Welcome to another installment of Things I Can't Live Without. A little series I started to share all the programs and tools that help my business function better. Last week I talked about my Drobo and how I backup all my images. This week I'm gushing about Photo Mechanic.

I was first introduced to Photo Mechanic when I was working as news photographer. Up until that point I had been plodding along in Bridge (an image viewing program) and it was sucking the life out of me. It would take FOREVER to organize, cull and select images from shoots. A lot of time was WASTED using a program that was inefficient for me.

But then, cue the hallelujah chorus. I was introduced to Photo Mechanic and my life would never be the same. Dramatic? Maybe, but this program has revolutionized my life as a photographer. When I worked as a news photographer we often had to shoot, cull, and upload images all within a matter of minutes. There was no room for wasted time. Photo Mechanic allowed us to move quickly through our images. We could easily see our images, ta the ones we liked, quickly open them in Photoshop and upload them to the network.

In my own day to day workflow, Photo Mechanic is a work horse, processing hundreds of images a day. For example, over the weekend I shot two weddings and an engagement session. Within the span of a few hours I was able to cull through thousands of images, select my favorites, rename those favorites and move to a new folder. BAM! Thank you Photo Mechanic!

The speed of which I do something is key to a productive day. Without Photo Mechanic I'm not sure I'd get anything done! This is one program that I definitely could NOT live without. If you're a photographer, invest in this program. Then cue the hallelujah chorus;).