Sketchy
So I was just talking about redesigning my design site, and how it was probably going to be awhile before I really got started on it. But I started sketching, and then I was wire-framing, and… so yeah, I have some roughs. Note: please excuse the appallingly poor quality on that poster graphic, I just yanked it off of the web instead of finding an original file (it’s FPO!), also the brightly colored boxes will be thumbnails some day, when they grow up.
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When I get an idea for a project, I get really excited about it. Then I turn into a hermit and spend hours and hours plugging away at it. As always, feedback is welcome.
Riding the Rails
A few Saturdays ago, my folks invited us to take a train ride with them. There’s a company out of Cumberland that does a dinner/murder mystery trip to Frostburg.
We got there early, and poked around town a bit.
We also just picked up a new point and shoot. We’d been talking about getting something small (my ‘walk-around’ camera is a D40), and John discovered that we had enough National City/Whatever Our Bank Is Now points to get one. I filed it under ‘if it sucks, at least it’s free’ and thought I’d test it out this trip. As is usually the case, it does better outside than inside (although it does let me change the ISO manually, so that’s fun).
There was only one turntable, and no microphone.
John and I walked around Frostburg, instead of hanging at the station, which caused us to miss the ONLY CLUE THAT MATTERED. As such, we all guessed terribly and lose at murder mystery.
John’s wishing he won that commemorative champagne glass.
I ended up taking a good bit of photos (surprising, no?), and in case you’re interested, the camera we got is a Samsung SL50. Photos where I tried to use the flash were pretty bad – that last one of John is probably the best of that bunch. This is about what I expected. The shutter lag isn’t too noticeable, though, and I’m pretty happy about that. I haven’t fiddled with all the settings yet, but as point and shoots go, I imagine it’ll get the job done.
Smokestack
I used to have a job that required my getting up at 3:00 in the morning. I drove an hour to work, and had to pass this set of smokestacks every day. So in case you were curious, this is what they look like at around 4:30 a.m.
It’s weird, I remember taking this going to work, but it doesn’t look that early. Every once in a while, I find a roll of film laying around that didn’t get developed, and this was on one of them.
Website Remix
Fun fact: When I’m not taking photos of brides and awesome Judo instructors, I design things.
By day, I’m a “Multimedia Specialist”. Which basically means I’m doing the website, AV, photos, video, and anything else the hospital can skate in under that job title. I’ve been spending most of my time lately redesigning the website, which sorely needs it. They’ve had the same site for as long as they’ve had a website (so, some time in the mid-90s).
Guess who else has had the same website for a little too long?
Since I’ve been doing more photo than design work, freelance-wise, those sites have been getting all of my attention. But the design site needs some love, too. I wouldn’t take the time to do a redesign just for the sake of doing something different, though. So why the redesign?
While I don’t find it to be a terrible embarrassment or anything, I also don’t think it represents my web design – technically or aesthetically. I put the basic framework of it together in 2006, and while I’ve updated content since then, the layout hasn’t changed. It could be better.
It’s in Flash. And when I say it’s in Flash, I mean the whole site is one big .swf file. I’m not going to get into the many reasons why it shouldn’t be, let’s just say that I know more about web design now than I did then.
It’s cumbersome to update, and this is largely a function of it being done in Flash. It takes more effort than it really should for me to add new content, and updates get put off because of it.
I’m starting on sketches for this, but I always find it so much harder to design for myself than for anyone else. I’m actually writing up a creative brief for this, because I’m a huge nerd. Hoping that going through these steps, that are sort of automated in my brain when it comes to clients, will keep me on task for my own work.
It’ll be a long process, regardless. I’m working full time, doing wedding photography, stringing for City Paper and the Herald Standard, ice hockey, sleeping… well, maybe I can drop sleeping. At any rate, the project will be moving in a forwardish way. Journey of a thousand miles and all that.
For reference, the existing site is www.mooredesign.us. As always, I welcome feedback, encouragement, and questions on my sanity.
Between the Buried and Me
More lo-fi fun with the film project. We drove out to Peabody’s in Cleveland, which is one of my very favorite venues. Unfortunately, we got lost in the snow (I think this show was in January or February), and missed all of the opening acts. We made it just in time to see BTBaM, who we’d just seen in Pittsburgh a couple of months prior. Worth the 3 or so hour drive to see them again. Since the guest vocalist for “Swim to the Moon” was doubling as the sound guy, they went ahead and crowd-surfed him up to the stage to sing, and then back to the booth when he was done. Amazingly, this went well.
These are definitely not my favorite photos I’ve ever made, from a technical stand-point. But it’s been a fun project, and I kinda dig how some of them came out. Since we got there late, we were on the back wall. I found a kid sitting on a table there, and he was nice enough to share his spot.
Shooting with film is making me pickier about what I’m shooting digital. I’ve never been a spray n’ pray sort of photographer, but I am getting more deliberate. Fun stuff.
Gels
I took advantage of Molly napping, and played with some of my flash gels.
For reference, regular Molly.
Molly with some CTO
Molly losing patience with my shenanigans. Also, with a purple gel.
Thrice at Diesel
Some time last year, I decided to pick up some film and play around with my old Minolta 35mm. So when Thrice came to town last November, I figured I’d see if the nice folks at Diesel would let me take the camera in. As it turns out, they pretty much don’t care. I hadn’t been there since it’s been revamped (I want to say it was Nick’s Fat City before?).
They have the stage backlit with these huge screens, now.
This is actually the third time we’ve tried to see Thrice (we have only managed to see them Once). The first time they canceled, the second time we canceled. This time I saw the whole show standing on a 2 inch outcropping at the bottom of a post. Once I got up there, I couldn’t get back down, since the floor was so packed.
Since I went ahead and waited 8 months to get these developed and scanned in, I can’t remember much in the way of a set list. Except that they did “The Earth Will Shake”, which is one of the more awesome things I’ve heard live. And “The Weight”, which I was personally excited about. I think John’s vote for favorite went to “Daedalus.”
It was badass, is all you need to know.
This was also the first I’d ever heard of The Dear Hunter. A capella four part harmony? You have my attention.
Jimmy Cera
I got to meet up with Jimmy Cera at South Hills Judo Club. Got a quick lesson on martial arts, and a few cool photos.
One of his students was nice enough to step in for a few.
See more on Facebook and Flickr.
Altar Bar
City Paper also sent me up to Altar Bar in Pittsburgh to get some shots of the place (which resulted in the New York Dolls set). I’m surprised I haven’t ever been up to this place for a show, it’s a really cool venue. They gave me the VIP tour.
Wizard Bomb on stage
Many thanks to Nick and the staff there for letting me hang out.
Tiki Lounge
City Paper needed a few shots for their upcoming City Guide, so they sent me up to Tiki Lounge in Pittsburgh. It’s a pretty cool space, and it’s actually a lot bigger than you’d think walking in.
I know, I know
We’re on theme number, what, 4 here? The blog’s been having a bit of an identity crisis. This is primarily because I chose not to set up custom CSS for this blog (even though I have it on the main site). One of the big reasons I’d set up custom CSS in the first place was because most of the themes don’t allow for large photos (which is, you know, kind of my thing).
Then WordPress came out with this guy, and I’m all over it. There will likely be some fiddling with headers and whatnot in the next few weeks, but I’ll likely be sticking with this. Coming soon(ish), more ice hockey photos.
