In the late 90s, photographer Andreas Chudowski got into digital photography and was immediately known in his circles as the guy with the camera. "At some point, I realized that there must be more in photography," he tells the Phoblographer in an interview -- relating that it's from a time before the hyper accessibility and before Instagram. "I then found a photographer whose work I liked. So I moved to a much bigger town in Germany to start my first apprenticeship with corporate photographer Rüdiger Nehmzow. That’s where I realized for the first time what professional photography is." As the CEO of picdrop these days, Andreas still shoots -- and he's all about doing things extremely efficiently.

Fast forward several years, and Andreas moved to Berlin to assist several photographers until he had his own client base. "Today I work for different clients from all over the world, but my favorite jobs are still those editorial shoots where I can get creative." Working with all of these clients digitally made him create picdrop -- what he touts as a way to make managing client files so much easier.

Andreas is, holistically, about efficiency. "My photo shoots with celebrities and high ranking politicians usually don't last longer than 5-10 minutes," he tells us. "So, technical reliability is more important than squeezing the last 10% out of an image by using crazy complex but inflexible setups. That’s why I keep it simple." To further understand Andreas' clients, most of them are managing multiple photo shoots at a time.

"Although managing my deliveries of first selections or final files is part of their job, they are often busy with other tasks," he tells us. "As a result, they frequently shift much of the work to us photographers by sending emails with just screenshots of their favorite shots, telling us about the edits they need on each shot over the phone, or asking us to resend photos from previous shoots, even though they already have them in their own image database. While I understand their pressure and the shortcuts they take, it's clear to me that this isn't an effective way to collaborate."

He has the dream job of many! He goes out onto location and uses Profoto lights, and octabank, and creative freedom. After he's done shooting with his Sony a7r and 35mm lens, he uses picdrop to get his images to clients. Andreas made picdrop after finding all of the other options a bit lacking. "A lot of professional photographers nowadays use Dropbox, WeTransfer or Google Drive when they just want to send their files to clients and don’t need to collaborate on selections or need a proper presentation," he tells us. "But to me a fresh looking and fast loading online gallery with beautiful previews of the photo shoot feels like a much better alternative. Because it’s all about the first impression." With a simple interface, Andreas got the images for this article to us via picdrop.

Picdrop lets clients say what they need when they proof, select, and comment without them needing to figure out how to share feedback. There's even options like scribbling, voting, and liking. It's a fantastic option for anyone that doesn't have proofing built into their photography website. With picdrop, a client looks through the images, rates, and comments on each. The feedback is then given to the photographer. From there, the files are shared as needed.

The company's functions are mostly focused on simplicity while also being something all-encompassing. With picdrop, there's no need for Slack channels, Trello cards, or constant emails back and forth. It's all in one spot that's easy because of how minimal it is. In fact, that's what they're focusing on even more. They find it much better than adding in new features and using AI in ways that break things. To him, most tools overdo it while underestimating how it impacts usability with clients. More importantly, Andreas finds it frustrating that nowadays, photographers have to do detective work to figure out if a new tool or company is using their photos to train an AI. In fact, he flat out calls it theft.

It's nice to know about an ethical company that isn't trying to use their photographers' shots. Instead, picdrop is simply helping photographers share their work with clients in a smart way that mimics something closer to real life.

This article is presented in partnership with picdrop. Please check out their website here.

Free users can enjoy the same client-friendly interface, secure and professional presentation of images, and basic features for client feedback and selection. This is a significant upgrade from generic file-sharing services that often require cumbersome downloads and lack the tailored functionalities that professional photographers need. Also, first month with all pro features is completely on picdrop.