A plan for all seasons
Convinced he could get more business from his rapidly growing database of event photography clients, Uzair Kharawala developed his own software management program. Now, finds David Kilpatrick, FotoSF is gaining a formidable reputation
A handful of elite photographers put their name to software packages such as album designs or Photoshop actions, endorsing them with their reputations for creative or business flare. But Uzair Kharawala has achieved something far more difficult, and sustainable - he's developed his own business management program, FotoSF, and released it as a fully commercialised software package, sold through Apple dealers and retailers including Calumet, Warehouse Express and Jigsaw.
'I started photography when I was 18 years old', says Uzair (or Oz to his friends and clients). 'My father owned a printing and publishing firm producing business calendars, and my job was to shoot landscapes for them. I went into business properly seven years ago after my wife Farzana started photographing playgroups. We became very busy event photographers with thousands of clients, though each order was maybe only £30 or £50.'
Database needs
'We needed a database. We had all these customer files, and realised it would be better to use our contacts to grow the business rather than always find new clients. So we hired a programmer to write a database to handle our marketing, orders and delivery. That is how we were introduced to the Macintosh system and FileMaker Pro, which was the best programmable database available for Macs.'
One of the benefits of FileMaker Pro was that it allowed the inexpert user - Oz - to modify it, try out many modules provided with it, and tap into experience dating back almost as far as the Mac system itself. In this respect, FileMaker has always been far more user-friendly than the Microsoft rival, Access. But like Access, it can be used to build run-time applications. It can also be scripted to interact with other Apple software. Unlike Access, it is dual platform, and so FileMaker Pro and FotoSF can be run on either Mac or PC systems. The data files can be shared on a mixed network without the need for expert systems consultants.
'Initially we had a simple database. I needed it to do much more and could see that a finished stand-alone version could become the best product on the market for photographers, so we employed a full-time programmer - and from that FotoSF was developed and launched.'
Customising reports or letters in FileMaker normally means remembering the names of fields or looking them up from a list of hundreds in a complex database. FotoSF provides button-click access to all the fields needed to construct standard letters so no programming know-how is ever needed by the user. You may need outside help or training to create formatted email shots. FotoSF makes full use of electronic delivery by email, HTML and for quotes, invoices (etc) PDF documents in place of printed output.
Digital secretary
Now in version 2, FotoSF has been designed by Kharawala and implemented by his programmer, with professionals paid to create the graphic look, marketing materials, packaging and website. He's attended FileMaker TechNet meetings where the complex possibilities of a scriptable relational database are revealed, and worked closely with FileMaker to get the best help and support. The result has been an extremely stable, bug-free photo studio management program that is easy to set up and use.
The whole program is built round a customer database, product database and diary, with a pre-set flow of events. Once a client is in the system, just entering the date of their wedding will automatically add corresponding dates for pre-wedding meetings, booking confirmation, deposit, proof viewings, order deadlines, album production, delivery and payments. All these (or other) events will have been given a workflow timing by the photographer when setting up. FotoSF will then alert the operator before every stage of a job. It will record all the requirements of a wedding couple, and print out a detailed document to advise them on what they have ordered and what to expect on the day. Staff are allocated jobs, and worksheets produced for any week or day in much the same way a good photo lab will print out a daily schedule for every workstation or operator. Double bookings are prevented by the diary system, slots for portrait sittings or PR jobs are easily found.
And although it is not an accounting package, FotoSF acts as a sales and purchase ledger system and will create VAT return figures. It provides reports suitable for an accountant to use, but lacks the nominal ledger, analysis, payroll, bank account and auditing functions of a full accounting system. It will, of course, issue statements and schedule reminder calls or letters for overdue debts. Unlike some accounts packages, it does this with full graphics and font integration, and has no need to export data and mail-merge with an outside word processor. No printed stationery is needed, and with an affordable colour laser printer a business's image is easily maintained. The pre-designed reports allow quick customisation with logos and information.
Bite of Apple
Kharawala, who is an expert in profitable events photography and teaches location flash techniques for Nikon, is keen on new technology and the integration made possible within the Apple product family. 'An iPhone application is already available', he explains. 'Unlike PDAs, where you need to synchronise your hand-held device with your computer at base every day, the iPhone is always up to date. You log in to your FotoSF system from wherever you are. I have my own FotoSF database set up on a server - it is securely stored away from my office - and I can access it through the internet or my iPhone at any time."
FotoSF can be multi-user with the appropriate FileMaker Pro upgrade, so several staff logging in at the same time do not risk corrupting data. Changes and updates from all users are made in real time, and become visible to others.
Diary integration
'The next addition to FotoSF v2 will a Diary integration with Apple's iCal', he adds. 'This will be two-way, so any diary dates added in iCal will appear in FotoSF, and any FotoSF bookings will appear in iCal.' Diary conflicts - even with a personal function unrelated to the business and noted in the user's iCal file - will be avoided. And iCal can also be mirrored remotely and accessed by internet or iPhone, extending the options.
The iPhone module costs £80, and this I have not tested - because of the small amount extra required for an iPhone and its expensive contract. But I'm told by FotoSF users with more dosh than me that it works.
In the future, FotoSF will link to Apple's Aperture raw processing and file management program. This bit of advance news came when I asked Kharawala if his software would ever be able to replace Expression Media Pro, which I use to manage my image library with keywords and searchable cataloguing. FileMaker Pro has offered image fields for more than a decade, a function often used for employee and contact records. Linking to Aperture, future FotoSF should be able to search keywords and browse the thumbnails and previews generated and held in Aperture's catalogues. Then it will become a full digital asset management program, with the benefit of client information added.
Efficiency
FotoSF, at £345 +VAT, includes a full copy of FileMaker Pro Version 9 (normally a £200+ program in its own right). FileMaker has been my customer database program since the early 1990s, and has a perfect record of keeping thousands of addresses intact through many upgrades, machine changes and operating systems.
The day I was due to start writing this report, my iMac decided to stage a go-slow with a total of 15 different programs running, swapping their CPU, RAM and disk space allocations constantly. These included two FileMaker Pro databases, a full accounting package, Thunderbird, Firefox, Adobe Bridge/ACR/ Photoshop/Acrobat, NeoOffice and Expression Media Pro, and I'm switching between them on a minute by minute basis. I had to do reboot after a week of solid work to get the machine back to speed. Nearly everything I do in NeoOffice, including writing articles, planning print work and budget spreadsheets, could be done within FileMaker Pro. Aperture is a known resource-hog, but FileMaker Pro is not (it runs very 'lightly' on the Mac, opening and quitting with speed). It's possible to foresee an installation where FileMaker Pro, FotoSF and Aperture could replace half a dozen other programs and avoid inefficient switching between applications.
FotoSF is the first new photographic management application for many years. It is not the first to use FileMaker Pro as the 'engine' - Chaim Bacon's Photographic Organiser was an early FM application. Kharawala is enthusiastic and determined to make this program an international standard solution for all social and event photographers. It's obviously suitable for press and PR, commercial and corporate diaries, and could manage a catalogue or pack-shot workflow well, but his testimonials, examples and demonstration files (visit fotosf.com) are naturally geared to the field he comes from and knows best.
Contact
For more invomation visit fotosf.com.
