Let's see just how friendly this community can be...shall we?

[JonathanAlstad]

Hey guys,

My name is Jonathan. I didn't choose that name, it was given to me, but I'd say it's a fitting name as it's what everybody's called me since the day I was born.

In other news, I just wanted to introduce myself briefly, inform you that I'm NOT trained in the art of photography (though I have taken photography courses and do own a T3i DSLR) AND more importantly than all of that, share about a kind of exciting project I've been working on with several companions of mine (who actually ARE photographers) for the last few years.

I think I'll start a discussion about it somewhere in the business area of the forum, but to summarize, I'm looking for professional photographers who are trying, succeeding, failing etc at running their own photo business. My partners and I recently launched an early beta of some cloud-based photo business management software and we're hoping to gather as much feedback as possible during this early phase so we can make it the best product on the market (even though we humbly already feel that it is... :thumbup

Would any of you be interested in taking me up on the offer? You can sign up for a free invite to the beta at fotoClient - Beautiful photography business management software or you can just follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, etc. for more information and updates.

Thank you for your time!

 

[Rick58]

:waiting:

 

[robbins.photo]

Well I try to be very friendly, but I hope you'll understand I'm usually a lot friendly with people who actually take the time to get to know me first before they start trying to sell me something. I will welcome you to the forum and wish you the best of luck on your project.

 

[jaomul]

I'm here a while. It's time to find out how this ignore button works.

 

[IceCanAm]

Welcome to the site.

 

[e.rose]

I'm........... actually, genuinely curious about this. HA.

COME BACK JOHN!!!!

Oh, hell. I just send you a PM. Ha.

 

[Braineack]

Hey Todd, you used two different fonts.

 

[e.rose]

Hey Todd, you used two different fonts.

Who is Todd?

That's kind of easy to do on TPF. Maybe it's just me, but when I'm typing up a response, all kinds of crazy stuff happens.

Italics don't work when they're supposed to... Backspacing throws my cursor in weird places...

I think the Chinese take-over screwed up the coding,

------

Also, for anyone else who may be curious... I PM'd our friend here a few times and he's been very nice and accommodating.

So if there's anyone else out there that might be curious about what he posted... Just talk to him. He'll answer you.

Not everyone who posts here like he did is trying to drive traffic to their foreign phishing site,

 

[Braineack]

I thought Todd would be more fitting, since that was the name I gave him.

 

[e.rose]

I thought Todd would be more fitting, since that was the name I gave him.

 

[JonathanAlstad]

What the heck? I totally thought that when I subscribed to this post that I would be getting email notifications of replies...but apparently that's not the case. I thought I was just legit getting ignored. lol

Anyway, yes, I The Malevolent Todd, did use two fonts because typing up the same description of a bunch of software features can be cumbersome...but trust me, it's all my original work. I wrote the website. I write the Facebook posts. I wrote a press release. I write everything that has to do with fotoClient. Including this HOPEFULLY non-funny-formatted response to many skeptical replies (which I completely understand). Emily was kind enough to PM me some "etiquette" that I wasn't really aware of getting into things.

All that being said, while I don't have much to contribute in the way of my own photography work/skills (I take it I'm hated about as much as Instagram already?) I just want to throw it out there that I'm not really interested in selling you something. I'm more interested in your help. I'm working on getting the word out about this tool because my friends have been building it for over 2 years and we really believe in its ability to help people. IF people disagree and don't think it's at all helpful, we'd just ask why and then change it so that it IS helpful. That's kind of been our whole approach in building it...hence why we've already interview over a hundred pros.

Now I'm just doing more "legwork" as it were to see if there are other opinions out there in locations I can't reach (Nashville, for example--thank you Emily!)

I'm not here to sell you anything, especially anything you don't want. I'm more here to learn. I realize people who just signed up are probably frowned upon for posting links, so feel free to ignore it, but I can also guarantee you that it's about the only beneficial thing I would have to offer to photographers so I thought it was worth a try. That's all! I don't mean to start an internet brawl nor do I have any real expectation for what gets offered up here. Just wanted to test the water.

Thank you all!
Jonathan

 

[sm4him]

Hey Todd, you used two different fonts.

Who is Todd?

That's kind of easy to do on TPF. Maybe it's just me, but when I'm typing up a response, all kinds of crazy stuff happens.

Italics don't work when they're supposed to... Backspacing throws my cursor in weird places...

I think the Chinese take-over screwed up the coding,

------

Also, for anyone else who may be curious... I PM'd our friend here a few times and he's been very nice and accommodating.

So if there's anyone else out there that might be curious about what he posted... Just talk to him. He'll answer you.

Not everyone who posts here like he did is trying to drive traffic to their foreign phishing site,

Yeah, I'll admit it, I took a quick look at the link this morning, and was at least intrigued. But I had no time to pursue it, so I bookmarked the site and I'll take a closer look tonight. I'm not really a "pro" so just can't decide if what he's got would actually be useful to me.

 

[JonathanAlstad]

Yeah, we totally understand that many people might not be at the level of bookings/business where they would want a paid thing, but we're planning to always keep a pretty awesome free version for the folks who just "dabble" I guess because we're most interested in getting feedback and making it a better tool. I think I can go on the record as saying that. lol

We're just a few dudes who know how to program and saw a need in the market a few years ago, so that's what this is. Not meant to be a gimmick or anything. If you like it, sweet, share it with your friends who may also be interested. If not, no worries. We just want to make sure everybody at least KNOWS about it.

Jonathan

 

[e.rose]

(I take it I'm hated about as much as Instagram

Psh. I love Instagram. I just posted to it a few minutes ago. :greenpbl:

 

[JonathanAlstad]

haha okay I can never tell. My best friend is a photographer and he's always poo-pooing the Instagram thing because he thinks it takes all the "art" out of the photographic process, but I've always just been like "well then why do you use a computer?"