A Personal Website From A Web Designer / Wannabe Photographer

I recently completed a website entitled The Flowers of Albuquerque (New Mexico) that features a humble web designers' efforts (actually, mine) to acquire photographic skills. I would appreciate your critique and comments. I find that I am drawn to film over digital in my photography. There is no question that digital provides a "cleaner" image. However, I can be more of a visual poet with film. Film interprets what I see in a way that I find less perfect, yet more aesthetically pleasing.

This website features one of my favorite photographic subjects, flowers. As a designer, I continually find the creativity evident in nature humbling. Therefore, I am its humble student. Anyhow, let me know what you think of the site. I will be adding new photos each week.

Web Designer Ramblings - Photo of the Day

The Conservatory, Rio Grande Botanic Gardens, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

This photo is clear evidence of the high standards of current consumer quality 35mm film (click on the image to view a hi-res version)! This photo was taken with a Minolta X-700 with a standard 50mm f1.7 lens. The film was Kodak 400uc, a 400-ASA print film sold in Walmart for less than $10.00 for three 36exp rolls (1 hour processing is around $6.00 per roll--I keep the prints and scan the negatives! This film provides eye catching saturation of colors while keeping skin tones natural. Plus, it has the fine grain of much slower films and scans beautifully with typical consumer film scanners. This was scanned with a Nikon Coolscan V ED.I was amazed at how beautifully this film rendered the colors in this photo. Plus, the film grain is unobstrusive and not noticeable at normal viewing distances. I was able to print a beautiful 17x22 inkjet print of this image.

This photo is also another good example of why I still do most of my serious photography with film. It is very easy to get a nice bokeh (blurred background) with typical film slr lenses by using a wide aperture, limiting the depth of field. That effect is much harder to obtain with any digital camera you will buy of the shelf for less than $1,000.

Web Designer Ramblings - Photo of the Day

Street scene. New York City.

The Wireless Neighborhood

Well, well, well, I stand corrected (see yesterday's post). A number of cities in the US have plans in the works to create urban area wireless connectivity grids. In fact, Philadelphia appears to be th closest to making it a reality. Will it be coming to a neighborhood near you? Read more about it here. Now, if I can find a 2lb laptop with a 15' screen and 8 hours of battery life . . . hmmmmmm.

Web Designer Ramblings - Photo of the Day

Street scene. New York City. Shot with Panasonic Lumix FZ20.

Beam Me Up, Scotty !

It has been my fantasy to one day be sitting at an impossibly chic outdoor cafe in Paris, sipping wine and watching the stylish street traffic pass by . . . My internet telephony based cell-phone rings . . . It is one of my web design clients located in New York . . . I flip open my wireless enabled laptop, bring up their website, and proceed to discuss the redesign I have been commissioned to do. This scenario can be made possible by a city-wide (and hopefully, free) grid of high-speed wireless access. While this scenario is possible in a wireless enabled Starbucks or a few other scattered hot spots in major cities it is not yet a city-wide possibility anywhere. But it soon will be, in Taipei, Taiwan. Click here to read how this forward thinking city is building the first wireless grid that will connect over 2.9 million people city dwellers. Now that's connectivity! How soon will New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, or even San Francisco follow suit? Cmon, guys! The future awaits!

Yahoo Gains on Google

Customer satisfaction among Yahoo! users is rising, narrowing an edge held by Google, according to a survey released Tuesday.

"It's right on the cusp of being statistically significant," said Larry Freed, President and CEO of ForeSee Results. "It's a very, very close battle for the top position."

Read more at http://internetweek.com/168602055

Web Designer Ramblings - Photo of the Day

This photo was taken in Taos, New Mexico. Taos is not only a nice resort town but is located in some of the most beautiful mountain scenery I have ever seen in the United States. I would love to show you some of that scenery. However, my photographic skills cannot yet do justice to that majestic setting. In time, however . . . in time . . .

Photo was shot with Minolta X-370, handheld, using Fuji 200 ASA Sensia Film purchased at Walmart. Honestly, I think a finer grained film would have produced a better photo and extracted more saturation as well. Film negative scanned with Nikon Coolscan V ED.

Web Designer Ramblings - Photo of the Day

Photo taken in the Rio Grande Botanic Garden, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Shot with Minolta X-370 (purchased used on Ebay for $65.00) & Fuji 200 ASA film purchased from Walmart. The film is a tiny bit grainy, but a cheap "practice' film if you are doing film scanning. Scanned with Nikon Coolscan V ED.

Call me crazy, but there is a sense of organic, tactile satisfaction I get with shooting film that I don't get with digital. To be fair, I haven't used any of the better (above $500.00) digital SLR cameras. However, a decent digital SLR with a respectable lens will still cost over $1,000 nowadays. I am shooting with top quality film SLR's that can be found on Ebay in mint condition for less than $100.00. Add three or four excellent used lenses and flash to that film SLR and I've still paid less than $500 for a very capable photography system. Plus (and this is a big plus) I can focus on photography rather than being overly concerned about theft or damage to a high-priced digital SLR. Film. Can't beat it!

Web Designer Ramblings - Photo of the Day

Downtown, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Photo shot with Panasonic Lumix FZ20.

Time Is Relative . . .

I was reading a fascinating article on Albert Einstein. Some of his most insightful discoveries about light, atoms, and time were made in 1905 when he was only 26 years old. During that year he developed his theory of relativity concerning the nature of time.

Einstein's special theory of relativity, published in June 1905, disagreed with a fundamental belief of scientists such as Issac Newton--that the measurement of time is a constant throughout the universe.

For example, imagine that you and a friend perfectly synchronize your watches. Your friend then flies around the world, while you stay at home. When he returns, the time displayed by his watch will lag a fraction behind the time shown on your watch. From your perspective, time slowed down for your traveling friend. The difference is, of course, infinitesimal at human speeds. However, when approaching the speed of light, not only does time slow down significantly but objects also become smaller and their mass increases. Einstein's theory maintained that the speed of light, not time, is constant across the universe.

Other discoveries Einstein made regarding the secrets of light are the basis for light sensors in digital cameras. What does all of this have to do with web design? Not much . . . Not directly . . . But this blog is called web designer ramblings . . .

A New Threat to Internet Explorer Users

Here is an alert to an especially dangerous spyware keylogger that affects Internet Explorer users. The spyware keylogger, named Srv.SSA-KeyLogger, is a backdoor program that, among other things, secretly steals data from users' internet sessions, including logins and passwords from online banking sessions, eBay, PayPal, and other programs that use html forms to collect personal information. It is a new variant of a family of existing trojans generally known as Dumaru or Nibu.

This spyware is especially dangerous to anyone who uses the Auto Complete feature in Internet Explorer. When the AutoComplete feature of Internet Explorer is enabled (as it is by default), the Microsoft browser automatically remembers usernames and passwords entered in forms, and records them in Protected Storage. Although the data there is encrypted, simple utilities can easily decrypt the information. The Srv.SSA-KeyLogger extracts that data.

Read more about this spyware here and get a free detection and deletion tool here.

Web Designer Ramblings - Photo of the Day

New York Public Library, 42nd Street, New York City. This building has a wonderful drama and faded grandeur that photographs well. Photo shot with Panasonic Lumix FZ20 (handheld with no flash at 1/20th of a second shutter speed).

What Makes a Web Designer Successful?

What do you think makes a web designer successful? As a web design consultant, I learned very early that simply being talented is not enough. The ability to manage business relationships and deal with people are critical tools in running a successful web design consultancy. I found a few excellent ideas on this matter in an article written by Dave Rogers, entitled The Usable Consultant. He highlighted a few key practices of effective consultants:

Usable consultants listen obsessively. Listening is the telltale sign of humility, of consultants who readily admit they don't know everything about you and your company.

Usable consultants generously share knowledge and information. They love what they do and can't resist talking about it. They're passionate evangelists of their areas of expertise. They get a kick out of educating others.

Usable consultants don't boilerplate. Usable consultants recognize that no company is like another. Each has unique characteristics and needs that a boilerplate proposal or process cannot address. This doesn't preclude reusing material by any means (one of the strengths of consultants is that they have developed effective methods), but it should always be tailored to your situation and needs.

Usable consultants join the team. They recognize that consulting begins with relationships. They place a high premium on being a part of the project team. They're enthusiastic about onsite meetings. They meet deadlines and promptly return phone calls and e-mails. They may even fail on occasion, just like other team members-but are quick to make amends.

Usable consultants help you achieve goals. They recognize that what is a single engagement to them is your life's work. They strive to ensure that both you and the project fully succeed.

I think this is an excellent shortlist of the business skills of successful web design consultants. What are your thoughts on this? Leave a comment!

Web Designer Ramblings - Photo of the Day

A boutique window in Midtown, New York City. The splash of color and study in contrast captured my eye here. This photo shot with my favorite "street photography" camera, Panasonic Lumix FZ20. Cropped and sharpened with Picasa.

Web Designer Ramblings - Photo of the Day

The window of of a Korean restaurant on 32nd Street, New York City, NY. Photo taken with Panasonic Lumix FZ20. Cropped and color adjustment done with Picasa.

Web Designer Ramblings - Photo of the Day

New York Public Library, 42nd Street & Fifth Ave., New York City. Photo taken with Panasonic Lumix FZ20. Cropped, sharpened, and color adjusted with Picasa.

A Wrist PDA?

Is this the ultimate fashion statement for web designers? Fossil is selling a wrist PDA, that allows you to store all of your typical pda information; contacts, appointments, etc. in a wrist watch! The concept excites me. However, the clunky style of the watch is a major turn-off (I am, after all a designer) that prevents me from purchasing it for the $200. Perhaps later versions of this watch will be sleeker, and more attractive . . .

Wrist-pda by fossil website.

Web Designer Ramblings - Photo of the Day

Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Web Designer Ramblings - Photo of the Day

New York Public Library, New York, NY. Photo taken with Panasonc Lumix FZ20.

Google Maps and Ajax

Will web designers find a future market in designing online software coded with Ajax? If you have not done so yet, install Google Maps and play with it a bit. The maps load quickly, with smooth shading and impressive drop shadows. Unlike Flash based applications, there is no lag time waiting for graphics to load. Google Maps is coded using Ajax (asynchronous JavaScript and XML), a powerful rethinking of web applications that significantly improves how web pages interact with data. For the first time, online programs can rival the speed and power of programs that run natively on the desktop!

Wired.com has an excellent article on the potential of Ajax. Will it become a threat to Microsoft's dominance of the desktop?

Lance Armstrong, the Machine

I developed an interest in cycling after Lance Armstrong became a force to be reckoned with in the Tour de France. Wired.com has a fascinating article on the power (literally, watts of power) generated by Lance over the course of the latest Tour de France. A fascinating read that gives an insight into the capabilities of a superbly trained and gifted athlete.

Top Ten Search Engine Optimization Tips . . .

Web designers should always be concerned about the effect their efforts have on search engine optimization.

"Clearly search engine optimization is a very complex process that cannot be reduced to a list of ten points. However, I hope this list helps you understand search engine optimization more completely. Perhaps it will keep you out of trouble with search engines and web directories to which you submit your Web site."

For these good tips, read more here.

The birth of a nation . . .

"Larry thought Sergey was arrogant. Sergey thought Larry was obnoxious. But their obsession with backlinks just might be the start of something big". . . Wired.com has an interesting article on how Google began, along wth a retrospective of some of the Web's great moments in history . . . a worthy read!