Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Thank you for
listening to another episode of
On Our Best Behavior.
Today we have a special guestfor you.
Today I have Angela Andrew, andshe is a photographer, a
photography coach, experiencedbroadcaster, writer and content
creator.
Wow, what a long, lovely listof things.
She is also a productevangelist for Mileyo Photos,
(00:24):
the free photo management andstorage app, on a mission to
change the way the worldremembers, via cutting edge
technology that allows users toinclude essential information
such as photos, dates, tagging,people and geolocations.
Oh, all the things that I wishI had every day.
Angela, welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Thank you so much for
having me, Kelly.
It's a pleasure to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
So take us back to
the beginning.
When I do this podcast, it'susually my son and I, and my
McCoy is 16.
And one of the things thatwe're always exploring is all
the career paths out there andall the opportunities that we
just don't even know exist ascareer paths.
So take us back to yourbeginning.
What first sparked your passionfor photography out there and
all the opportunities that wejust don't even know exist as
career paths.
So take us back to yourbeginning.
(01:10):
What first sparked your passionfor photography and how did
this evolve into?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
a full blown career
for you?
So I mean, that's a veryinteresting question, because I
didn't start when I was 16.
I was very into music.
I played the piano, I was inthe band and I did all those
kinds of things.
And when I went to college Iactually double majored in music
and business.
I eventually dropped the musicpart of it and I stuck with
business and I was actuallystudying finance.
(01:33):
So I got my MBA and I didbusinessy type of things.
But I've always had a creativebent.
When I was younger I likedtaking pictures, but it was film
days and processing wasexpensive.
When you're a kid, you knowyour allowance really doesn't go
that far when you have toprocess film.
So it was something I did alittle bit of.
But it wasn't till digitalhappened and became commercially
(01:56):
accessible that that became apart of my life.
I got my first digital camerain 2000.
I think it was Tiny littlething and it just opened up this
world of creativity because Icould make basically limitless
images.
And it was this tiny little, Ithink, three megapixel camera.
You would press the shutter andif you shook your hands at all,
(02:18):
there was like a delay betweenyou press the shutter and it
would actually take the picture.
And because of that I ended upwith mostly blurry photos.
But that's how I learnedPhotoshop was because I wanted
to do something fun and creativewith those pictures, so I
started creating photo art withthem very, very early on.
Fast forward a few years.
I got married.
My husband saw my interest andhe actually bought me my first
(02:40):
DSLR and then he was active dutymilitary.
At the time we moved to Italy,so you can't be in Italy and not
fall in love with photography.
I happened to get in with acamera club.
There I actually learned how touse my camera.
I learned what an aperture wasand an ISO and a shutter speed
and how those things worktogether to capture light and
make a picture.
(03:01):
And by the time that we movedback to the States I decided I'm
going to hang out my shingle asa photographer Now.
Being a photographer canencompass many, many things, and
most people think of takingpictures for a living.
You're doing portraits andweddings and things like that,
and I did dabble with doingportraiture.
It really wasn't my thing, andweddings just scared me to death
(03:25):
because they're so high stress,so I never really went that
direction.
Instead, I got into writing andcreating and helping others
learn how to use post-processingsoftware and how to manage
their photos and keep theirstuff safe and backed up, and
that evolved into being invitedto work with some photography
software companies and fastforward a few more years.
(03:48):
Here I am with Miley of Photosand my job here is as product
evangelist, which means that Ihelp people be successful with
the software.
I write the documentation, Ihost live webinars and live
events and I interface with theproduct team to make sure that
things that customers aretelling me about what they need
to do, what they are trying toaccomplish that gets back to our
(04:11):
product team and I can actuallyhelp shape the future of the
software.
So it's kind of come fullcircle.
So when you ask about somebodywho's 16 and trying to figure
out their career, when I was 16,I had no idea and it's
interesting where life takes you.
But you're going to, he's goingto pick a direction, but
whatever he kind of gravitatestoward and for me it was
something creative.
(04:32):
I still dabble with music, butI don't play like I used to, but
I still have to have somethingcreative in my life, even though
I'm a more analytical person bynature, so those things come
out and it's.
It really is all about puttingyour passion into something that
you really like.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
So when you went to
college, what was your vision
for what you were going to bewhen you grew up at that point?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
You know it was.
I was really not sure it was.
My parents were entrepreneurs.
They ran their own business forover 45 years and business was
the smart, safe thing.
I didn't know if my path wasgoing to lead me to at some
point taking over their businessor being more heavily involved
or going out on my own.
(05:14):
When I was in college I lookedat places in Silicon Valley and
the big companies and it waskind of my dream to go work with
one of these big companies andbe in the accounting department
at that time.
And that's not my dream anymore.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
I know when you think
about sitting behind a desk
from nine to five.
It's like that's a long day.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
It's a long day and
it's if you're doing the same
thing all day long.
I mean, some people are reallygood at that and that's what
keeps them steady and grounded.
For me, I need to have variety.
So when you're listing off allthe things that I do, it's like
I really am kind of all over theplace.
I touch a lot of differentstuff, both with Mylio, and I
have my own side hustle for myphotography and I'm always doing
(05:55):
something.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
So I feel like I fall
into this category of making
mistakes with digital photos,because I'm one of those people
who I posted on social media.
I just think it's going to bethere forever.
It's on my phone, I have myphone backed up.
It's going to be there forever.
But what would you say are thebiggest mistakes people make
when it comes to storing theirdigital photos?
Because I feel like that's me.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
So excellent question
, and I think the one thing that
kind of comes to mind isthere's a statistic out there
that I believe only one in fourpeople are using cloud storage
with their mobile phone.
So they may think that they'rebacked up, but they're not
actually paying for additionalstorage, so only either a very
small portion of their photosare backed up or they might be
(06:39):
in the cloud at a lowerresolution.
So not having enough storage tocover everything that they have
, that's probably the firstmistake.
So if people are listening tothis and you aren't paying for
cloud storage to go with yourphone, I know it's a painful
thing to think about, but youhave to have those pictures go
somewhere because otherwise theyare just sitting on your phone.
Your phone gets lost or damagedand then all of those pictures
(07:01):
are gone and a lot of peoplehave the mistaken notion that,
oh, there is a cloud serviceattached here, everything's
backed up and safe, and that'snot necessarily the case for
some people.
The other thing is is a cloud isa wonderful tool, but it is
still putting your stuff only inone place.
So I like to suggest to peoplea three-to-one backup scenario,
(07:22):
so for anything that's importantto you digitally, and this can
be other stuff on your computer.
It can be your pictures, youknow your video files.
You want to have three copies.
You want to have your workingcopy, which that can be you know
what's on your phone.
You want to have a backup copy,which ideally would be a hard
drive connected to your computeron your desk at home, and then
that third copy would be youroffsite backup in the cloud.
(07:45):
So you have that local copy.
If your phone gets lost, youstill have that copy sitting on
your desk, and if somethinghorrible happens to your home
natural disaster then you havethat cloud copy.
So I think that's where a lotof people don't realize that
their stuff isn't as secure asthey think it is.
So don't put all your eggs inone basket.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
And if you are
relying on backing up your phone
to the cloud and that's whereall your photos live, make sure
you're paying for enough storage.
Now, if somebody wants tolisten to this great advice and
say, okay, what should I do todo this the right way?
So how can someone get startedwith organizing and backing up
their photo collection, becauseit feels overwhelming, not only
digitally, but now?
(08:34):
I'm talking about, like?
I have boxes and boxes ofphotos in my basement that my
mom gave me, that I've had sinceI was a kid, because I'm old
enough that I also did not havea smartphone when I was younger.
So the thought of even startingto start going through all
those I just pretend thatthey're not down there and if I
need them one day, I know whereto find them, or you know what
it's going to be whoever I passthem off to will be their
(08:54):
problem.
What's a better way to handlethat?
Speaker 2 (08:58):
So it is a project
and it's something that you have
to have a little bit of passionto do.
But what I would suggest is youcan use a service like MyLeo.
So MyLeo Photos just to give alittle bit of background is an
application and a service.
What it does?
It helps you organize yourlifetime and memories and it's
an application you can downloadto your computer, to your phone,
to your tablet, any of thedevices that you have.
(09:19):
Those devices talk directly toeach other, so you have access
to everything from every deviceand it helps you get all of
those things organized from allof those just different sources
you just listed.
So, to get started, install theMiley of Photos app.
Let's say you have a computer,whether it's a laptop or desktop
at home, and then you have asmartphone.
Install Miley on both of those,get yourself an external drive
(09:43):
and then, in Miley, you do whatwe call designating a vault.
So a vault is any device thatholds everything, all of your
pictures.
So that could be that externaldrive that you connect.
So that could be that externaldrive that you connect.
Designate that as a vault.
Install Miley on your phone andon your computer.
It'll immediately start suckingin those pictures off your
phone and storing them on yourvault, so that gives you another
(10:03):
copy of them locally.
That's completely detached fromwhatever cloud storage you
might be using, whether it'sGoogle Photos, iphoto, whatever.
That's kind of step one Forthose other pictures you have.
If you have external harddrives lying about, you can
start importing those picturesinto your library.
Um, if you have memory cards,old CDs of pictures, start
(10:25):
importing them and getting themsaved to that vault and then you
can also integrate in cloudstorage through MyLeo, which
MyLeo would then create anothervault in the cloud if you want
to.
So that's another option forall that stuff in your basement.
That's a bigger project.
I have been working on some ofthis with my family as well.
I've scanned in a bunch ofstuff for my maternal
(10:47):
grandmother.
My dad has been working onscanning in all of his mom's
pictures that he inherited whenshe passed, and he's now scanned
in almost 25,000 images.
Can you believe that?
And this is all from like filmdays.
My grandma took a lot ofpictures and she had stuff that
was handed to her.
Some of this stuff is reallyreally old.
(11:07):
So he's been going through andscanning that and we're pulling
this all into a family Milolibrary where we can go in take
a look at these pictures, we canorganize them, we can tag the
faces.
So between him and my mom and Iwe're able to recognize most of
the people in these picturesand we're adding important
context so future generationsknow who these people were.
(11:28):
Because if it gets much past usdefinitely past my parents
nobody's going to know who thesepeople were, you know, unless
it's from my lifetime or forward.
So we're adding all thiscontact information and then
we're able to share it with thewider family.
So it is a part of a biggerproject.
(11:48):
And if somebody is not intodoing that themselves because I
know life is busy and unlessthat's your passion that can
just feel like I don't knowawful stress there are people
out there that will help withthis.
So if you have the option tohire somebody, there are a whole
group of people calledprofessional photo managers.
This is what they do.
Some of them will help you justorganize your digital files.
Some of them will actually workwith companies to digitize
(12:11):
things older you know prints andthings and some of them do them
do it themselves.
It just depends on who you workwith and our company actually
help connect you with one ofthese people If that's a
solution that you want to pursue.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
What I love about
what you just said is this
happened to me today is mycoworker was showing me a very
old photo and it was all thesepeople from I don't even know
what the time period was, butthey were holding a baby and the
baby in the photo was mycoworker, who was 54, her
grandpa, and she didn't knowanyone else in the photo other
(12:47):
than that that baby was hergrandpa.
Recognition and the tagging ofthe people.
That would be so awesome forthat example, exactly Because
her dad, so her dad's even she's54, he's probably 70 something.
(13:07):
He's trying to work on thisfamily tree situation and this
memoir and this book and goingthrough old photos like that and
then you're trying to figureout who people are.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
What an awesome
solution right there and then
you're trying to figure out whopeople are.
What an awesome solution rightthere it is and it's really,
it's tremendously fulfilling todo and it creates such a bond
and connection with the familymembers who are working on it.
And then when you're able toshare those things out I know my
dad's been texting picturesthat he's been finding and
scanning, sending them to me,sending them to my cousin,
sending them to his cousins, andthese are pictures of people
(13:38):
that they've never seen ofthemselves, and then they're
able to add additional contextof oh, I remember this and this
was also happening at that timeand Miley lets you, with titles
and captions and keywords,record all that information and
even add the date.
So when you scan something in,it's typically going to come
into your computer at the datethat you scanned it.
Miley will let you change thatdate so you can put it where it
(14:01):
actually belongs.
And it's really cool, itactually organizes things on a
calendar for you.
So once you get those dates inthere and it doesn't have to be
an exact date we do what also iscalled fuzzy dates.
So if you only know the decadeor a timeframe or it looks like,
okay, I can see on the backthat was 1956 and it looks like
it was Christmas.
You can say winter 1956.
(14:21):
You can be, you know, asspecific or as general as you
want for these dates and then itputs it all on a calendar for
you so you can see your life andthe life of your ancestors in
pictures and just scroll.
It's so cool.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
So does the MyLeo app
have like a feature where you
can have your whole family onthere, so that everyone can be
kind of working in the sameworkspace?
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Yeah, so we have
family plans.
There's two different versionsof it that we have right now, so
you can get an individual planwhich is just for your personal
use.
Family plans let you have up tofive people on the account, so
you're sharing the account andwe will actually walk you
through setting up thepermissions so everybody's able
to access what they're supposedto access and you can say you
know what?
Aunt Betty, she can look atthings, she can tag faces, but
(15:10):
we don't want her to be able todelete anything.
So you can go ahead and set upthose kinds of permissions.
And we walk you through all thatsetup.
That's part of the package forthe family plan that we offer,
and then the next level up isfor up to 10 family members and
that comes with additional cloudstorage as well.
So there's a lot of differentsolutions that we have for
different family size groups andwhat you're trying to
accomplish.
And yeah, it works amazing.
(15:31):
So tell me okay.
So let's say I'm like yeah, itworks amazing.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
So tell me okay.
So let's say, I'm like, oh, I'mlistening to this podcast and
I'm like Mylio was made for me.
So I go to my app store and Itype in Mylio, m-y-l-i-o, and it
will pop right up, right, yep,you download the app.
Then what happens?
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Do you pick your plan
or the easier way to do this is
going to be to start on yourcomputer, so wherever your kind
of main workspace is going to be, you can start from a phone.
It's just going to be you'regoing to have a better
experience if you start from thecomputer.
So I would go to myleocom andthere's going to be two options
there on the homepage.
One is to book a demo and theother one is, if you're going
ready to purchase, you can goahead and jump right in.
(16:11):
I would recommend booking ademo because that one of our
experts is going to get on aone-on-one call with you, see
what it is you're trying toaccomplish and guide you into
the right plan for you.
It also gives you a chance tosee, you know, what Miley is
capable of.
They'll show you a library thathas things already organized
and what it can do for you Fromthere.
Once you decide you want topurchase, you'll get handed off
(16:35):
to one of our other experts foronboarding and we will have
another person who will walkthrough that initial setup with
you.
Whether it's just you for anindividual plan, or if you're
wanting to onboard up to five or10 family members, we'll help
you with setting up everyone inyour account, Okay.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
I just seem so easy,
so let's so you do this.
And then how long does it taketo go from photo chaos to
organized so it's.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
It really is a
winding path for a lot of people
, and especially because we'reconstantly creating more
pictures, right?
So it's not like a here's thebox.
We're going to organize thisbox and we're done it with.
As content creators especially,we're making new pictures, new
content every single day, soit's never a.
I don't like to give people theimpression that it's a one and
(17:24):
done.
Um, it's a process.
But to go from a point whereeverything is chaos to a point
where you're like, okay, atleast I know where to find stuff
, I know my stuff is beingbacked up, that you you know,
depending on how big yourlibrary is, a couple of weeks to
a couple of months poking at ithere and there.
It's not like you have to giveit 40 hours a week at that point
(17:45):
I don't want to give peoplethat impression.
But from there, you know, youcan go in, you can do your face
tags, you can start doing moreresearch and adding those
additional details.
If you want to start movingthings around into different
folders and things like that,you can spend a lot of time if
you want, or just gettingeverything in the program.
You have access to that calendarview that I mentioned, it also
has a map view.
(18:05):
So anything that has GPSlocation information shows up on
a map.
So if you find things based onwhen it was taken, that calendar
is awesome.
The map shows you based onwhere things were taken and then
, once you start tagging people,the people view groups together
, all of the people you'vetagged, so you can just click on
a certain person and be likethere's all of their pictures
(18:26):
and that doesn't require you todo a whole lot of manual stuff
other than the face tagging,which is a lot of fun.
I find it to be kind of like agame.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
So you coach?
Do you coach photography?
Oh my gosh, I can't speak.
Do you coach photographersthrough MyLeo, or is that
something that you do on theside?
Speaker 2 (18:45):
So I some of my
clients do use MyLeo.
I coach in a lot of otherprograms as well, so I've been
doing the photography coachinglong before I ever knew MyLeo
existed.
And my photography coachingreally centers on workflow
management for serious amateurphotographers and professional
photographers usually people whoare running their own business
and want to have theirprofessional images organized
(19:08):
and backed up and be able toagain get to them when they need
them.
So there is a lot of overlap.
Myleo is a great choice forsome of these people.
Some people already have asystem and I help them with
whatever system they alreadyhave built, so it just depends
on what they need.
And then I also coach oncreative post-processing.
So if somebody wants to helphone their creative style and
(19:29):
how to make their creative stylecome alive using software, I
can coach them on that as well.
Yeah, that's nice, A hundredpercent like full circle, yeah,
360.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
I think coach them on
that as well.
Yeah, that's nice.
100%.
Like full circle, yeah 360, Ithink they call that Not 100%.
So you had talked earlier aboutwhen you wanted to be a
photographer, like you werescared of doing weddings, which
I feel like.
That is super stressful too,and people have such high
expectations of everything liketurning out perfect for that day
because they're going toremember it forever and you
(19:56):
don't want to be the person whodoesn't make them happy.
So tell me, how do you takephotographs and make them tell a
story when it's not just like?
All right, everyone smileBecause there's so much more
things that you can photographother than just people.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
So if I'm say, at a
family event and I'm wanting to
capture not just the people, youcan do your posed, groups and
things like that, but you alsowant to capture those
interactions.
So you see, you know maybe agranddaughter leaning her head
on a grandmother's shoulder andlike, capture that moment.
Or you capture it in on thehands of the grandson helping
(20:40):
the grandfather get up and movearound.
You know, things like that.
Those little tiny interactionsI think are super important.
And then you can also tie indifferent things from the day.
So if it's a big family event,there's going to be, you know,
food and different things goingon.
Trying to capture the vibe ofthe event.
I think is a be you know foodand different things going on,
trying to capture the vibe ofthe event.
I think is a really good way todo that.
(21:01):
But really those, those smallfamily interactions that are
unscripted, unposed, I think arethe most meaningful.
They might be the pictures thatinitially people look at and go
like I don't like the way Ilook in that picture.
I look really awkward, butthat's the one that 10, 15 years
from now they're going to lookat and be like oh my gosh,
that's the most special picture.
I'm so glad you grabbed that.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Yeah, because people
always say like I wish I was as
fat as the first time I was fat.
I wish I was as brown haired asthe first time.
I thought I had brown hairbefore I colored it blonde, like
.
We always go back and thinklike, oh, it wasn't as bad as we
thought that it was, especiallyas we get older, right.
Then you're like oh, hey,actually I did look good back
(21:42):
then.
Photojournalism has gotten sobig.
My sister just got married afew months ago.
The things that they takephotos of you're kind of like eh
, I don't really know if I'mever going to look at that.
But then when you're goingthrough the photo album it's
like oh my gosh, that turned outso good.
Like who would have thought youwould want a picture of I don't
know the background, yeah, theveil blowing in their faces and
(22:04):
them cracking up laughingbecause stuff wasn't going right
.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Those seem like kind
of the bloopers, but those are
the moments that you look backon and go wow.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Because it's so
candid, right, it's not so fake
and staged?
Yeah, because I see a lot ofpictures of people and they look
so happy.
But then you always hear peoplesay, like you can fake it till
you make it right.
You never really know whatthose people are going through.
But sometimes, like you said,if you're photographing like a
family event like, let's say,it's somebody's your
grandparent's 50th weddinganniversary it kind of is like a
wedding where you want to getthose little details of the cake
and just like peopleinteracting and dancing and
(22:43):
different people that you mightnot see all the time.
So that's what the weather waslike that day so many people
talk about.
Oh, remember when we got marriedand it was raining out or
whatever, or it ended up beinglike the worst thunderstorm ever
, or I got married in May and itsnowed.
You know, all those thingshappen and sometimes we forget
about that.
And then when you go and you'relooking through your pictures,
(23:05):
it just helps you remember allthe small details.
Absolutely.
Is there anything else that youwant to tell us?
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Let's see Just that.
Photos are so important anddon't take them for granted both
the capturing of them andmaking sure that they're safe
and secure.
Take a look at where your stuffis being backed up.
Make sure you've got enoughstorage.
If you need help with some ofthat stuff, think about
contacting MyLeo.
It's a great solution and we'lldo whatever we can to help.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
And it's 100% free to
go to myliocom, m-y-l-i-ocom
and just check out their websiteand see what they have to offer
.
It never, ever hurts, just tolook right.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Exactly, and you can
book that demo for free and you
get to talk to a person and theywill show you what's possible
and go through whatever yourscenario is, to see if we can
solve that problem.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
So I'm naive about
this stuff.
So let's say that I lose myphone.
It falls into the lake, neverto be found again.
So then I get a new phone or anew computer, or I have my
computer.
I have like a login so that Ican always.
It will just be there.
It's not on the actual device,it's in the cloud, as they say.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
So Miley is an
application and it reads your
pictures from where they live.
So ideally it's going to be on,like, say, that hard drive
vault that you have in yourhouse.
What's going to happen you geta new phone is you go to the app
store, install the Miley app,log in with your account.
It's going to talk to yourcomputer in that hard drive and
it's going to pull your picturesright back in.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
So if there was a
fire in your house and you lost
your backup drive and yourcomputer and your phone, then
what happens?
Speaker 2 (24:47):
That's where having
offsite storage is really
critical.
So, whether you use our cloud,we've got a service called MyLeo
Drive Plus that you can add onto your subscription or you can
bring your own cloud.
We work with Google Drive,microsoft OneDrive or any S3
cloud service.
So that's like your Amazon AWS,backblaze, b2, I believe,
wasabi there's a bunch of themout there Anything that uses
(25:10):
that S3 protocol for cloudstorage.
You can bring that and you canconnect that to your Miley
Photos account and create thatoffsite backup.
So that's the bring that andyou can connect that to your
Miley of Photos account andcreate that offsite backup.
So that's the part thatprotects you.
The other thing people, if theydon't want to use the cloud
which there are a lot of peopleout there who are very privacy
focused and that's not somethingthat they're interested in you
can have a computer set up at afamily member's house with
(25:33):
another hard drive connected.
As long as that internetconnection is on and that
program is running on thatcomputer, that can also create
an offsite backup for you.
So, having something that's notin your main residence it could
be your office If you've got adesk at work and you can connect
a hard drive there and havethat plugged in and have that
running in the background.
That can be also your offsitebackup.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Well, that's good to
know.
That makes it easier, and ifyou do the family plan, then
multiple people will have accessto it and then you don't have
to worry at all.
Exactly, yeah, all right,angela.
Well, I don't know if I haveany more questions for you,
unless you have some for me.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
No, I think that
pretty much covers it.
I want to thank you for havingme and I hope people find this
interesting and helpful.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Absolutely, and if
they have further questions,
could they reach out to you?
Or would they just go to likesupport on the website?
Speaker 2 (26:22):
So they can go to
myleocom, but if they want to
find me, the best place to dothat is going to be at
communitymyleocom, so it's ourseparate community from the
homepage of the website.
I'm the one that answers 95% ofthe questions there.
The live events you find aregoing to be the ones that I
typically host, so you candirect message me there.
You can comment on somethingthat I've posted and I will help
(26:42):
you out.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Thank you so much,
Angela.
Thank you.