Welcome, 2010

Here we are, 17 days into 2010, and I’ve yet to write my first post of the year on this blog. Shame on me! I’ve done tweets and facebook posts, but not a blog post. And that’s not for wont of trying – I’ve two posts that I’m working on – but they aren’t ready to be published just yet. But rather than put it off, I figured I’d get the first post of the year out of the way, and with it, some of the recent happenings on the site, and my hopes for this year.

Recent Site Happenings

• In case you haven’t noticed, we added a client area a while back. It lets clients see a list of their events, their quotes and invoices, and also provides links to their galleries after the fact. If you haven’t tried it yet, and are a client, give it a go here: http://www.photokandy.com/clients
• We recently rolled out a mobile version of our site at http://m.photokandy.com. It works well in Opera Mini, the Blackberry browser, and should work in a lot of other browsers. It isn’t a full version of the site, but it includes recent images, tweets, blog posts, and lets you browse the image gallery itself. This was a fun little project that really took only a day or two to build as some of the pieces came from the primary site (like the blog feed), but the fun part was really trying to come up with a design that would work on small screens.
• The most recent change was a revamp of the home page. This includes a revamped logo (not too different than the old one), a background image for those with large screens, and a much larger slideshow in the middle. This slideshow is also much more focused on a “portfolio” presentation – images are grouped together in frames, and only a few are shown. You can get to the most recent images by clicking “Recent Photographs”, or just clicking “Albums”. There are still a few bugs to be worked out, but overall, I like it.
• The main bug is that the slideshow on the front page doesn’t link directly to the photograph being clicked on. For one, this is hard to do with the slideshow because more than one photograph may be on display. Even so, we’re working on a way to deal with this better than we are now (right now we just link to a generic keyword page).
• Also, the slideshow increase means larger pictures being downloaded, so we may have to work on timing for transitions a bit. Not to mention that people with smaller monitors may not see the bottom area of the page (but they should see the entirety of the slideshow, unless they are on a really small monitor).
• The bottom of the page is now divided into three: popular photos on the left (just like in the old design), the twitter stream and site updates in the middle, and the blog post on the right.

Going Forward

• Professionally:
• More Site Tweaks
• I’m a web designer too, so this is pretty much a given. I love to fiddle! That said, I’ll try not to unleash anything horrible!
• More Blog Posts
• This is where I’ve really let down – and given that I’m 17 days into this year isn’t a good sign. But hey, I’ll try, anyway. I want to publish some more educational posts about photography as well as my experiences with various equipment and such. If you have an idea for a post, please – let me know!
• Software Tips and Videos
• I love using Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, and sometimes it is easier to explain something visually rather than in a blog post. I also use SmugMug to host portions of this site, so if I come across something really cool, I’ll share it with you too!
• Lots More Pictures
• Who knows – I may even do a project 365. Let’s see how that one goes!
• Personally:
• Exercise more, Lose weight, and get Healthier
• I swear, this is the bane of my existence. So, I’m pronouncing to the world that I’m going to do my very best to shed some pounds, exercise more (my Wii really helps!), and be healthier overall. I think that doing so not only will help me mentally, emotionally, and physically, but also photographically.
• Step out of my comfort zone
• This can mean so many things – in this context, I mean photographically. It’s easy to get into a rut photographically, and so I’m going to do my best to shake things up – see things from new angles, try things I’ve never done before, and see what happens!
• Have More Fun
• Goodness knows that I love photography. It is so fun for me. Even so, I want it to be even more fun this year. I want to see new things, meet new people, and learn lots of new things!
• Relax
• Stress is a fact of life. But, I’m going to try my best to find more places in my life where I can just relax and let the stress melt away. The exercise bit will help some, but I also want to do things and go places that help me relax. I don’t know yet where that will lead, but it’s a plan!

Adieu ‘09, Bonjour 2010

So with this post, I officially say goodbye to 2009 (and to some parts of it, “good riddance”), and hello to the new year. I’m sure there will be plenty of obstacles, and it probably won’t be a boring year, but here’s hoping that it is a good year. Not just for me, but for you too.

Helping Haiti

Of course, for the Haitian people and their families and friends, the start to this year is anything but good. Keep them in your thoughts and prayers, and if possible, donate to help out. Not all of us can up and volunteer on the ground, but every penny can help feed someone in desperate need.
If you want to donate, may I suggest visiting the Red Cross to give online, or texting “HAITI” to 90999 to give $10 via your phone.