Prophoto

Peter Phelan, proprietor of Prophoto, was the first to sign up to broadband when it became available through the Penryn exchange in 2002.

As a commercial and editorial photographer for the last 20 years, Peter has always sought out the ‘Unique Selling Proposition’ for his business so as to stay one step ahead of the competition. For example, prior to the advent of digital photography, the company maintained an edge through its in-house printing lab.

Now, Peter is taking full advantage of broadband and using it to offer a service to clients at all times – regardless of where he may be at any one time.

Peter says ‘Broadband has completely revolutionised the way I work. I am now able to operate from literally anywhere in the world. I always knew that broadband would bring benefits to the business, but did not initially realise the extent and the way in which it would radically alter my way of working.’

‘Shooting digitally, images can now be processed either in the office or on location from where they are uploaded to a specific password protected clients’ area of my website for proofing. From there, the chosen images can then be added to a ‘virtual lightbox’ which is then emailed to me. I can then process the raw image files and these high resolution images are then uploaded to the private area for the client to download. As a result I have now been able to supply images, including large exhibition display graphics from my site to organisations in Israel, Poland, Scandinavia, Europe and the USA – all completely unattended.

'For one of my international clients, I have now also set up their own specific private photo library area, where the latest images are uploaded and made available immediately to their agents and distributors worldwide, not to mention magazines and PR agencies.’

One of the greatest benefits Peter finds from broadband is the flexibility to service the needs of several clients, wherever he might be.

‘For example, one of my large clients is Watson Marlow, for whom I travel around the country, shooting on location. Last week, I was in Cambridge at a shoot for Watson Marlow and while in the area, I also covered off a shoot for Siemens at a Radisson Hotel near Stanstead. Because of broadband, I was able to upload the shots I had taken for Watson Marlow to my website so the client could view them, whilst I was busy on the Siemens shoot.

'I use software called a Radmin, which means I can have complete remote control of my entire office network from anywhere I can access the internet; I can even print out 7 x 5 PR prints in my office in Penryn from anywhere in the world.

'I also use wireless hotspots so I can prepare work whilst on the road. With a laptop and an auxiliary screen, I have everything I need to prepare graphics from anywhere in the world. The bottom line is that clients no longer need to think of me as a ‘Cornwall Photographer’ - wherever I am worldwide, I can still service my clients.’

Peter has also now set up Prophoto Academy, offering photographic holidays, tuition and seminars – which, thanks to broadband, he will also expand to include online tuition in future. The first holiday course will happen in Portugal this autumn - proving Peter’s point that he can now operate effectively from anywhere in the world.

Peter says ‘In particular, the recent introduction of the 8MB service has made a big difference to me. The upload speeds are now increased as well as the download speeds. This has definitely increased my business efficiency in delivering very high resolution files.

'This has been illustrated by a couple of recent examples. For a client in Wilmington, Massachusetts, which is the US office of a UK company, my work has increased from supplying simple images via email a couple of years ago to the full-blown design, proofing and production of large exhibition graphics panels. For example, one particular image I sent them was a 100 inch square panel and the file size was 350Meg! I could simply not have sent one this big without high speed broadband.

'Similarly, I recently shot a wide selection of promotional images for a hotel in the Algarve. They were not processed until I returned to Cornwall, where I uploaded low resolution proofs to their new password protected section on my website. The client in the Algarve then chose the images they required and the high resolution versions were uploaded to my site from where they could be downloaded by the client and immediately used in their promotional material.

'Thanks to high speed internet connections, I am increasingly working for people I have never actually met in person and my business is increasingly becoming that of an overseas exporter.’