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.

Less is more (or how I put all my eggs in one basket)

Ive been trying to update the webpage for a couple of weeks now and every time I do I seem to end up with no update and a fist full of hair. I believe it is because I am looking to others sites and trying to reverse engineer their style. Recently I have come to the conclusion that I am working harder and not smarter. Today I am uploading, (as I type) the revamped SkyCrab Images site. 

The site is now an all inclusive one page link fest to flash galleries for photography, graphic designs, social networking sites and contact information. All things concerning S.C.I is found in one place. no need for complex navigation, Kid. Less is more.

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Also, today, we have created a new gallery for Mitch Hollingsworth.com . The new gallery is  CSS based  and allows his paintings to be displayed properly as well as their titles and dimensions. This gallery has not yet been uploaded but should be viewable by the end of the day or early in the A.M.