New Blog Layout!
If you haven’t noticed, I have a brand new blog layout! I wanted to create a two column site with a simple design that focused on the images rather than the design around them. My previous layout and design were great while they lasted, but there were a lot of things I didn’t like about it for my style of blogging. The biggest issue was that it was only one column. If you wanted to look at a review I did on a piece of software a while back there was no easy way to get to it. You could choose the categories drop down menu and find reviews but I have a LOT of categories and the only way to get to the menu was from the top of the screen. What if you scrolled down towards the bottom? There was also no easy way to organize the most popular links of the site into one place. The new layout fixes all of that. There are a couple main issues that a certain percentage of people will have with the new layout. One is that since I added a column to the left, the blog is a bit on the wide side. 1250 pixels wide to be exact. According to my google analytics, this means that 33.5% of my viewers will have to do a little bit of scrolling from left to right if they want to navigate the side bar. While this is a concern, I know that the vast majority of you will be able to view this beautifully. You’ll be able to see ginormous images that fill most of the screen (just as images were intended to be viewed), as well as navigate the site to find reviews of products, popular links, and older posts. Another issue will be the image size itself. The images are BIG, 900 pixels across, but this is a photography blog. It’s about the images. Why would I want to have teeny little images that don’t showcase the details of my images? I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on the new design; good or bad.
Upcoming Additions to the Blog
If you look to the right you’ll see a section called “Reviews.” Then you’ll notice that currently that section is looking a little empty. Over the next few months I plan on adding a lot more reviews to the site for people interested in the gear I use. I will only do reviews of gear that I use on a regular basis and gear that stays in my camera bag wherever I go. I will make these reviews as in depth as possible and include both technical and layman’s term language. Some people care about specs and jargon, others just want to know if it works and how.
I am also going to be having guest bloggers stop by every now and again. I think this is a great way to showcase other creative artists around the area, around the country, and even the world. While the majority of these guest bloggers will be other photographers, I plan on also including artists of all type. This may include musicians, painters, graphic designers, or any other creative thinker that inspires me. I have a lot of interesting and exciting things in the pipeline so stay tuned and stay connected. Leave some comments and let me know your thoughts!
Brista and Jonathan | Denton Lifestyle Photography
And now some images! I met Jonathan at a wedding back in December. I wasn’t shooting the wedding, I was in the wedding party for my good friend Chris Burrus. Jonathan was too. We all got to hang out for a few days between the bachelor party, rehearsal, and wedding day so we all kind of became friends in the process! So needless to say, I was thrilled when he asked me to do a session for him and his wife, Brista. I had heard about this new place in Denton called the Angry Friar: A double decker bus from England that drives around Denton serving fresh fish ‘n chips in rolled up newspaper. We headed to Denton and Brista and Jonathan went on a fish ‘n chips date while my wife Kristin and I stayed back and took pictures the entire night. Here are some of my favorites from the session.
