A client wants 800 event attendees to be able to find all our photos from the event that include them. We could collect names & ID photos, use Lightroom's facial recognition to tag each person's photos with their name, and make names searchable on my website's gallery. But, this requires a LOT of billable hours for tagging. An alternative the client mentioned is Waldo Photos, which lets attendees upload a selfie and then sends them a link to their photos in a gallery hosted by Waldo. Attendees can purchase downloads and prints from Waldo.
I've never used Waldo and don't yet know the exact mechanics or cost, or even who pays when using it. Can you provide any info about this or alternative tools/services for a job like this?
Hey Jacques - we have stayed away from this area of the market (capture along with facial recognition tools) because most of what we have seen requires a network solution we don't want to set up and manage onsite PLUS either a) 'easy' experience for the photographer with instant upload of unedited non-culled images (liability danger!) or b) a 'heavy' capture process with the photographer constantly stopping to choose which images are uploaded and which are not. If doing it the 'easy' way, *everything* goes to Waldo, so you have to be super diligent on capture - weary of clothing malfunctions or images that present a speaker/C-level/celeb in a negative light or in a questionable scenario. If the app auto-downloads, every snap goes to the cloud. The 'heavy' way is just that: heavy with a lot of stopping and selecting mid-shoot. For those reasons, we decline to offer it when someone asks us - just a hassle from start to finish - with associated liability. Just my $.02
Thanks. I'm leaning toward just delivering my adjusted selects to the client, as usual, and letting them upload those to Waldo if they want to use it. Waldo does have a provision for event managers, rather than photographers, to do this.
Hey man - are you by any chance planning to be at PDN PhotoPlus Expo in NYC in a couple of weeks? Would love to meet up there!
Haven't been in years. Got too much gear already, and with two small kids, it's hard to make time for stuff like this. Babysitters are expensive. Thanks for the invite, though. If you're in or near Bed-Stuy, give me a shout.