Google used to boast that you would never have to delete an email because of unlimited storage and even offered unlimited uploads of optimised JPG files. But that changed and now each account holder gets a maximum of 15GB for free.
Not that I’m complaining. Server farms are expensive to build and maintain. It’s unreasonable for me to expect Google to provide an infinite cloud drive in exchange for just allowing them to tell advertisers I have an interest in cats and cameras. (Strangely enough, I rarely see feline or photography related ads when using Google services. It’s always some bloody K-Pop star being much too excited about drinking a beer or some sugary-cute Korean actress flirting around a bottle of soju).
But what happens when I reach my limit? I won’t be able to upload more photos unless I delete earlier ones, and that would ruin previous posts. I could pay for extra storage, but blogging is not important enough to me to justify the cost. And, unless I pay forever, photos are going to eventually get deleted anyway. Switching to another free service is a possibility, but I’ve done that recently and most readers didn’t follow. A less disruptive method would be to post just one quality photo a week and write about it in detail.
A method that avoids the problem altogether is joining a print exchange club, but a quick search shows that existing groups are mostly for people who do their own printing at home. I get my prints done at a lab, so that option is out for me. I suppose I could start my own group, but I’m not sure I have the energy to set it up and find members. And it could become quite expensive quite quickly if there is much interest. Also, Korea Post is still not sending airmail to a number of countries. So a print exchange club would have to wait until next year or later anyway.
I have just over 10GB of time left to consider a solution. Maybe a good idea will present itself and maybe it won’t. Maybe I’ll become an Instagrammer, horror of horrors(1). Maybe I’ll lose interest in blogging in the meantime and the problem will solve itself.
(1) There’s nothing wrong with Instagram, but I don’t think a phone screen is a good place for serious sharing of photography.
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