The Photographer’s Blog

After Much Messing About

Posted on by Kelsey Bacon

I ponied up for the site builder that I spoke of two days ago. So, I will at least have some help in coming up with a workable design of sorts. I don’t think the design I like best is great at photography presentation, I will try it out for now and use it till the photography sells itself. When it does, perhaps then I will use money made to afford a designer that can afford to better present my work.

For now, I have a few designs to choose from on the website, and I have the option for one more website as I did not pay for the service that would allow me to do 50 of them. It was too much extra, and I don’t really need that many more. I wish they offered an intermediary step between 3 and 50! Say, 10!

I have a gallery up that was on my local computer. It consists of images that are not mine as well as a couple that are. I will get some of my own in its place on the historical gallery after I get to my desktop computer. For now, those are just placeholders. I have not got a great portfolio of current work, which is just silly. I set this site up more than a year ago and have not really put myself to work. So that is to come as I get some work done.

I used the site builder to make my wife’s site a bit better today. I felt it was best I start with her site as I have volunteered to be responsible for it. I was not happy with the theme I had on it, so I changed it and got to work on customizing. I have one more site I can and will do. But that one needs to look more like a newspaper than either of the sites I have been working on today. Feel free to give them a loo!

antiquaryartisan.com

This is my wife’s artist-based website.

thepeasantsmanorfarm.com

And finally, we have my farm website about all things related to our little farmette. I have not started revising the site as of this blog posting.

Site Design Decisions

Posted on by Kelsey Bacon

It is nothing short of maddening to look through all the different themes available through WordPress and try to decide which will best suit a photography website long term and have all the features a person will want. For one, all of them have features that are nearly identical, or absolutely identical. So, if the differences are nuanced, what can a person do to assure they have absolutely the right theme? They can be used in free versions. But those versions only allow a shallow test of the features, and the ones that tend to be nuanced, also tend to be the ones that cannot be tested till the theme is paid for.

Then there is the issue of payment. Sure, kick out a payment that will require renewal in a year, or there are those themes that are one-off payments. I’d much rather pay the one-off. So I look at the payment for the one-off and it turns out that there are components that are required, or there are other themes available from the provider that can come in bulk, or there is licensing to use on other websites as well as this one. Then the one-off $29 payment for a theme turns out to be upwards of $250!

What do I really need for the site? I know a couple of the original WordPress themes and they are pretty good without add-ons, and they do the minimums of what I need. So that is what I am using now. This theme is called Twenty Twenty-Three. It’s giving me a clean, neat layout and I like that just fine. I don’t think it is a good one for the magazine-like layouts that I think could do better for one of the other sites I maintain.

So, we are going with this one for new. Besides being neat and clean, it is free. And since I already have to pay for hosting, I don’t really want to pay for design services that I can get by without.

A New Lease on Life

Posted on by Kelsey Bacon

I have fought with joint pain for years, and it has inhibited my work. Recently the doctor assigned me a diet that was intended for weight management, but also eliminated all my joint pain. It is a wonderful coincidence, and I am fully ready to take advantage of it! When I got started with this website a year ago, it turned out I was putting too much on the table. So, I will be getting at it now and rolling up some photos before long. It’s time to put my camera to work, and to get creative again! I’ll come back in a few days and get some of my historical work posted in the meantime.

Arrived a Day Late

Posted on by Kelsey Bacon

The camera arrived a day later than expected, but that’s okay. I had the time yesterday to help my ten year old do research in the public library on cone snails. It was an interstind adventure to try to find the subject matter in a small, far inland library. The Dewey Decimal System in the hands of the librarian produced no books on the matter, however it is a matter of pride on my part that we stuck it out and found a little bit of helpful information in books adjacent to the gap where our subject matter should have been found. We learned a little magic that day, I tell you!

The camera arrived after the estimated delivery window, which was a little disappointing. But worse, when I opened all the boxes, one of the lenses I was sent was not even new. The 24-70mm had dust on the lens, which I thought was maybe a lack of quality control on Nikon’s part. But when I turned the telephoto, it was very rough, and felt like something inside was broken. I’ll be calling to complain about that later today when they open. I also took the suggested filters without verifying the size, and now have two flliters that do not fit that lens, so I will be returning them as well. The dealer has always been good for us, so I will go through the process of letting them make it right, which I am confident they will do.

So far, it seems good, otherwise. I especially love the 14-24mm lens! I may get out and shoot some birds down by the water with the 70-200mm later today, or tomorrow. I shot some stars before bed, and during first wake-up. The WiFi does not seem to work well or connect to SnapBridge at all. That is not a surprise, or really an issue. Easy to work around. The only thing I have any real concerns about is the weight. Camera plus lens, and the thing is heavy as can be! Especially on this arthritic old body. I am glad I picked up a small bag for the walks. I think there may be some one or two lens strolls in my future. Experience will tell which lenses for sure.

The big bag does indeed hold both of my cameras. There we go with the weight again! It is not a bag for me to carry! And on second thought, I kid of wish I did get the bag with the wheels on it. But if I stick to using it to hold everything and to pack it to the truck and back, I think it will be usefull.

Whatever the case, this is not a rig for the faint of heart. I love that with the 14mm I can stand about three feet from a door and fit it in frame. That kind of focal lenght, I have found, is excellent for capruting clouds that streak high across the sky and somehow always seem to provide leading lines in one direction or another. They prove useful more often than not. The face of the lens on that 14 is so bulbous though that it cannot hold a filter in front of it, so I am forced into my worse feared situation; an unprotected lens! Always an unhappy thing!

So there are some first thoughts about the camera on its arrival. A more important phase is to be using it. That is semi paused for the lack of a main lens, till I can get it replaced. I hope that is by early next week. Meanwhile, we have a new (to us) loom to try to pick up from a seller, and put into our house. I think when we get it in, getting a shot of it in situ is totally complimentary to the 14-24mm. The loom is huge.

Welcome to My Photography Site

Posted on by mr.kelsey.bacon

Monday, April 24th, 2023

Today I started a new website to host some samples of my photos and to serve as a point of contact for me, should you wish to hire out some work. I am getting back into photography after a strategic pause and ordered a new camera to get a full restart. That shows up tomorrow. When it does, I’ll get to work on building a new portfolio, though I may put up some of my old photos to help showcase some of my previous work. Everything about this site is new, except me. But I am going to be looking fresh at photography and building my new portfolio from the ground up. Check back here for notes on my work as I go, and for my portfolios and other posts linked from the main page as they come to exist. Thanks for checking out my site, and for your interest in my photographic work!