Eddie J. McCoven

Communications Intern

Summer 2015

Photo Management Proposal

Table of Contents

Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1

Photo Management Standard Operating Procedure ........................................................... 2

Release Forms ........................................................................................................ 2

Approval Process ................................................................................................... 3

File Structure .......................................................................................................... 5

Naming and Tagging Conventions ...................................................................... 12

Records Maintenance ........................................................................................... 19

Software ........................................................................................................................... 20

Recommendation ............................................................................................................. 23

Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................ 24

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Introduction

Photographs provide our society a glimpse of a moment in time. While memories can fade, and

events can long be forgotten, a photo can last for a lifetime, or since the advent of digital

photography, a photo may last for a millennium and beyond.

Photographs are both works of art and documentary records. Photos can tell a story, and for a

municipal organization, photos can show how levied tax dollars are being used for the greater

good in our communities. Because of this, photos are an important part of the business of an

organization, and they can help to illustrate the mission and values of that organization, and

provide ample artifacts for marketing, internal communication, and an organization’s archives.

Given the value of photos, especially in our highly visual post-modern society, photos should be

considered as assets of the organization, and should be managed properly and efficiently. Photos

should be easily accessible, of good quality, and most importantly, tell the story of how Metro

Parks Tacoma is creating healthy opportunities to play, learn, and grow.

Through 10 weeks of research, hands on experience, as well as inter-agency and external

interviews, I have compiled a recommendation to assist Metro Parks Tacoma with managing

their digital photo assets. The organization has thousands of photos in print and digital form,

spread across numerous departments. Due to the limited time of this internship, the project was

narrowed to solely focus on photos that are used for Marketing and Communications purposes,

more specifically, photos contained on the Public Drive in the Photos folder.

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Photo Management Standard Operating Procedure

I. Release of Liability on ALL Photographs of Persons

While persons in public spaces may be photographed, the reproduction of these photographs and

publication of these photographs has been subject to litigation and judicial review.

Gray areas do exist. Events that are free of charge and open to the public have been sometimes

seen as appropriate events where releases are not required. There have, however, been free

events in recent years where persons

have filed grievances with the district

over the use of photographs without

initial permission. Although a person

is technically in public view, they

value their privacy, and their privacy

(or perceived privacy) should be

respected.

In an effort to reduce these grievances and release Metro Parks Tacoma of liability in these

circumstances, photographs that focus on individual persons as the subject should be

accompanied by a signed release form.

Group photos, or crowd shots, may not need a signed release form, as these photos do not focus

solely on an individual as the subject. It is at the discretion of the photographer whether to obtain

release forms for these specific types of photos.

Photo release forms should be turned in when the photographer turns in the photos. Release

forms should be scanned to PDF format, and placed with the respected photos in their filing

location. Hard copies should be stored at the discretion of the Public Information Officer.

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II. Approval Process

When photos are received by the by the organization from the photographer, the photos and

accompanying release forms should be reviewed by a designated staff member(s). Photos will

fall into one of three categories:

Approved for Marketing Purposes

Photos should be reviewed by a designated staff member in the marketing and communications

department. The photos will be approved provided that:

• The photo illustrates appropriate behaviors and safe practices

• The photo illustrates the mission of Metro Parks Tacoma

Approved for Documentary Purposes

Photos that are specifically not approved for marketing and communication purposes should then

be reviewed by the Archiver to determine if the photos hold archival value. If the photo holds

documentary value, the Archiver should take possession and catalog the photos appropriately.

Not Approved

If there are photos that are not approved for either marketing or documentary purposes, at the

discretion of both the Public Information Officer and the Archiver, the photos shall be disposed

of in compliance with the RCW’s and Records Management practices of Metro Parks Tacoma.

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III. File Structure

While digital photos may end up anywhere, be it on individual workstations or in the cloud, it is

important that photo files (or at least a copy), stay on the organization’s network on a shared

drive. This provides for easy access to staff of the organization that will use the approved photos.

While photo or digital asset management software can enhance the ability to work with files

from multiple locations, for cost and training reasons, not every staff member in the organization

will have access to the software. In addition to this, most users will use the browse method of

clicking through folders in Windows

Explorer to find the photos they are

looking for, without using photo

management software or Windows

Explorer search tools.

Because of this, maintaining a proper

file structure that is easy to

understand and maintain will be a key part of managing our digital photo assets, along with any

software applications. Top level, second level, third level folders, and so on, will need to be

decided by designated staff members.

Once top level folders are agreed upon, the IT department can lock down the top level folders,

preventing any other user to add additional top level folders, and thus preventing the current

mess that exists from happening again. Examples of a systematic photo file structure are on the

following pages.

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A “2 Be Approved” and a “2 Be Deleted” will be added for photos awaiting review.

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IV. Naming and Tagging Convention

Naming

Photos can retain their default name (i.e. dsc4560 or img_856478) from the camera

If photo names are to be assigned, they should be assigned by event, program, or site with the

corresponding year and a number.

In example: Photos at Ethnic Fest 2015 should be named “EthnicFest_2015_001”,

“EthnicFest_2015_002”, and so on.

Tagging

At a very minimum, photos should be tagged with the Site name. After that, they should be

tagged with the event or program.

In example: Ethnic Fest, Wright Park

Photos may also be tagged with additional words and phrases, including:

dogs, baseball, water, kids, children, family, summer, sprayground, statue

Tagging can be done using Photo Management software, such as Adobe Lightroom, which was

used extensively, among other programs, to add tags to photos on the Public Drive. Some brief

examples of how tags are added and how you can browse for photos in Lightroom are on the

following pages.

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Keep in mind, Windows Explorer (in Windows 7 or later versions) features the ability to see

photo file attributes at the bottom of the window when a photo is selected.

You can also edit metadata such as tags, photographer, date taken, etc. This feature, however,

can only be used to edit metadata on one photo file at a time. RAW format images cannot

contain metadata; only JPEG and most other photo files types can contain metadata.

Windows Explorer also contains advanced search features that can be used to locate photo files

more efficiently. You can type anything into the search box, and Windows will return a result

based on file names and folder names. If you use the specified tag: search, Windows will only

return resulting files that are tagged with that keyword or phrase. Examples are contained on the

following pages.

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Photographers

Photographers can do some of the tagging for us before sending the files over. They should,

however, adhere to our process. Long descriptions and tags make no sense, and therefore should

not be added to photo files.

Photographers should make sure they add a tag for the location and a tag for the event or

program. We would also like them to add a tag with their name, or to make sure their name is

contained in one of the other metadata fields. Other than this, no additional tags should be added

by the photographer. MPT staff can then add additional tags as they see fit to help categorize the

photos and make them available for future searches.

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V. Records Maintenance

Managing photos, much like any other record, is a process. Filing cabinets need to be re-

organized and cleaned out every now and then, and records must be appraised in accordance with

the RCW’s and the Records Management practices of Metro Parks Tacoma.

As one staff member noted, the five top level folders for digital photos were assigned a few years

ago, but there are currently more than 30 top level folders. Needless to say, things can get out of

hand if they are not attended to every now and then.

Beyond release forms, approval processes, file structures, and naming and tagging conventions,

the last step of our standard operating procedure is maintaining our digital assets.

Records Maintenance of Digital Photo Assets includes:

• Reviewing Photos in the “2 Be Approved” and “2 Be Deleted” folders under

TEMPORARY USE. Archiver holds final approval over photos to be deleted.

• Reviewing 2nd and 3rd level folders for content, making sure photos are stored in the

correct location

• Reviewing tags and other metadata for each photo. Additional tags may be added.

• Review photo for usefulness – does the photo still reflect the mission of Metro Parks

Tacoma, does the photo illustrate safe behaviors, and is the photo of good quality for

publication

Photos should be reviewed on a regular basis. During the initial implementation, photos may

need to be reviewed once a month. Once the photo records are organized to the utmost

potential, records maintenance can occur less frequently.

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Software

In addition to the photo management features in Windows Explorer (in Windows 7 and later

versions), six application software packages were reviewed and tested during the months of June

and July of 2015.

Picasa and iTag

Both of these programs are meant for the home

user in mind, using a limited capabilities and

limited storage space. Both programs did not

work well with accessing photos from the server.

Because of the vast number of digital photo

assets Metro Parks has, neither of these programs

would be sufficient, and are therefore not

recommended.

Third Light Digital Asset Management

Third Light is perhaps one of the most comprehensive digital asset management programs

available. The software manages photos on servers and in the cloud, including our own photo

site with web-based tools for tagging and more. However, Third Light caters to Fortune 500

companies, and their prices reflect that. While the services they offer are easy to use and great

overall, their program is more than what Metro Parks needs, and the price is way more than the

district should be spending. This product is not recommended.

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Daminion Server

Daminion Server is a great program for photo management. The company is also small, and

provides training when the software is purchased and installed. The user interface is not as

simple to use, but once users have the hang of it, they can begin tagging and managing other

metadata of digital photos. 5 licenses of the software would be around $1,500. Based on my

experience with the program, and after with talking with many staff members, I have decided the

program might not be user friendly enough for the organization, and is still a little high on price,

and is therefore not recommended.

SmugMug

Point Defiance Zoo uses SmugMug. The product is a cloud bases application, and is relatively

inexpensive because it is offered by a family owned company. The current rate is $65 annually.

Tagging and browsing photos, as well as hiding not approved photos is relatively easy. However,

the application is purely cloud based like Picasa. There is also only one setup for user name and

password, meaning those in the district wanting access to photos would have to share the user

name and password, or relying on photos to be sent via email or weblink by staffers who have

access. Due to the relatively simple user interface, as low cost, this could be a solution.

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Adobe Lightroom

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, or just Lightroom for short, is a great program. This program is

available as a stand-alone application (Lightroom 6 – about $150), or as a part of a Creative

Cloud subscription package (CC – with Photoshop, $9.99 per month).

While Lightroom cannot automatically sync to shared drives on a network, it does do a lot of

things well. Photos are added to a “catalog”, and tags and other metadata can be edited for all

photos selected. Tags can also be saved to the actual file. This ensures that users without the

software can still search by tags using Windows Explorer.

The software is end user, meaning an individual license will have to be purchased for the main

staff members tagging photos, and catalogs cannot be shared. However, each user would be

divided up to only manage specific photos, unless a photo management person was hired to

specifically do these tasks.

Lightroom also provides a way to make Collections – photos that all share the same tag or year,

or by pointing and clicking, can be added to a Collection which can be published to a web

gallery, and an email link can be provided to a user within the organization as well as outside the

organization. The web gallery is not autonomous – it must be hosted by Adobe Business

Catalyst, or hosted on our Metro Parks site servers.

Lightroom is easy to use, and it is probably one of the more feature rich programs at a great

price. Therefore, it is recommended that the organization look into acquiring this software as a

part of a Photo Management solution.

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Recommendation

Given the research I have done over the past 10 weeks, and taking all needs, preferences, and

challenges into consideration, and after summarizing my findings on the preceding pages, I am

able to make the following recommendations.

1. The organization adopt the Standard Operating Procedure as descried earlier in this reporting

2. The organization adhere to a photo file management structure as described, or similar to the

one described in this report, and clean up and reorganize the digit photo assets currently

present on the Public Drive

3. The organization acquire adequate number of software licenses for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom

as a part of the overall all photo management solution

4. The Public Information Officer and Archiver have final approval over all photos

5. Photo Management tasks are to be performed by designated key staff members who will

perform these duties on a regular basis, as deemed appropriate

6. When and if funding becomes available, the organization hires a staff member to perform these

photo management tasks. This person could also have photography experience, and in addition

to managing our digital photo assets, could be a staff photographer

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Metro Parks Tacoma for having me as their Photo Management Intern for the 2015 Summer Semester. I have had a great experience with this organization.

The following staff members made contributions to this project:

Michael Thompson Lisa MacDonald Lynette Crumity Anne Winters Natalie Ries Sheree Trefry Nancy Johnson Susan Gordon Whitney DalBalcon Melissa McGinnis Bob Dalton Michaela Alden

I would also like to thank the following individuals from outside agencies who shared their knowledge with me:

Katie McVicker – Seattle Parks and Recreation, Seattle, Wash. Carlos Eliason – Office of the City Manager, Sacramento, Calif. Zach Powers – Marketing and Communications, Pacific Lutheran Univesrity, Tacoma, Wash. John Struzenberg – Marketing and Communications, Pacific Lutheran Univesrity, Tacoma, Wash. Markie Wheeler-Jones – Markie Lynne Photography, Bonney Lake, Wash. Celia Jimenez – Journalism graduate, San Diego City College, San Diego, Calif.

I would also like to thank Dr. Robert Marshall Wells, Dr. Amanda E. Feller, and Ms. Aviance Taylor at Pacific Lutheran University for assisting me with preparing for this internship.

All photos were taken by Russ Carmack.

Eddie J. McCoven

Communications Intern office: (253) 305-1017 cell: (619) 719-0455 Metro Parks Tacoma, 4702 S. 19th St, Tacoma, WA, 98405

C REATING HEALTHY OPPORTUNITIES TO P LAY, LEARN A ND GROW