Even more gallery updates soon... 8/31/08
If you thought the recent updates to the gallery were amazing, you haven't seen anything yet! That's right, I've done it again - the updates to the galleries will make it even "EASIER" to jump through other galleries. I'll let you know when this conversion is completed - it should be completed tomorrow.
Fish and ugly creatures... 8/30/08
Today has been a good day, beside the fact - a dog scared the living hell out of me today - by popping its head outside the car vehicle and nearly biting me! My parents picked me up this morning and we went out to Leland, Michigan. At Leland, we wanted to go to Carlson's Fishery and get some fish. In Leland, they were having an Art Fair, nothing too exciting - but some vases caught my attention, a little bit too much money though. Leland is known for their Fishtown, I also purchased some candy at one of their shops "Rock Candy", haven't had Rock Candy in years - I got a pound, which will last a while.
I got some photographs in Leland as well, which can be seen in the gallery. That's right, the month of August is about over - so the galleries have been updated with new pics. Here is a ugly spider that lived by my flowers for a while, until I killed it today!
Next time, lets talk over the phone 8/27/08
Today was an interesting day and long too. In the morning, Dan picked me up at my house and then both of us traveled downstate to Roseville, Michigan. The purpose of this trip, was to take some photographs and have a meeting with our client. I kept telling myself, it might be pointless, but let see what happens. Dan was driving and I brought along my GPS device, which really helped us out - I knew most of the location, but some of it was unfamiliar.
Along the way, I-75 has way too much construction, which included a lot of narrow lanes (scary at some points), at least the traffic was moving. We stopped at Birch Run got gasoline and had lunch at Tony's Original Restaurant. This place is known for their "large" portions, I ordered the Fish Fillet and its like I got 2 of them. Tony's has an interesting menu, it looks like a newspaper!
We arrived to our clients location (photo below) and had approx. 30 minute meeting - which overall, we could have done it over the phone!
Been really busy 8/26/08
It's been a busy week so far, I'll hopefully be able to get a better post another day, but not tonight. Hope everyone is doing good!
Upgrades to the Portfolio 8/24/08
The main page for the "Portfolio" has been upgraded/improved - what ever you want to call it, make sure to check out the new page. It still works similar to the previous one, except much more organized and moved around items. This area is identical to the new "Galleries" main page. In this new set-up for the Portfolio, the previous 4 categories have been reduced down to 3 without losing any content.
- At the top of the page, just below the top navigation, you'll find general information about the galleries and the recent updates.
- In the white area, in addition to clicking on the headings, there is an additional item to click on "a preview of each category".
- The rest is the same, enjoy! Get Started.
Actual relief finally 8/24/08
When I woke up this morning, I noticed that my throat "wasn't sore", finally! I haven't been able to sleep the last couple nights, so hopefully tonight will be better. I'm not 100% better, but overcoming the sore throat is great. The only thing now, is that I'm stuffed up.
Upgrades to the Galleries 8/23/08
The main page for the "Galleries" has been upgraded/improved - what ever you want to call it, make sure to check out the new page. It still works similar to the previous one, except much more organized and moved around items.
- At the top of the page, just below the top navigation, you'll find general information about the galleries and the recent updates.
- In the white area, in addition to clicking on the headings, there is an additional item to click on "a preview of each category".
- The rest is the same, enjoy! Get Started.
Finally some relief 8/23/08
Well, I don't think I'm sick - just allergies are bothering me this season. The only thing that helps my sore throat is "gargling with warm salt water", every few hours I do this and its a relief. Hopefully by Monday, I'll be better - it's gonna be a busy week for me!
Not feeling so good... 8/21/08
I haven't been feeling so great the last couple days, I got what Steve had, then passed it down the line to his kids and now I have it. I am taking medicine, so hopefully I'll get better by tomorrow.
Wonderful compliments... 8/18/08
These new photographs of the "Women's Chinese Clothing" seem to be a big hit with many of the people I know - thanks to everyone who has given me good compliments. It's nice to hear good things from people, especially when photography is my hobby/second career.
Years ago, my buddy Tom and I shot wine bottles for a winery on the peninsula, it was difficult to shoot them, due to our lack of knowledge and tools we had to produce a nice glare-free shot. We then moved on to shooting art downtown at "The Wooden Gallery" and it took us multiple times until we had something to work with. Now a days, I don't shoot many shiny objects, nor do I work with "The Wooden Gallery", but I'm sure I can produce nice glare-free shots and anything else - more quickly.
I look forward to shooting more of the chinese clothing.
100% Authentic Chinese Clothing 8/17/08
I have been photographing a lot of Women's Chinese clothing, down in my studio and I would like to share them with you. Make sure to check out the new gallery under "Commercial > Products" and click on "Women's Clothing". There will be more products to be added, and they are coming soon!
Auch Residence phase 3 begins 8/16/08
Well, it looks that the Auch Residence is coming together, and the time is estimated to about 1 1/2 months until completion - wow... time has flown by! Their gallery has been updated with only 97 photographs of the 140 that I shot. Check out the gallery of "Phase 2"! As part of my present for the Auch Family, they will be receiving all original photographs on a DVD after everything is complete.
18 Holes of Golf for a good cause... 8/15/08
Earlier today from about 1:00pm, the 4 of us played golf until about 6pm. The 4 of us got free tickets to the golf outing for "The Brandie Rose Foundation". We got them free, because we are the their web company, the ones who donated a beautiful site for them. Today was the 1st time, that I have ever met this client and it was a nice experience to meet each other - we have always emailed back and forth before. We had a beautiful sunny day and I got a nice tan - lol!
The 4 of us included: Dan (2nd boss), John (one of our clients), Ken (ex-salesman for us), and Myself. At First, Ken and I arrived a little earlier and we got some practice in at the range, I was going really good - that's until we started to play. The first couple holes I had to get used to again, but afterwards... I was beginning to do better and we had a good team. Even though, we had played 18 holes, it went fast, because we were playing the "4 Person Scramble", which was the first time I had ever played that - and it was fun! Here is a picture from the event.
My photography studio 8/14/08
The last couple days, I have been working on setting up my photography studio and last night I used it for the 1st time and "Love It"! I will continue to make modifications to it, but its almost perfect for product photography. The set-up involves a second computer set-up on a desk with the camera on the tripod next to it. The camera is tethered up with the computer (extension cables were needed) and with the click of the mouse the picture is taken. I can control almost everything on the camera via a program (purchased it a couple years ago) on the computer. After covering my windows, it's completely dark down in my studio and now I control the lighting. Updated: Here is the 1st version of my studio, version 2 will be coming soon!
Pixel perfect designs 8/11/08
When it comes to designing the sites in the graphics application(s) of my choice, the graphics can be a pixel or two off, but the actual coding of the site, it must be "Pixel Perfect"! I want these design concepts to be nearly perfect when I client first looks at their future site. The sites that I design and code - are all SEF "Search Engine Friendly" (except those which have flash), meaning you can select the text with your cursor without selecting a graphic. Even though these sites are SEF's - "most of them" do not lack the quality in the graphics department. Most beginner designers make SEF's, but the graphical part of the site is not good - because they lack the experience to make both parts equal!
Most of our clients usually like a look of a site and tell us they want their site to look like that. With my experience, we are able to "duplicate (creating our own graphics and using our own photographs) that exact site" to look like theirs. In some cases though... the client tells us we did "too good of a job" and then they tell us "not to duplicate that site" - because of that reason. That's why I have been experimenting and learning new techniques since 1998, and I am proud of my knowledge for being a web site designer/developer.
Design progress update... 8/10/08
Make sure to check out the 2008 SWS Designs section under my portfolio, there have been a couple new additions and screen shot updates. In addition, I will try and re-design some of our older clients sites as well to give them a newer look. There are only about 8 clients that we at SWS have, that in my opinion - needs a new "improved" look and a couple of them are ones that I did a year ago. Yes, even some of my older designs are out-dated, but its only a few... I know I have improved in the past year.
Right now, I am at 45 designs this year for 2008 and we still have many more months left until 2009 - I should be able to break my record of 51. Like I said in a previous post, not all these designs are used by the client, but I keep them in my archives and will use them for other clients if needed.
It's been like 12 years... 8/10/08
My brother mentioned to me the other day - that we should go "Ice Skating". Thinking to myself, where in TC, can we ice skate? Well, he told me at Centre Ice - he and his group of summer campers went there for a field trip and everyone had a blast. Yesterday, we both went back and being to ice skate, his was like a natural - but it took me more than 25 min's to release my training wheels. At first, I was nervous - it's been so long since I had ice skated, when I was young, my brother and I used to skate and took lessons on it. Both of us were able to even skate backwards, actually be able to stop - I even got a patch that I received at the end of my lesson. Anyway's, it was fun and I'm willing to return to skate again, its something different to do in TC. Here is the patch that I received, yes I actually kept it.
Rearranging furniture 8/9/08
Well I got advice from my dad to try a new set-up in my office, at first I didn't care for it, but I'm liking it now (photograph is shown at the bottom of this post). At this point, the front view when people walk in, they see tons of wires, which I'm working on hiding. Here is what I've been up to by upgrading my office.
- I bought a new monitor 19" HP Wide screen (got a great deal on it, too good to be true - original price $240 got it for $180, the cost of the 17", I made sure not to pass it up).
- Ability to remove speaker wires, since they are built into the monitor. The speakers are nothing to get excited about, but it works for what I do.
- Purchased a new... more comfortable chair and looks very modern.
- Eliminating / Replacing other items
- Bought miscellaneous office accessories like a letter tray, business card holder, and a paper clip holder
Future plans for my office include:
- Setting up some type of table system behind my desk, maybe in the corners for the placement of my printer, wireless router, cable modem, etc
- 2 identical 19" monitors on computer desk to increase workflow
- File cabinet(s) - letter and legal size
- New table lamp
- and anything else...
People directing traffic 8/6/08
This morning on my way to the office, I encountered a road sign - that shows a flag man and a be prepared to stop, when I saw this sign and the line of traffic, I suddenly made a u-turn. When I made the u-turn, someone else did the same thing and we went in a different direction. In this new direction, I had 2 options, go through the school or take a new way - I along with someone else took this other shortcut, through a new neighborhood and it was a nice shortcut. For some reason, when people see these flag man, the driver decides to do stupid things, brake every 2 seconds and drive like the roads are icy. Hopefully the finish with the road soon, but until then - I'll be working at home.
Downfall of our economy 8/5/08
We haven't got any new clients for a while, at least it seems that way - but in another... its good, because we can do some maintenance on our current clients. At this time, I don't need assistance, but when we do get some extra work, I'll send it to my assistant.
In other news, due to the downfall of Michigan's economy - this has affected us somewhat. The economy is really hurting many of our clients, who are builders, contractors, and designers, etc. - anyone having to do with the trades. It's sad to see some of our clients having to quit our services due them not getting any business and having to close their own business.
My opinions on Windows Vista 8/5/08
Well, there are many improvements on this new operating system, that I love and nothing I really dislike about it. Visually its different and looks nice, but what I love best about Vista is the new user interface of browsing through folders. I can now switch between folders and sub folders easier than on XP - and having the ability to resize the thumbnails is also a great new feature.
As an advanced user, I disabled a lot of features such as shadows, previews, sidebar gadgets, etc. The security features on Vista are actually not as bad as others say about it - being notified before something runs/installs is a nice feature and is not annoying once you get used to it. There is so much to customize with Vista, and I am working on discovering them! I'm very shocked from reading those reviews from others stating "vista sucks" - because none of that stuff is true, I am a well satisfied Vista user. I can shut-down the computer without any errors, which is a huge difference when using XP.
More knowledge and experience 8/4/08
For those people who have read my site in the past probably read a post or somewhere on my site "that I wouldn't install vista on my computer". Well, I made a decision and decided to install it and from what others have posted their opinions (as it sucks for numerous reasons) on this new operating system, I can tell you they are wrong. Well not 100% I can say they were wrong, because I am using Service Pack 1 with Vista which probably fixed anything wrong with the first version. The reason for the install of Windows Vista is to expand my knowledge of this new OS, so that if any of our clients have issues, I can at least help them out! So far, I haven't had any problems, in fact - I think it runs better than XP. I'm not encountering errors, so far so good! Another post coming soon with more of my opinions on the new Windows Vista Operating System.
Getting ready for the fair 8/1/08
For the past week, I've been creating a powerpoint presentation for SWS for our booth at the Northwest Michigan Fair. I was finally able to complete it today and it has more than 50 slides (that's 50 individual pages rotating through, for those who are not familiar with powerpoint). I haven't used powerpoint for many years, but when I opened it - everything came back to me and I was able to complete this nice presentation for our booth at the fair this weekend. In addition to this presentation, Steve purchased a big 22" flat screen monitor, for us to display the presentation on. Sunday is the big day its the grand opening, so we will be setting up most of our stuff Saturday and then Sunday with the electronics - I hope everything works and we do some business.