

Approaching the Planning Process When planning your workflow, try to take a holistic view of your process

and systems. Holistic medicine aims to treat the body as a whole, not just

as individual parts. The idea is to keep everything in tune, mind and body.

When building your workflow, look at your overall situation, not just the

problems and annoyances of the moment. With a broad outlook, youll

create a more cohesive and less reactive solution.

tIP As you start your planning process, dont forget to ask others inyour organization for their input. They might contribute informationthat you would otherwise miss. If you are working solo, ask for the opin-ions of others in your field. It may be very useful to get additional input.



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Planning a workflow and the associated processes can take on epic pro-

portions if you let it, but with a little care, you can avoid many difficulties.

On the other hand, a lack of planning can lead to other major problems,

such as the case of organic growth as described in the next section.

Why Organic Growth Isnt Always BeneficialAll too often, as issues and situations arise, methods are developed to

handle them on the fly. Systems grow and grow without much planning.

As an information technology (IT) professional, I see this all the time and

am often the one hired to help the client out of a jam due to this organic

style of growth.

So why should you try to avoid organic growth? The word organic

sounds so natural. Professionally, it means something that increases in

scale on the back of a previous process. In the business world, organic

growth is considered beneficial because it validates the success of the

previous processes, but in the IT world it can lead you down a path to

nonscalable or out-of-control solutions. Because youll have to deal with

technology to solve your digital data management issues, the IT consider-

ation of organic growth will affect you.

Organic growth in IT usually means solving an issue the same way you

have always solved it, but not everything scales well this way. You may

ask why you as a creative need to worry about organic growth. With the

explosion of technology in the creative world, whether you are a photog-

raphy, videographer, or other member of the creative world, at some level

you need to be concerned about data storage and retention, naming con-

ventions, and tracking your ever-growing body of work.

A prime example of organic growth is data storage. When starting out as

a photographer, a few external FireWire hard drives might be all that were

needed to meet your data retention needs. As your business increased,

you might have bought some additional external drives. Soon you might

have found yourself with a closet filled with external hard drives with

sticky notes on them describing their contents (or worse yet, just the

term Drive 1 attached). Imagine coming in one day and finding all your

sticky notes on the floor. When you had only one or two drives, it was no

big deal to connect them to your laptop and poke around to find a file



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you needed. But with a closet full of them, your organically grown stor-

age farm ceases to be useful. Some planning ahead of time would have

prevented you from finding out too late that your systems grew to be

unsupportable.

You might say, Hey, how can I know how everything will work out

down the road? If I could predict the future, I would pick the right lottery

numbers and retire at age 35! True enough; you cant predict the future.

But you can plan as best as possible and use tried-and-true methods

throughout your workflow.

Times change and your work changes. You can adjust your plans as

needed. But knowing that you will be constantly reassessing should be

part of your plan. You need to look at each segment of your workflow

and assign a process to it. It doesnt have to be anything complex, just

predictable.

note You might want to create a trigger for the reassessment andreview of your plans. You might set the trigger to be a time period, suchas once a year, or an event, such as any time you find that your existingplan doesnt work as it once did.

Building Your WorkflowHave you ever written down your entire workflow? Examined it closely?

Did you ever have to draw flowcharts in school? If you havent, take some

time and draw out the steps in your creative process. You might be sur-

prised at how involved it is. You might also find areas that can be sim-

plified. In addition, youll see how a decision at one step impacts those

thatfollow.

As you review your workflow, you will see ligatures and cause-and-effect

situations. For example, if you shoot RAW versus a compressed format, it

increases your storage requirements, plus some graphics manipulation

software might not deal with RAW natively. If you are shooting RAW, you

may have run into the situation in which you update your camera, leav-

ing you with images that cant be used until the software catches up.

Later in the workflow, you might decide to archive the RAW files. But five



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This flowchart is an example ofa very simplified workflow; itillustrates how you could startbuilding yours.



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$ "#"!

This workflow is an example of how the ingest steps might be laid out.

A transcode workflow might look likethis, but could have multiple decisionpoints where you define more thanone codec or destination.



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or ten years down the road, will you be able to access software that can

read and use that RAW data? Would saving the files in a more universal

format give them a longer life span? RAW files can be four times as large

as JPEGs; how does that affect your storage costs and the time it takes

to transfer files from place to place? Dont get me wrong: Im not saying

that you shouldnt use RAW files. But this is a perfect example of how one

decision can lead to other unintended effects.

Analyze your workflow and see what happens if you change a piece of it.

Are there rippling effects throughout the workflow? If so, are they easily

dealt with? If not, what else has to change to accommodate the original

modification? Does your entire workflow have to change? While looking

at the complete lifecycle of your data, make sure there arent any gaps or

unmanageable segments.

tIP There are many software packages on the market that can helpwith diagramming your workflow. I use OmniGraffle from Omni Group,a simple yet powerful tool. Even getting a plastic flowchart templatefrom an office store is a viable solution, if that helps the software-challenged among you.

Defining workflow is what makes franchise stores work so well. You may

not consider a burger from one of the big chains as haute cuisine, but you

can be sure that the processes it uses are the same from store to store.

You can use this method within your own organization by defining the

pieces of your workflow such that anyone can execute them. You might

be the creative genius, but a co-worker should be able to perform other

pieces of the workflow and complete them.

In the IT world, documents known as run books contain all the processes

required for daily operation and emergency situations. Included might be

instructions on how to set up a new user on the computer, how to start a

nightly backup, and how to restart the systems after a power failure. This

type of documentation is very

Photographers Guide to the Digital Lifecycle

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