my redesigned site is up!

I finally got (most of) the kinks out of my site, and posted a beta version. I'll be redoing the menu, it seems a bit busy now that I see it all together. But, I finally feel like my online portfolio looks good!

I have had viewbook for a while. I love the ease of adding and updating images and galleries. But, I haven't quite been able to get the features I wanted, a navigable menu, and large-ish, clear images. The template I chose limited the image sizes. I had loaded my images very large, which looked good if you chose full screen, but scaled a bit blurry and loaded slow. I'm sure they will change their sizing features, but for now, I am thrilled with my work-around. I just designed my own menu and it loads their galleries in a full-size frame. Works great! I chose a medium size for the pictures that looks very sharp and fills my screen, but scales nicely for smaller screens, too.

As far as 'branding' and all that... I'm still on the fence about the best approach. I tried to do a logo. Really, that's a logo! I'm too cheap to pay some designer to scooch some type around. That's what you get. I did design around the fonts and design elements that viewbook use in their galleries. I feel like it all goes together well, and it looks as professional as I could manage.

I did decide to just stick with my name and current domains. Basically because all of the other ideas I came up with are too laughable. And I have some 'brand identity', what with the beefcake site and all that. I'll just need to be more scandalous to stand out, I guess.

I'm still updating the site, but it's been fun to edit through my work to decide what my sensibility is and plan some portfolio development based on that. Maybe I have been reading too many blogs on brand development, or whatever. But, I do enjoy a good challenge and understand the importance of focusing one's intent. So, a New Year's re-design! Yay for me!

http://www.christophercarrollphotography.com
check it out!

taking a break

I am taking down the old blog for a while, for many reasons.

I have been doing these practice shoots while learning digital and external flashes. It's all fun, but now I'm ready to start doing different work, and find the work from the past year isn't really that consistent or original.... So, I'm trying to re-focus and do some more conceptual shoots that say more about my style.

I'm considering a 'business name change' too, to make it easier to find me on search engines, and less likely to be confused with other photographers with my name. There are a few! So, overall, I'd like try to 'brand myself' a little better for my future work.

Finally, the images I had up were too large, and weren't done on a calibrated monitor - now I calibrated a little better, alot of the pics look pretty bad, so I want to redo them for my new portfolio. It's sort of daunting.

I will redirect to my new work, or repost the old stuff very soon. Thanks for the patience!

For now, you can check out www.ApocalypseVintage.com for some of my recent catalog pics. We're having fun!