PHOTOBLOG - BACK ON TRACK!

I've been absent from the blogging scene .. again .. for a while. There always seems to be something else going on ... as you will have seen from the last couple of holding posts I've been working on redeveloping my photography website which is now pretty much complete.

That comes as a sigh of relief as it was starting to take over from the job it was supposed to do which is to act as a shop window for my photographs.

I haven't stopped taking photographs while I haven't been blogging, I just haven't had time to package them up and show them.

It's with great pleasure that I present to you the following which was a quick grab with my camera phone. I think it has great atmosphere demonstrates just what a lovely winters evening it was.

I look forward to getting back on track with the blog, the photographs and of course twitter #photochat .

OPEN FOR BUSINESS - THANKYOU AND WELCOME!

I've written over the last few weeks about how I've been working on reauthoring the website and I'm pleased to announce that it's pretty much there - HURRAH!

There will be one or two more tweaks to the galleries and content and there are few new features, events and  shoots in the pipeline but I'm pleased to announce that we're open for business.

My grateful thanks to those who have helped me along the way. During this process I've learned the value of asking for and taking on board independent  feedback, no matter how much you might disagree with it sometimes, and I hope you agree with me that the site is much better for it.

Please have a look around the site and see what's on offer.  I hope you'll take in the galleries and enjoy some of the images while you're there.


So ... to all who helped me - thank you! and to all my visitors past, present and future thank you and welcome!

NEW IMAGES, NEW SHOOTS

As fast as I make improvements to the layout of the Kevin Leighton Photography website my trusted band of advisers give me more to do.

I've read time and time again that it's the reader that should dictate the content, services, layout, etc offered by a website or blog but this is the first time I've managed to put the theory into action.

Every time I think I've got it about right I sit back, smile and say .. 'OK so what about that' to which the response is .. 'well you could do this and you should really do that' ... which in times past I would have found  annoying to say the least but now I'm taking it all on board, and if I say so myself, it's really starting to come together.

New images from the The George At Backwell Summer Garden Party have been uploaded, copy is in draft for my services page and I'm in contact with two bands about the possibility of doing some shoots with them.

It's all coming together .. more soon ..

Refreshed Homepage Slideshow

As the next step in refreshing this website I decided to really try to understand how the slideshow on the homepage works and is implemented. It's not a simple thing to get working properly but I got there in the end and I think the final result from the changes I made is much cleaner.

Gone is the awkward border that didn't dynamically change to adhere to the size of the images and image sizing is now understood and under control. There are new pictures in the slideshow and in time I'll be expanding the breadth of images available.

What's important is to show images that you enjoy seeing and are relevant so in the weeks to come I'll be asking you help to select those which you enjoy seeing the most and I'll add them into the slideshow with a link to the website of one of the participants.

More soon .....

Site Under Reconstruction

I've been posting to my blog for over a year now and my website has been up and running for about 9 months.  What I've noticed in that time is that nothing stays the same. Life, the universe and everything continues to evolve around you and the internet and your visitors expectations are no different.

In the world of web design, content and blogging I think it's important to remember to step back, to take advice and make sure that your design and content is still relevant. You have to remember you're not just designing and writing for yourself. It's the visitors and readers .. your customers, or potential customers .. that you need to bear in mind so I've taken the decision to refresh my pro photography site, to make it simpler and easier to navigate and for you to find photo galleries relevant to your visit.

During this time content may appear or disappear and pages or information may randomly move so I hope you'll bear with me while this process takes place.

For now I believe I have the design I like but let me know what you think via Twitter, send me an email or leave a comment at the bottom of the page.

Galleries have been temporarily removed and content needs to be refreshed but I'm getting there and I'll keep you up-to-date with progress.

I hope you're all having a great January. Back with you again soon.

TIME .........

Skies Over Bristol

Sometimes time just seems to run away. I've been really excited with the idea of participating in the Twitter #photochat on the 14th being run by Darcy & Kent, started a new Blipfoto series, been taking pictures and blogging.. and then there's Christmas .. how will I fit it all in?

A new endeavour I've started on since my last photo blog entry is a 30+ Blipfoto endeavour. Partly inspired by an idea I had a couple of months ago about wanting to track 'a month in the life of' and partly inspired by my Twitter contact @leena_photo who has set out on a marathon 365 on her Facebook page (yes, a photo a day for a year)!

I hope you'll stop by and enjoy both our sites.

I wanted to share these colourful images with you - in my home city of Bristol this summer there was a street art festival called #seenoevil. Various street art took over the sides of many of the buildings in Nelson Street and gave them a once in a life-time makeover.

These are just a small example of what they managed to achieve. 

TWITTER #photochat WEDS 14TH DEC

Two amazingly talented photographers, bloggers and Twitter contacts in the U.S. have been running 1 hour #photochat sessions in North America to bring together photographers of all standards to answer questions, give advice and swap ideas.








Darcy & Kent have agreed to run a session at a time that fits in with the U.K. & Europe so that a new audience can benefit for their expertise.


If you’re on Twitter (and if you’re not yet you ought to be) then we’d love you to join us at 9pm GMT (21:00 CET) on Weds 14th December to participate from this side of ‘the pond’ using the hashtag #photochat. 


For more information on how to participate Kent (@kw_daddio) has a great reference on his site at http://kentweakley.com. 


Darcy (@my3boybarians ) says on her site at http://my3boybarians.com/

Also, next week is the twitter photography #photochat. We’re trying something new this time! By request of our friends across the pond. (I love saying across the pond, as if it’s nearby. The internet does make the world seem more accessible.) Anyway – our friends in Europe are always sleeping during the usual #photochat time, so we’re having an afternoon in the US / evening in the UK and Europe time that will allow more people to attend. Several amazingly talented photographers from England, Ireland and Italy have said they’ll be there. Hope you will too!

Twitter: @kevleighton