On the winds of a Dreamweaver

Freelance work is sparing for me. Where I reside people seem to look for the cheapest or "barterable" (invented word) deals when it comes to hiring artists and there are more than enough people here working for free under the guise of "this will be good exposure for you". Well I don't subscribe to that philosophy. So, that being said, I try to accept every and all jobs offered.
I have been dabbling in web development for a while now but have no real training. I would love to be able to get into a classroom and learn more but alas have not found any down here, but like I said I try not to say no to a job. I have read that my createive style regarding websites is refered to as a "Designer" as opposed to a "Coder". So I start off with Photoshop creating the base template for all pages and finish off in Dreamweaver.

The past few months I have been working on two websites. Two charter boat companies in town hired me to create websites for them. Poledancer Charters & Conch West Inc (site name, sunsetsailkeywest.com). Each company wanted a unique look. Something that separated them from the myriad of water related businesses here in the Keys. I rolled up my sleves and dove right in and here are the results so far.

Poledancer Charters

 

Poledancer is a family run business. Jammie Ward and his son Kyle offer full and half day trips for fishing, beach combing, snorkeling as well as sunset trips. The site is still under development pending copy from the client. It consists of a static background under a scrollable body with custom logo on the right side of the page. Custom photography from SkyCrab Images as well as client snapshots are included. Some images have rollover attributes sometimes indicating a click-able link. An announcement will be made once the site is live.

Conch West Inc: Sunset Sail Key West

 

Sunsetsailkeywest.com is the site of Seth Salzmann & Cassie Castillo. They run a 42ft. Island Trader and offer full and half day trips for sailing, snorkeling, and sunset cruises. They also offer a 24 hour "Overnight Adventure"

Their site consists of a scrollable body over a custom made static background. Although their site is live right now there are pages that need to be updated. Coming soon is a filled out FAQ page and photography will be shot to showcase the boat and it's crew. A logo for the company is also under works and will replace the orange/yellow placemarker at the top left of the page.

S.C.I. Now rockin' the Canon 60D

Since 1984 I have been a Canon user, actually started with a Pentax K1000 in school but my ownership has been loyally Canon. I used and abused the Canon AE-1 Program for close to 20 years.

It got me thru high school. It got me thru college. It got me sporadically thru the Nineties and into the new millennium. I was slow to adopt the digital age and even reluctant at times. I was tempered in film and chemicals. Long story shortened I broke down and in the beginning of 2004 I bought a Canon D300.

 The Rebel was a nice camera to launch myself into the digital age but I soon realized that I would need something more professional. A year later I bought the 20D.

 The 20 D had been a favorite of mine thru out the years. Other models came soon after. The ill fated 30D (a mild evolution of the 20D.), 40D & 50D. Although the technology and styles were becoming superior to my 20D I stuck strong, mostly due to finances which in hind sight was a good thing. 6 years after my purchase of the 20D, while on a shoot, the mirror mechanism failed. After researching the repair cost I came to the conclusion that it was time to put it on the shelf next to my 35MM SLR hall of Fame.

Welcome.... The Canon 60D

I feel a bit premature writing this because I yet have to play with all of the functions yet but I feel safe saying that I will be hard pressed to find any flaws that are worth complaining about on a regular basis.

The camera was  lighter (755g) than the 20D (770g) that I had become accustomed to and I was now looking for SD cards as opposed to CF. Also the battery that the 60D takes is a Lithium-Ion LP-E6 (as opposed to the Lithium-Ion BP-511A) which is not a setback but I now have 3 back up batteries that need to replace.

 The huge display on the rear is IMAX compared to the tiny screen on the 20D (3.0" vs 1.8", around 70% larger) . The ISO has been booted up to 6400, and image resolution...18MPx as opposed to the 8.2 that the 20D had offered.
On top of that I now have the capability to shoot HD video. Now I am not saying that I am the best videographer out there. Not by a long shot. And it seems that as much as I wanted video cameras in the past I never could get out there and purchase one. I was always torn between price and which recording format to chose.  I had seen Digital8, MiniDV, DVD, Hard disk drive direct to disk recording, &  Flash memory . The high degree of the camera I chose becoming obsolete was enough to nix my spending. So I am very excited to try my hand in video.

Yes, coming into the new year with a new rig is going to be exciting. I've been scouring the web for DIY projects and processing techniques. Now the only thing left to do is save up for a new Mac that can handle my recent upgraded equipment, so do your part.... Hire me!!!

Happy New Year from
SkyCrab Images

Tags: The Good, The Bad, All Ugly

     When I was in high school and just starting to decide what I wanted to do with my photography as a career I would look thru magazines for inspiration from different photography careers. Rolling Stone, Playboy, National Geo., Circus, American Photographer, and the like. I'd thumb thru looking at composition, lighting, trying to understand darkroom techniques and figure out how and why an image made it to the pages of whatever publication was in my hand at the time. I always noticed the small print usually in the lower corners of each image by the border that would read  "photo by, Insert Photographer Name". I thought to myself, man, that is where I wanna be. Right there in small print on the corner of my image. That was the top of the hill. The summit of the mountain I was climbing. 

     Cut to twenty some odd years later and the digital age (I wont go into the discussion that we all have about the backside of digital photography and how many people who picked up a camera last week who now attach the title of Photographer to their Vista Print cards) what with Photoshop being the digital darkroom of choice there are so many options to creating an image the one prevalent theme is to slap ones name to every image produced. I will admit that if you go to some of my images online I am guilty of this as well but have not practiced it in some time. Personally, I find it to be one of the worst trends in the art form. I do not understand putting in hours of work to create an image just to muck it up with a bunch of text and a logo. And some of these logos, well lets just say that if I were a psychologist I am sure I could have a paper published on the direct relation to logo size and ego size.

     I know that this is probably not the most popular stance I have taken. I also know that I have friends in the industry who, if they are reading this now, are thinking, "Hey man, you're talking about me!".  Maybe, but  I am not writing this to criticize or down anyone's work or choices. I just think that there should be a better way. Perhaps thru metadata or EXIF .
     Yes we need recognition for our work. Yes we want credit for our work. I would just like to see it take another form so when we show our work we don't find it necessary to soil it with some sort of brand recognition. Ultimately what I want is for someone to see an image unclouded by Myriad Pro font and say, "I know that photographer. That's 'Insert Photographer's Name '." But until that time if you need to find me, I'll be  in the corner. By the border.

SkyCrab Images brings you, Mitch Hollingsworth, Artist

     Being in Key West, what was once a bohemian artist community that is now flooded with cheap lithographs, poster.com reprints, and framed crap that isn't fit for a Motel 6 wall, I truly value the artists in town who actually have a unique vision and style. Not all artists and galleries in town are geared for the banal mainstream status quo but there are a lot. One of the artists who rises to the top is, I am proud to say, a very good friend.

     Mitch Hollingsworth has been a resident artist in Key West since the mid nineties when he moved to the island from Illinois. In those years his ventures have been many. From selling the art created in his studio 'Chicken Shack Gallery' in Bahama Village, faux finishing some of the finest homes on Key West, Sunset Key, and Little Palm Island, to his most recent display which can be seen in the Milwaukee Art Museum's "Día de los Muertos" starting Sunday, October 23, 2011.  Mitch's medium is primarily oil on wood.

     Mitch recently returned from a 5 week hiatus in which he took time to see the "Día de los Muertos." display. After talking with other artists he realized he needed some web presence and called upon SkyCrab Images to do the job.  MitchHollingsworth.Com is the result.

     Mitch's website is a simple one. A standard front page with an adjoining flash gallery with 20 or so of his pieces. At this time there is a link for an info/bio/about page which will be up soon.