A Woodworker’s Tools, a photo by ianspiers.com on Flickr.I committed a few hours this afternoon to editing photos and posting them to my Flickr account. With so many other channels available for my imagery, I’ve never really seen the point of posting images to Flickr. More recently, I’ve been reexamining my resistance; my thought is changing. I’m curious what others are experiencing and I want a better understanding of where digital photography and image sharing is headed.
Prepping photos for Flickr is interesting. I’ve got JPEGs that date back to 2000 and RAW files that date back to 2004, and I’m constantly adding new media to my library. My catalog is in a constant state of flux, and I’ve been in the process of reorganizing my image library and improving my workflow practices for months now–updating naming conventions, applying metadata, separating RAWs from Photoshop composites and final edits of images, reorganizing directories for automated backup to a host of external hard drives, building Expression Media catalogs, etc.. My catalog is a precious, living organism. It’s all still somewhat complicated at the moment, but it will be extremely efficient, expandable, and sustainable in the future.
If any of this “Digital Asset Management” (DAM) stuff sounds like the sort of thing you’ve wanted or tried to wrap your head around, here are three really great resources that come to mind.
First, IMHO, Peter Krogh’s The DAM Book: Digital Asset Management for Photographers is the definitive work on the subject. I apply the concepts covered in The DAM Book organizing and retrieving all of my media, not just my photography.
Second, dpBestflow.org is an amazing resources for information on DAM. This one’s from ASMP , Richard Anderson (co-author of Digital Photography Best Practices and Workflow Handbook) and Krough.
Finally, if you’re interested in a fantastic, professional-grade crash-course on DAM and workflow, as it relates to a real-world, professional photography, you really should check out this amazing video from Chase Jarvis.



