Automate your picture uploads to the web

It is very easy uploading pictures if you do not have a lot to upload, but when you have a lot of them then uploading becomes very tedious. I also want them in my PC as my back up and not endanger their existence when uploaded into the cloud. You can also do this using your mobile phone pictures with the appropriate app, e.g. Factamobile Picture Upload app for Android. I am sure there is an FTP* picture upload for IOS. Here is my solution:
My camera, a Canon EOS 7D is equipped with WFT5 wifi attachment. You may also use the EYE-FI SD card to transmit your photos via a hotspot. The first thing to do is to install an FTP server on your PC. I use FileZilla server. It is freeware and easy to configure. It comes with great tutorials and support from other users. During the configuration you will be asked to name a default folder to receive the pictures sent by the camera. Once you set-up this folder, configure it to sync with either Picasa or Sugarsync. That takes care of automatically uploading to the web. To receive the photos from anywhere you must open up your internet router to port forward to your PC. To port forward to your FTP server, here are the steps you need:

• Determine the IP address of your PC where the FTP server is located. It usually starts with 192.168.....
• Open up your modem/router. Consult with your router manual for the IP address.
• Log on to your router from your favorite browser and look for "Port Forwarding" or "pinholes" option.
• Forward port 21 (usually the FTP port, change if otherwise) with the IP address of your pc.
• Determine your WAN* IP or Internet IP address. If you do not know this, google using your PC and search for "what is my IP". This should show your internet IP.
• In your camera setting, select FTP server option. Enter your credentials and the FTP address as InternetIP:21 (replace InternetIP with the IP you obatined).

Fireup the server. Turn on your camera and see if it can upload the picture. NOTE: If you are within your local network, use the PC LAN* IP, the one that starts with the 192.168.etc

*Note: FTP - File Transfer Protocol; LAN - Local Area Network; WAN - Wide Area Network