Robert Peterson

Robert Peterson

Plano, TX

Retired systems architect and software developer. Developing amateur photographer.

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  • Robert Peterson
    Robert Peterson
    Gold Member
    Posts: 9
    NEW – Get Out And Shoot – Christmas Lights With Kevin and Debra
    on: December 20, 2020 at 8:05 pm

    The Dallas Zoo, like many zoos, operates an annual Christmas light show. This year, like many zoos, they switched to a drive through event with an optional walk around “village” at the end. In the last update I received the Zoo said the event was so popular they extended the event for an additional week. Right now they’re sold out until for the next week, until the 28th.

    https://www.petersonsemail.us/Events/20201209-DallasZooLights/

    Robert Peterson
    Robert Peterson
    Gold Member
    Posts: 9
    Re: How Many LR Catalog Backups?
    Reply #1 on: November 22, 2019 at 10:44 am

    I’m a serious amateur photographer, not a pro. Most of the time I create a catalog for each shoot or trip. I maintain only one large catalog containing several years of images of a particular class of subject. Most of the time I create a catalog for each shoot or trip. I don’t regularly allow Lightroom to create a backup, and I limit the number of backups to 1 or 2.

    I’m a retired software developer, and very comfortable with computer technology, i.e., I’m a geek.

    My backup strategy is:

    • A limited number of Lightroom backups, mostly intended to recovery from catalog corruption. I leave these backups where Lightroom creates them.
    • Backups to a local computer dedicated to backups. The backup software is UrBackup (https://www.urbackup.org/), open source client/server backup software. The UrBackup server runs under either Windows or Linux. I run it on Linux, and in my setup writes backup data to a RAID 6 drive array. (RAID 6 provides recovery even if 2 of the 5 drives fail.) The UrBackup client service automatically and continuously backs up new and changed files, including all my photos and Lightroom catalogs.  My local UrBackup server provides both reliable backup, fast restores, and is highly immune to viruses, ransomware, and hardware failure.
    • Continuous backups to the cloud using Backblaze.

    UrBackup and Backblaze provide redundant immediate and automatic local and remote backup of all new and changed files for my desktop, my laptop, and my wife’s desktop for less than $6/month/machine.

    Robert Peterson
    Robert Peterson
    Gold Member
    Posts: 9
    Re: Starting a Club
    Reply #2 on: October 30, 2019 at 6:42 pm

    Some ideas from someone who has never been a club leader:

    • Could you start out as a branch of an existing club? Doing so would significantly reduce the effort required to get started, and provide immediate program and business support.
    • Look around for local colleges whose art department might offer photo courses. Even without ’em college bulletin boards might be a good place for a flyer.
    • Also check with local high schools for photography courses or student photo clubs.
    • Attend some of those “nearby” meetings to (1) ask the club leaders how they got started and how they promote the club, and (2) to see if any of the attendees might also be driving to the meetings from your area. Buy the club leaders a cup of coffee so you can talk about the managing the club’s business, i.e., the Web site software, bookkeeping, roster, etc.
    • Locate and browse other clubs’ Web sites for program, outing, and class ideas. Discussing these possibilities at your early meetings will help involve those early attendees, as well as set a general direction that is likely to hold attendees’ interest. Here’s a link to my local club, active since 1984 : Plano Photography Club.
    • There are organizations of photo clubs. Here’s a link to my “local” (Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma & Texas) organization of camera clubs: Gulf States Camera Club Council. The Maryland Photography Alliance seems to be a similar organization in your area. The Alliance might provide valuable resources to help get you started.

    Good luck!

    -Bob

    Robert Peterson
    Robert Peterson
    Gold Member
    Posts: 9
    Re: Archive for Technical Articles
    Reply #3 on: September 11, 2019 at 3:10 pm

    We have a team meeting at the end of the month and will certainly take into consideration these ideas. Any other ideas are always welcome.

    More than most other sites, members and readers here understand keyword hierarchies. I suggest you consider organizing article keywords in a hierarchy, with a hierarchy-based browser where clicking on any entry displays the number of entries and a list of titles.  Think of this as an extension of the “Categories” list. And perhaps a Search could return a link to an appropriate place in the hierarchy.

    Top level keywords might include “Technical Articles”, “Review Articles”, “Trip Report Articles”, and “Article Authors”.  The next level inside “Review Articles” might include “Lenses”, “Cameras”, “Workshops”, and “Exhibitions.”

    This probably requires a fair amount of design and implementation effort. As the site grows, I believe the ease of locating information would be worth the effort and starting now while the site is relatively small is a lot easier than doing this a few years from now when the site contains hundreds of articles.

    -Bob

    Robert Peterson
    Robert Peterson
    Gold Member
    Posts: 9
    Re: Don’t Leave Home Without It – SanDisk Extreme 2TB USB SSD
    Reply #4 on: August 25, 2019 at 8:39 am

    “Tell me I’m not the only one to remember 8″ floppy drives.”

    Nope! And 5GB full height 5.25″ hard drives!

    For a number of years I’ve used a Sabrent enclosure for 2.5″ hard drives with a captive USB 3.0 cable terminating in a Type A connector, a design no longer marketed. That case requires no tools to remove or install a drive, a feature I really like. My cases now contain SSDs. Like Kevin, I travel with three and when flying carry them in separate locations such that a lost bag doesn’t result in loss of data.

    -Bob