goodbye google drive?

Yes, well sort of.

I wanted to share a bit more detail around my recent decision to invest in CloudSpot.io for my business.

Unfortunately, Google Drive has been “finnicky” recently and causing some headaches for clients, so I hemmed and hawed for a while toward the end of 2022 about finding a purpose-built gallery delivery solution that I felt comfortable and confident partnering with.

For me, that decision quickly became CloudSpot.

It’s a super clean, minimalist design that doesn’t compress files to hell or force clients to wait for images to fully download before providing a high-quality download.

Plus, it has a slick integration with some of the largest and best DTC print options available. In my particular case, I’ve gone with MPix for now to provide printing straight from the galleries.

Here are a few screenshots to help understand how to interact with the galleries better:

Once you provide your name and email address, here’s what the galleries generally look like. Simply click on an image you like to see what options exist to download, purchase, etc.

Notice the small buttons at the bottom of the page? Click on those. For my next step in the process, I’ve clicked “Buy.”

Here, you can check out all the different products available for purchase, as well as sizing, and different finishes. The system will automatically crop images to fit the size you have selected. You can also select different photos in the bottom left panel before adding to your cart.

Here’s what your cart looks like before proceeding to checkout. Next, you’ll input your billing, shipping, and payment information.

I will also have final approval on orders to ensure crops look correct, primarily. I’ll never decline an order just for the sake of declining it. But, there may be occasions where the auto crop functionality gets out of whack, and I need to intervene for your satisfaction and happiness.

It’s really a simple, slick solution that I’m very excited to offer to my clients. This will be especially useful for providing finished images to individual clients. For commercial clients or in instances where I’m providing a large number of images for website/branding use, I will likely continue to use Google Drive, primarily because its a safe storage option and one that most organizations already use in their everyday workflows.

If you ever have issues related to my galleries, please don’t hesitate to let me know. It’s probably related to something I goofed up on my end and can be fixed…

If you’re a photographer interested in exploring CloudSpot, they offer a free trial version that I encourage you to check out. I also have a referral link that gets you 20% off a subscription and a $45 credit toward my subscription. Let me know, if you’d like it!

Thanks for giving this a read!