Feedburner

I'm not sure, but I think I successfully changes my feed in Feedburner.....but I'm not sure if subscribers to this blog will get the new feed. If you are one of the subscribers and you have (or have not) gotten the feed could you please go to the comments section and say if you have or haven't received it. If someone has commented already that they have, no need to add more. If someone has said they haven't and you have, please say so as it just might have been too early for the first person to have received it.

Thanks.

We've Moved

As I suggested in my prior post, I moved my blog today in order to integrate it into my website and new posts will be continued in that location. I am still trying to sort out issues such as Feedburner to the new site, RSS for the site and making some cosmetic changes to the WordPress template. I would appreciate it if you could bear with me until I get this sorted out and get new feeds going. Also, if you happen to have this blog listed in your blogroll (if you are a blogger as well) I would appreciate your updating the link to my new URL as I have lost all the old links and Google ranking. The new URL is http://blog.howardgrill.com

I will be adding all the blogs in my old blogroll to my new one as soon as I figure out how to use the widget, which should be soon. Plus, you still have the links from this old blog!

Thanks for bearing with me during this change!

Migration And Integration

In my last post, I mentioned that I wanted to integrate this blog into my new website. I have been looking into the various ways to do this, which boils down to either sticking with Blogger (which carries the benefit of being able to maintain my Google rankings) or going with WordPress. The benefit of WordPress is that it seems far easier to integrate into a website subdomain. I have seen many posts about the woes of trying to transfer Blogger to a private website subdomain......... and that is from people who actually understand how to do it. Reading the Blogger directions has me dizzy and not sure where to even start (ANAMES, CNAMES....yikes).

My inclination is to go with a new integrated WordPress blog (they actually have a function that supposedly allows you to import all the old Blogger blog content into your new WordPress blog). Yes, I will lose my Google page rank but I am still inclined to go that route, unless someone reading this can give me a good reason not to switch over and/or a reference to step by step instructions as to how to make the Blogger transfer to a private subdomain relatively foolproof.

So, this post is an announcement of the migration of this blog away from Blogger and to my website. I am planning to try the transfer on Friday, so I don't know what the status of this blog will be from Friday on. In essence, I am not sure if when I migrate the contents over it will still remain here too (I hope it does) or how difficult the migration will be.

I would certainly appreciate it if anyone who reads this regularly could hang on over the inevitable bump or two with the migration, and look for new posts on my website, hopefully just by clicking the blog tab on my site navigation bar. It may take a few days to sort out how to get Feedburner going again etc, but I am also hoping the almost 1100 subscribers here will be interested in resubscribing at my new location.

I hope things go smoothly and that my next post topic can be back to some pictures and a discussion of photographic subjects!!!!

Thanks.

Gone Live

I have posted a few times in the past month or two about my plans to code a new website using Dreamweaver, and my reasons for doing so. Though my original self-imposed deadline was April, I have managed to already complete enough of the project to put the site up.....IT'S LIVE! And it is HERE at www.howardgrill.com

Well, it isn't totally 100% the way I would like it to be yet, but it is well along. I do have several more articles from my old site to convert to .pdf format and post. In addition, one of the big things I have left to do is to get this blog integrated into the website either by a) integrating the current Blogger structure into the new site with a subdomain or b) ditching Blogger and going with WordPress, which is apparently far easier to integrate into a website and has a function that allows you to migrate old Blogger posts into the new Wordpress site (yikes, 4 years worth of posts....will that really work correctly and without a hitch?), though doing that apparently leads to a loss of Google ranking and SEO gains that have occurred over the years.

Anytime one undertakes a project such as this, there is a huge amount of consideration given to the viewer experience. However, it is sometimes easy to be surprised at the fact that viewers don't necessarily agree with your opinion, and in the end it is only the viewer/visitors opinion that counts. People with different backgrounds and interests will surely have different ways of looking at a site.

With that in mind I would like to invite any readers over to my new site to have a look. It would REALLY be appreciated if you could make helpful and constructive comments about it on the blog or e-mail me directly. Nice comments are good but constructive criticism is even better.

Some of the questions I had in mind were:

1)Is the navigation bar and site navigation in general easy and intuitive?

2) Are the images to big to comfortably view/enjoy?

3) Does the color scheme seem too bland or does it need to be spiced up in some way?

4) Are the gallery slideshows taking too long to load and are they of a good size for viewing? Are the instructions for the slideshow buttons clear? Is using and viewing the slideshows intuitive?

5) I put a fair amount of effort into making "Story Behind The Image" pages for each image that viewers can get to by clicking on any picture in the slideshow. Once one of these "Story" pages are pulled up, you can either return to the slideshow or navigate the gallery from these pages. Is that clear from the website? Are these pages easy to get to? Are the "Story" pages worthwhile?

6) Given that a webmaster, graphics non-professional (me) coded it, does the site have a generally professional feel to it.....or does it scream amateur? (I still have the old site available if folks feel the current site is lacking).

7) Any comments or experiences to relay on achieving blog integration within a website?

I know I still have some further proofing to do for spelling etc, but I did want to get it up live and get some feedback. I am hoping it will be a good starting point to function as a site that I can personalize and grow, with continued new offerings, artwork, articles, media etc

While you are there, if you have an interest in signing up for the Newsletter I am planning for two or three times a year you can sign up from the site directly at this page.

As an aside, when one is ready to make a website live there is always the question of what company should host it. After some research, I chose HostGator and couldn't be happier thus far. Their tech support has been superlative with rapid and knowledgeable responses that helped me both get the site up properly and also get my contact and newsletter forms working correctly (getting website forms to function correctly can sometimes be a bit tricky!)

Interpretation

I find it interesting to hear how people interpret pictures. Of course, many, and perhaps most, images are not necessarily open to a tremendous amount of interpretation. For example, a great landscape image will elicit emotion in the viewer, but I think the pure aspect of interpretation is more limited. There may arise interpretive issues such as what the photographer wants the viewer to think (ie is this image urging us to support conservation, protect wild land or wildlife etc) but there are less likely to be issues regarding what the 'deep meaning' of such an image is.

Even though I didn't set out to imbue my Dreamscape series with hidden meaning, I am intrigued by the fact that people have offered to me interpretations of the pictures that are quite disparate from what I thought most people would think .

For example, take the following image, Dreamscapes #3. I 'set up' this self-portrait with the idea of trying to convey a nightmare. I tried to personify the unknown coming out of a blinding light to pull you away. I didn't guess that there was any other way for someone to think about this photo.

Dreamscapes #3
Copyright Howard Grill

But I was wrong. I have had people give me several different interpretations. The most interesting was told to me by someone that purchased the photograph and said that to them it illustrated the idea of "a young person going off to undergo his rite of passage"


And this one, Dreamscapes #6. When I post-processed the image, I was intrigued by the light ghostlike shadow of the smaller child at the right of the photo which was generated by the child's motion during a long exposure. I realized that this left the image open to some interpretation and was intrigued when a friend interpreted it as transmitting a sense of serenity after the loss of a child because, no matter what, the spirit of the child would still be there.

Dreamscapes #6
Copyright Howard Grill

For someone whose photographic 'focus' has been primarily nature and landscapes, it can be difficult to make images such as these. But I find that I enjoy hearing what people think these type of images mean and find it interesting that the interpretations can be very varied and not at all what I had thought about when making the photograph.

Photo -Eye Best Books Of 2010

Having just undergone a bit of minor surgery (I'm just fine, thanks) I am still a bit sore and so, though it is time for a new post, I am going to make it a rather short one. By the next post, things should be back to usual.

Photo-Eye just came out with its always interesting list of the best new photography books of the year. The 2010 list can be found here.....enjoy!

Quick Quotes: Timothy Allen

It can be a trap of the photographer to think that his or her best pictures were the ones that were hardest to get.


Timothy Allen

Timothy Allen should certainly know about this, given that he photographs around the world for Human Planet.

We often think that if we could just go to this or that exotic location we would come back with exceptional images that people would fawn over. In fact, most people don't care where a photograph was taken or how easy or hard it was to get there. They only care if it resonates with them.

This quote gets me thinking about the fact that the strongest and most well crafted images are probably the ones that are of 'ordinary things' and 'ordinary places' that, nonetheless, carry strong emotional content.

Looking All Around

A few days ago, I visited the Andre Kertesz exhibit entitled "On Reading" at The Carnegie Museum Of Art in Pittsburgh. It was a wonderful exhibit of Kertesz photographs, with the theme being people reading.

One of the ideas that caught my attention (besides that Kertesz had a wry sort of humor based on photos like this and this) was that life goes by without our realizing what is around us that is interesting to see. On that note, as I left the museum I found myself really looking all around me to see what was there. That is when I found this....which I took with my cell phone.

Reflections
Copyright Howard Grill

Looking For An Opinion

As people who read this blog may know from my prior posts, I have undertaken the rather hefty project of designing my own website rather than continuing to use my current on-line template model where I simply upload my images to a service.

I am currently deep into the project, which seems to be moving along at a faster pace than I thought it would (my self imposed deadline for going live is April).

I want to make the site a springboard that I can use to offer many types of media going forward, such as pdf format articles, e-books, maybe some video etc, but am also trying to figure out ways to make the traditional presentation of images more interesting. In this regard, I am looking for opinions and was hoping some blog readers might offer up theirs.

I am going to be presenting my portfolios/images in slideshow format with a full screen option as well as the option to choose individual slides rather than just let them play.

What I was considering was an option whereby clicking on a slideshow image would bring the viewer to a page with a large version of the image at the top as well as text describing the "Story Behind The Image", which could include items such as the location as well as the specifics about the situation that was occurring when I took the image such as what attracted me to the image, how difficult it was to access the site, what it was like to be there and the like.

Do you think this type of information helps establish a 'dialogue' with the viewer and allows them to become more involved with the image or is it simply personal information ("I did this or that") that a viewer would really not be all that interested in?

Opinions would really help me out......my inclination is that it would make the site a bit more different, but it would take extra work that I am willing to put in if it is a feature that viewers would be interested in as opposed to personal narrative that no one really cares about?

If you care to offer an opinion on this simply put it in the comment section or feel free to e-mail me directly.

"Digital Analogue" - A Short Film

This is a neat short film I ran across. I hesitate to say that it is 'about' antique cameras, because it really is more of a work of art than a film 'about' anything. It was constructed from over 6000 still images of analogue cameras, and the intriguing soundtrack is made entirely from sounds generated by these 'antique' cameras.

Enjoy "Digital Analogue" by ftjelly!

Too Much - Part II

In my last post I wrote about the proliferation of software, imaging modalities/techniques, and marketing methods which are now available and the fact that, while they offer innumerable opportunities that we never had before, they also can draw significant amounts of time away from actually working on trying to perfect the art itself.

This has become even more apparent to me as I undertake the project of designing and constructing my own website. I clearly see the large amount of time that is taking. One of my problems has been that I have found that I was interested by and wanted to participate in everything contained in the long laundry list I wrote about in my last post. But, the fact is that you really can't do all these things....at least not well and not if you also have a 'day job'. So it has become apparent to me that one has to pick and choose. I probably am still trying to do too much, but have decided that in order to try to excel at some things others must go.

So how does one approach all this? Well, I am sure there is no universal answer to that question since, as artists, we all have different interests, aptitudes, and abilities. While one photographer might be able to write HTML and use CSS in their sleep, another might find that to be a big yawn and not have the desire to learn it at all. The same goes for learning the other software I mentioned in the list.

I can, however, talk about how I approached the issue and what conclusions I came to. These conclusions, of course, only apply to me....but perhaps the thought process might be useful to others.

I started by asking myself several types of questions:

What do I like doing?
What would I like to learn to do/use?
What items from the list are likely to be most useful in developing an audience?
What have I done already that seems to be generating some success?
What have I done already that does not seem to be generating much interest or success?
When looking at the potential benefits of each item on the list, how much time is going to have to be invested to reap those benefits?
Which items, when I consider them, get me excited and interested? Which don't?

In a perfect world we would learn to excel at all the listed items, but, as we know, the world is far from perfect.

So how did I approach the list? First, just scanning the list, it was easy to pick out two items that I could easily give up. Flickr and Twitter. I know that many people have successfully used these sites to increase their audience, but they have seemed far less fruitful for me. Flickr can be quite time consuming and, frankly, there seems to be far too much back scratching and quid pro quo to get images seen....and the comments tend to be one liners that I do not really find all that helpful. The whole interface with awards etc also seems quite 'unprofessional' to me. I'm not saying there aren't good photographs or photographers there. Just the opposite, there is plenty of fantastic work. It just doesn't seem to me like the forum to accomplish my goals or present my work. I won't delete my account but will not actively use it. Time saved.

Same with Twitter. My 'tweets' seem to attract mostly other photographers and people trying to sell things. I totally enjoy talking to other photographers, but I'm not sure I love talking to them in 140 character bites! It's fun, but I just don't think it is all that worthwhile in that it doesn't seem to be doing for me what I was hoping. Thus, it is not an efficient use of my time. Again, I won't delete my account but simply will not direct new efforts to it.

So, as far as the Social Networking category goes, I will stick with blogging and Facebook. Come this mid January, I will have been writing this blog for 4 years. I enjoy it and it has been a longstanding effort which I want to continue! My Facebook Fan Page is a newer endeaver and is something that is also fun to do. In the few months I have been doing it there are now 119 folks who have 'liked' and follow the page and there also tends to be more comments there than here. So it seems worth the effort to continue!

I am going to continue my effort at coding a new website. Though that requires a heavy time commitment, I also think the 'payoff' of delivering my work to the world in a manner that I want is a big reward that merits the time spent.

Here is a real biggie that I have decided not to undertake....at least not for some time. Video and sound production. I know it's hot, but, frankly, it just isn't something that gets me particularly excited. I am intrigued by the ability of the still image to elicit an emotional response far more than the ability of video to do so. I am also a perfectionist and know that to learn how to do video production in a manner that I would be satisfied with would likely take up a huge amount of time (and ? money). So I am simply not going to pursue it.

One thing I would like to do is to try printing on canvas. It is easy for me to justify putting this off until the spring as it is cold here in the winter and I would want to coat the printed canvas outdoors (because of the chemical smell of the coating).

I would be interested to hear how other people have approached these issues and what conclusions they have come to.

Too Much - Part I

Brooks Jensen, in his podcasts, has frequently mentioned that this is one of the best times in history to be a photographer because of the many ways artists now have to get their work out into the world and because of the various imaging modalities and options that are now available. I agree with him. But, at times, I find myself wondering if the wide variety of options can become too much.....to the point where learning them or spending time with them can actually become a detriment to the art.

Let me be clear. I do not think the proliferation of options and modalities themselves are the problem. On the contrary, as Brooks suggests, these options open up opportunities that we have never had before. I think the problem, at least in my case, has become deciding what options to choose. Like a smorgasbord at a regal feast, eating everything can lead to.....well, you get the picture. I have finally reached the point where I think some choices may be in order.

Just to delineate what I am talking about, I would like to enumerate some of the choices that come to mind, and these are only the ones that come to my mind. I am sure there are others that I am missing.

PROCESSING AND PRINTING:

1) Lightroom/ Aperture etc
2) Photoshop or other image editing programs and their techniques
3) Plug Ins
4) HDR processing
5) Printing on paper
6) Printing on canvas, which necessitates learning how to coat and stretch/mount the prints
7) Standard Mounting and Framing

VIDEO
1) Learning To Shoot Video
2) Video Editing
3) Sound Management / Production

NON PRIMARY EDITING SOFTWARE

1) Adobe Acrobat (to make .pdf / e-books)
2) Dreamweaver (to construct your website)
3) Adobe InDesign to produce folios
4) Slideshow Production
5) ? Making Presentations i-Pad / Android Compatible

SOCIAL NETWORKING

1) Blogging
2) Newsletter Generation
3) Facebook Fan Pages
4) Twitter
5) Flickr

The choices can become overwhelming and time consuming. So what to do?

Continued in next post....

Abstract:Pure Light And Form

My recent post about abstract categories got me thinking about the fact that I don't usually make abstracts that fall into the "solely light and shape with no connection to reality" category. So, when I was photographing at Phipps Conservatory this weekend, I was determined to make one.

"Roots"
Copyright Howard Grill

What is it? Well, given the abstract category, it doesn't really matter in terms of viewing the photograph. But, if you are curious....there was a display of plants (I neglected to note what kind) with large and long roots hanging down from the ceiling. The image is of these hanging roots with the camera being moved up and down during the exposure.

Quick Quotes: Henry David Thoreau

"The question is not what you look at, but what you see."

Henry David Thoreau

Can a thought be any more apropos to photography than that?

Abstract Categories

I enjoy abstract photography, but what exactly makes a photograph abstract in nature? I find myself thinking about this from time to time.....like when I am keywording images in Lightroom and deciding whether to apply the abstract tag.

To me, there seems to be several types of abstract images:

1) Images that appear to consist solely of light and shape with no seeming connection to 'reality', so that the viewer has no ability to tell what the image is a 'picture of'. Here is an example I found on Flickr by photographer Stephen Tuck.

2) Images that consist of light and shape but do have a connection to 'reality'. An example of this would be this image I posted a few weeks back which utilized camera motion to make a grove of trees into an abstract. Though the photo clearly seems abstract to me, it is also pretty clear that trees are the subject.

3) Images that consist of concrete shape and form but, because of extreme magnification, the origin of that concrete shape and form remains obscure. An example of this would be a greater than 1x macro photograph of an insect's eye.

4) Finally, there is the type of abstract image that I like best, even if some might quibble with its being characterized as abstract. These are images where the object being photographed is not rendered uncertain by extreme magnification, but the image itself is not 'about' the object being photographed. An example of this would be my photo below entitled 'Buds'. While it is clear that the image is composed of plant buds, the image is really not about the buds at all but, rather, is about the repetitive shapes and forms they make.

"Buds"
Copyright Howard Grill

There are likely other types of abstracts as well, but these are the ones that come to my mind. If you can think of other categories, please feel free to share them in the comments section!