I'm trying to catch up on flickr mail now. I had 108 unread messages, mostly contact adds, and it's taking me some time to go through them.
I realize now that I need to look through these once a day if I can't get to them immediately. Otherwise, I'm going to spend hours, looking at the contact's profile, then their photostream and then send emails and comment and favorite photos and wander down photographic trails that will most definitely be interesting, but will be tangential to everything I SHOULD be doing. I love looking at other people's work, though. My god.
The discovery of the night last night has been this photographer. I left the page open and haven't gone through it yet, because I want to work through everything else. But just the opening images on their front page? Beautiful, beautiful work! I can't wait to go through the whole stream. Here: Harizama_Art.
In other community involvement news, I went on facebook yesterday. I added a friend. Wait, no, two friends! And I scanned stuff. And I sent an email. And I'm opening up netvibes more often now so I can keep up with all of my news feeds, although, I still haven't set it as my homepage only because it takes forever to load all the feeds and I have a very short attention span. I just need to be better about keeping in touch with what's going on with others.
I AM getting better, though. I guess a lot has just changed that's made it more difficult to focus on everything. I feel as though I've been juggling a lot. But I think I'm finally falling into a groove. Kind of. Maybe not.
Maybe I'm just pleased with myself for going through my flickrmail finally and maybe I won't even read through it all. And then there'll be another one of these posts in six weeks saying that, "Hey, I'm getting organizized!" In fact, it's most likely that it's going to work out like that. But for now, I'm being pretty good. 
Scott on
05/12 08:40am
Leave a comment
I've recently had a rather large argument over email with a friend. He would like to now end our friendship. I think it's kind of sad, but if that's the case, then that's the way it should be.
In my life, I know a variety of people. And I keep in touch with people from my past to a degree. This was a guy I knew in boarding school who also spent at least a few years of his life in Saudi.
The people in my life... each of them bring something different to me. And hopefully, I bring something to them. I like to think of the relationship that I have with anyone in my life as being mutually pleasing.
If it isn't mutually pleasing, if one person isn't getting out of that relationship what they want or they feel it is lacking in some regard, then that person probably is unhappy in the relationship.
It seems really simple and basic when I type it.
Here's the thing with this particular friendship now being discarded. From early on, we've had very different ideas about things, or maybe just different ways we approach life. And I'm not a person that enjoys negativity. I like a healthy debate, though.
This fellow and I, despite our fundamental differences, have managed to keep a friendship because we both find each other to be funny. His humor isn't always understood (or it hasn't been on this site), at least, and so there have been a couple of times when I've deleted his comments.
Anyway, none of that matters. I guess I'm just a little bummed that he's chosen to end our shallow friendship. Because it was really never anything more than that. I liked him.
As for the rest of you, let me spread some Sunday morning love:
I like my friends who run blogs. Most of us have very surfacy relationships, but I really like everything I know about you, and I would probably enjoy knowing you more. I consider you friends. The brunch? The little get-togethers? I have sooo enjoyed these times with you people. And I've thoroughly enjoyed our email exchanges, even when they're brief. And I like when we talk about making plans, because I feel like there's some mutual interest on both of our parts to have or develop to a greater extent our friendship. I like you people. Individually. And it's a nice collection. There are some really nice people in the SoFla blogosphere and I feel lucky that I've gotten to know some of you and become friends with you. It's been a pleasure.
I like my friends that have been models. Some of you I know better than others, but I've really enjoyed getting to know you and hope that we can get to know each other better. You're just fun.
I like my friend/manager. He's a good guy. He's a great guy. A guy who I have so much care for and so much respect for.
This post is getting awfully lame.
But he and I have had our arguments over the years, but we still provide a nice balance to each other's lives. I could actually write an entire page about what he means to me and how he's made a difference in my life. Maybe even two pages. Probably a thousand word essay. But he's just been an amazing friend on every possible level. Anyway, I'm boring you now...
I like the people who I've dated where we've kept a friendship. And here, I'm talking to NonPsychoEx. Because the rest of them pretty much go by the name PsychoEx. No, not really, and it bums me out to a degree that I've lost friendships with other exes, but that's ok. Those relationships ran their course, I suppose. But here's lookin' at you, kid!
I like my friends that are neighbors. They've been great. They're just fun.
I like some of the people who have reached out to me on flickr. I've "met" some nice people and it's just really nice to find people with a similar passion and be able to talk to them and get excited about that passion together.
And lastly, I like me. I'm a friend to myself. Mostly. I am somewhat self-destructive, but I really do like me and I'm going to try to be a better friend. Although, at this point, it might be too late.
So, dear friends, I would like to thank you for all that you have meant to me. I hope that our friendships grow. Or, if they don't, that we recognize what we are to each other and accept that reality and enjoy what we have.
Scott on
05/11 07:08am
3 comments ·
Leave a comment
I've kind of been holding some information back from the general public. REAAAAALLY earth-shattering things, too!
No, not really earth-shattering. The first thing I should tell you, for those of you who don't know: my last name is Branch. I really don't care if you know, but I just wasn't planning on making it public. But then a lot of things happened that would point to my name. (Thanks a bunch, Alex! No, I kid, I don't mind. Not you, Cabrera. The other Alex I know.)
Part of the reason I bring it up is that an article of mine was just published on Miami Beach USA about the models I shoot entitled "South Beach Girls". In it, it uses my last name. So there you have it.
Here's the link to the article.
But something else I've been kind of keeping on the down-low was some of the details on a couple of the models. And I was doing so because I kinda wanted to wait for the right time. That time is now. Again, nothing earth-shattering, but some of it might be surprising to some of you. I don't know. It's all in the article, though. I'm not telling here.
Seems like there was something else... what was it?
Oh. OH!!!! The patron system is in place. More info about becoming a patron to ipanemic.com is found on the patron page here.
I'll build some fancy links for the main page and stuff. But it's functional now. I'll be updating the patron galleries tonight with it's first update!!!
Scott on
05/10 06:47pm
4 comments ·
Leave a comment
I pass out dead-tired last night around 10pm. Maybe a little after 10. I sleep pretty well, only tossing a little, thinking I should get up, either because I'm missing the night or the sun is rising.
At 5:30am, neither of those things is going on. Although, it's an interesting time here. I've been out before at this time with my camera. People waiting on buses, people coming back from clubs, the street workers working, and the homeless shuffling around a little.
It's a weird hour. Quiet, though.
I had stuff I meant to do last night before I fell asleep last night and so I guess I'll do it now. I really need to get up to SC and clear out my house. I don't know when I'm going to do that. This week would probably be the best time to go and then have a garage sale next weekend. Talked to one of my neighbors about having an estate sale, but I don't have enough furniture; it's all here, with the exception of a large dresser.
I can't think about that now. I need to focus. I've only got a few good hours of that left today.
Scott on
05/10 05:38am
Leave a comment
When I wake up in the mornings, I have a routine. It runs as follows:
- Make cafe con leche unless I really need a drink right that moment in which case it's chocolate milk.
- Find cigarettes.
- Grab laptop, cigarettes, and beverage and head out to patio.
- Survey what email came in from the night. There's the LOLcats from icanhascheezburger. Read that. There are the 5 to 20 emails from flickr. Scan those. Note my junk email and any personal emails.
- Think about my day.
It's a pretty easy routine. I'm a little behind this morning, though, because I'm drinking chocolate milk first before having made the cafe con leche.
Hold on a minute, let me do that now...
Ok, it's brewing. I'll have to leave again in a minute to froth the milk.
So where was I going with this? Right. The routine and waking up...
I like it when people come and visit and play with me, either here or on flickr. I like that. The only thing I'm not crazy about is waking up to read a bunch of negative stuff.
It was nice waking up this morning to Sam's comments. (Hi Sam.) I'm glad that we cleared that up and I still think I was a little harsh, but I'm glad that we got things straight.
But after that, I see a couple of exchanges between the peoples in comments. It's too early in my morning for controversy. 6pm is too early in my day for controversy.
My manager advises that I delete them. So I'm going to do that.
This just isn't the place of animosity.
Speaking of my manager, someone asked me recently if he was real or just an alter ego I had created. My response to this is, "Yes."
I have to delete comments now. Thank you, manager, for your advice.
Scott on
05/09 07:44am
3 comments ·
Leave a comment
What do you do when you decide to work together with an organization (a small-staffed organization) on a project and you're in charge of hiring the talent? Wait, there's more detail, that's not really the question...
So you run the ad, and lo and behold, you get a good-sized number of people that want to take part in this project. So then you contact the person who you were planning this project with and they make themselves completely unavailable, avoid your calls, and all emails, even the ones directly from their site, yet THEY'RE ACTIVE ON THEIR SOCIAL NETWORKS, FROLICKING AROUND IN PLAIN VIEW?
Of course, hopefully, this is just a huge misunderstanding and they'll soon contact me and we can sort out the next step.
As it stands, my name is the only name out there. In other words, my name, my reputation, my credibility is on the line.
If it isn't resolved, I have a backup plan. However, I'm certainly open to suggestions.
Scott on
05/08 08:11pm
1 comments ·
Leave a comment
Help, I have done it again,
I have been here many times before,
Hurt myself again today,
And, the worst part is there's no-one else to blame.
Be my friend,
Hold me, wrap me up,
Unfold me,
I am small,
And needy,
Warm me up,
And breathe me.
Ouch I have lost myself again,
Lost myself and I am nowhere to be found,
Yeah I think that I might break,
Lost myself again and I feel unsafe.
Be my friend,
Hold me, wrap me up,
Unfold me,
I am small,
And needy,
Warm me up,
And breathe me.
Be my friend,
Hold me, wrap me up,
Unfold me,
I am small,
And needy,
Warm me up,
And breathe me.
-Breathe Me by Sia
Damn, if I don't love the hell out of this song. When the drums come in at the end... Brilliant! I might be listening to a remix. I'm not sure. The iPod is across the room and my eyesight is horrible.
I just have to note this. We're done here. You can go on to whatever it was you were doing now.
Scott on
05/08 07:00pm
1 comments ·
Leave a comment
Listen, late last night,
I heard the screen door swing,
And a big yellow taxi,
Took my girl away.
Now don't it always seem to go,
That you don't know what you got,
Til it's gone?
They paved paradise and
Put up a parking lot.
I really just don't have anything to say. I'm too hungry to think. But this song keeps playing.
I'm really very hungry. I had a muffin. An English one. Following that, I realized I needed jelly. So I went and got some. It's squeezable. Well, the container is squeezable. The jelly is, too, but that leaves your hands all gooey and crap.
I need another muffin.
Listen, late last night I heard the screen door slam....
Muffin or listen to this song over and over? Maybe both. Right now, they're both feeling pretty good.
Where's Kristin? She said she was coming over. I gotta fix a muffin before she gets here or she's going to want one, too. And I only have two left. Which would mean a trip to the store later when I'm craving another muffin.
Sorry, Kristin, muffins are all mine tonight.
Scott on
05/08 06:33pm
Leave a comment
So I spend a week tossing and turning this over in my head. Yvette wants to go dark with me. I'm not sure if I can do it, or how to do it. And then it hits me. I know exactly where to shoot her: the Holocaust Memorial on South Beach.
But I don't want to bring out any real elements of the memorial. The memorial isn't to be the focus; dark imagery is what this is about. So I think that there is enough eeriness around the memorial to produce something dark.
I walk around the area the day before, now sold on the idea, and it's perfect. Right beside it, the river runs. Shallow, algaed walls, with trees and vines and limbs all over on the bank beside it. Murky water.
Yvette in a wedding dress, or crinolyn (the skirt under the wedding dress). I can see it.
And I can picture the look on Yvette. And I can picture what I'll do in post to really get the darkness.
Yvette comes over, we head to the memorial. (Hi Yvette. You are da bomb diggetay. 
) We start shooting. And then.... BAM! That's it. She's got the expression on her face. I've got the one shot that's going to do it.
We stop shooting so I can show her on the camera. Yvette starts dying laughing. She looks like the complete undead. And this is where we realize that we both had different ideas.
"No, we want to go dark AND beautiful," she says.
"OOOOOOOOOOH!"
From that point forward, there is less dark, more beautiful. I think it's possible to take the photos we shot and make them dark in post-processing, but there's too much beauty in them. I think I lost the darkness.
They all came out really, really, really beautifully. And Yvette? You know how you liked them on the TV? They look 10x better on the computer screen.
So just a note... if anyone wants to shoot dark with me... I might be able to do it, but it's probably going to come out more beautiful than dark.
Update: I should clarify... Yvette and I did NOT shoot at the memorial, but on the riverbank beside it. I saw dark imagery there in my head and could envision the shoot. If I offended anyone, it was certainly unintentional, and it is a misunderstanding.
As I said, the shoot was about dark imagery. I wasn't looking to highlight the memorial or say anything of it. That isn't what I was going to do or set out to do, neither in this post nor in the shoot. I was going to do a shoot, and I was looking to bring out darkness. As it happened, I saw it in my eye on the riverbank beside the memorial, a coincidence that it sits beside the memorial.
This post, nor the shoot, had anything to do with the Holocaust or my views on it, which, more than likely, if you've taken offense, then we have similar viewpoints. Before you leave a comment that's vulgar, please consider emailing me first. Because otherwise, I'll probably just delete it.
Scott on
05/08 07:45am
1 comments ·
Leave a comment
"I'm fucked up with a side of fucked up."
These are the words
Mitchell Chonin said to me tonight. After a sleepless night and a long day, I run into Mitch.
I was on the phone with a friend when I saw him coming up the plaza on Lincoln Road. I knew engaging him would be a long conversation and I was already engaged in a conversation.
I noticed he looked tired. I walked on, and had a pleasant conversation. Actually, I had two pleasant conversations. I walked all over as I talked. When I left Mitch, he was sitting. When I returned, he was sitting.
I went up to speak to him. Mitch needs help. He really needs help.
I don't know what I am to him. I don't know what I am to anyone. I tell him I'm a friend and I care about him. He asks me if my name is Jeff.
He had a stroke a while back. He didn't know it.
You know Mitchell. I know Mitchell. But maybe he doesn't know me at all. And if you've met him and had long conversations with him, he may not know you at all. I thought I had a good feeling for Mitchell, but he's in a wholly different place. I don't know any longer what's real with him.
But I know this: He's expecting a miracle by Saturday morning. His liver is completely screwed apparently. He told me he was taking Milk Thistle. Mitch told me that if the miracle didn't come by Saturday morning, that I could expect for him, on Saturday night, to be leaping in front of an 18-Wheeler going southbound at 90 miles an hour on I-95. This is what Mitchell told me.
Mitch tells me he's mentally fine and physically fine, but financially he's screwed. Then he tells me his liver is two and half times as big as it's supposed to be.
Then he says that it doesn't matter what I want from him, it's what JC wants from him.
The entire time we're talking, I notice a new element to Mitch: he has a twitch now. With his nose. At first, I thought he had an itch. (And I'm reallllly not trying to use words that end in "itch" here, it's just working out that way.)
But he kept doing it. And doing it.
He pointed to his leg where the stroke apparently hit. Said it travelled up to his liver. But who knows what's happened in his life. All I know is this:
There sits a man on Lincoln Road that has become part of this town. And this man is not well. I couldn't tell you if he was physically ill, mentally ill, or not ill at all.
But Disco Mitch wasn't dancing. And he looks beaten down. He told me his doctor said he couldn't dance for three weeks. But he says he has to eat. So there he is.
He tells me he can't dance for hours straight for the next three weeks. Only if someone requests it will he dance. And so my question is this...
Who the HELL is going to ask Disco Mitch to dance? Who?!
The tourists here don't know what the hell he's doing. To them, he's just a freak in 70s clothes listening to music out of a boombox, and "Look at those hideous platform shoes, dear!"
I gave him $5. He knows me as Jeff. I've only lived here 8 months and only "known" Mitch a few months. Something just feels really, really off.
Maybe I'm an idiot. But when I get home from being out of this house, the first thing I do is read my email. I didn't do that. I wrote this instead. This just doesn't look pretty and it doesn't feel right.
And I don't want to see anyone suffer. And whatever is going on with him, mental... physical... or nothing at all.... it CAN'T be nothing. Mitch is depressed. And he's suicidal. And he's financially screwed.
I just don't like to see anyone in this kind of shape. At one point, he told me his 48th birthday was coming up. Later, he said he was coming up on his 56th.
Something is just waaay off. To me? It seems he needs help. I don't know what kind of help. Maybe he's delusional. Maybe he's sick. I have no clue any longer about what reality Mitch is living in. I thought I knew for a long time.
But I'm not the person to help Mitch. I hope somebody will help him. I really hope someone can and will reach out and help him. I really don't like this.
Scott on
05/06 08:04pm
Leave a comment
So it's the 6th today. The perfect day to get my sticker renewed 5 days late. I realize I need a bill to take down to the office. I go to print my cell bill.
And what the hell is this!?!?!
What madness is this that, in addition to my 803 (SC area code) cell number, that I have a 336 cell number? I don't even know what the hell area code that is?!
But forget that! 4.6 MILLION minutes of messages or jigawatts or something!
Aw hell no! (For all of you sitting in the back, my left index finger is pointing up in the air, while the hand sways forcefully from side to side; my right hand firmly planted on my hip as my head moves in a similar, yet separate, side to side motion. You'll want to avoid eye contact in this situation, because otherwise, you're entering a world of pain!! A world of pain!)
So... just a tad cheesed, I call AT&T. Girl from Ipanema playing. I can't help but sing along.
....
Doo be doo be doo be-doo be-doo,
Long and tall....
......
Cue sounds of me pushing buttons. Enough buttons that I could've ordered Chinese takeout from an automated service. Directly from China.
...
She sways so softly,
Doo be doo be doo be-doo be-doo,
....
SHIT! Shit, shit! She's answered the phone at the exact moment I realized I'm an idiot. Well, we might as well go through with this.
"Yeah, I'm sorry. I just figured this out. I was confused about my bill, trying to figure out where this other cell number was coming from and I just realized it's my aircard."
"Yes sir."
.....
Long silence.
.....
"So, um..... I guess that's it. I needed a bill in my name at this address and just saw that and it threw me off. But I figured it out.."
.....
Long silence.
.....
"Is there anything else I can help you with?"
"No, I'm good thanks."
"Thank you for using AT&T..." and it trails off into whatever.
I swear I hate being a complete space cadet sometime. I'm going to get my parking sticker now.
UPDATE, 20 minutes later: I can't take care of this now. I was searching for my vehicle registration for 20 minutes before finally finding it. But I HAVE to walk the beast. She's really overdue. I thought I could get the permit and be back by 3pm.
Oh. I found some MAXalicious Glitz Lip Gloss in my car between the seats. Don't know whose it is, but if you're missing some, I've got it.
I need sleep. On the plus side, my mind was able to conceive of darkness during this whole parking permit fiasco. I need to do some inspecting. Later. Right after I go to get my parking permit. (Just so you know, we're doing implied nudes with you covered in visitor parking passes. With tire tracks across you. No, I kid. That's just silly.)
Scott on
05/06 01:52pm
3 comments ·
Leave a comment
I was feeling very let down up until about twenty minutes ago when my manager called. He and his wife had a baby on Friday. That was three days ago. THREE days ago. Not really sure why it's taken him this long to get back to managing me.
And good grief, do I need it. I'm at a bit of loss right now, as he had to get off the phone and tend to the baby or something, but he's given me some rock solid advice for now. While he's away, I'll make my list.
- Contemplate signing contract, but don't. Not yet. Think about it. The non-compete clause is very limiting.
- Finish articles
- Implement patronage system
Decline girl's offer
- Send in samples that you were supposed to send in three months ago
- What else?
- I know there was something. He needs to call me back.
I guess I'll do some of that while I wait.
I walked Ginji today. I walk her during the week. I was pondering that on Friday as I sat on the bench with pug chasing the tennis ball. "Hm. So, this is my life now. Hm. Go get the ball, Ginji!"
I like Ginji. Not the poo so much. But Ginji is cool.
I need to peel down the rest of the border in the bedroom, too. But that's not on the list. But I haven't told my manager about it. He might make me put it on the list. It's important. It looks like crap. And I shoot in there. It showed up in some of the shots with Britney and Madison. Although, I could probably crop it out in most photos. I should probably do at least one wall today.
He's forgotten about me. He's not going to call back.
Oh, too. I'm also backed up on flickr contact adds. I've got 78 notifications in the past two weeks of people adding me as a contact. It's going to take me three hours just to go through those, look at their portfolios/favorites/send emails. Damnit man, where are you?
Scott on
05/05 04:35pm
1 comments ·
Leave a comment
"You can go dark," she says. "I know you can."
For days, I turn that statement over in my head. I ponder whether I really can. I question whether I can bring that out to the camera. And to her.
I stand in the shower this morning, pondering it. There's a lizard on the nozzle. Remember to stop leaving bathroom window open at night.
I sit on my patio later, coffee in one hand, cigarette in the other, and I am tossing the statement around in my head. Dark. Dark. I hear my neighbor, strung out from the night before and into today, laughing at loudly-playing cartoons. How's it going to end for him?
After lunch, I leave for the beach and still I ponder. The beautiful people are everywhere. "The body" is there. The eyes watching the body are there as she slithers into and out of the water. Jet skis. Shallow waters. Scores of people in thongs, and bikinis, and swim trunks dot the beach and fill the ocean.
My mind wanders. And then it hits me: I realize that I won't, in fact, die from a long leap into oblivion. I won't die burning from a cross above Walmart. But I suppose instead that I will be shanked by my arch enemy in a psychiatric ward, dying homeless, alone, and forgotten.
A small blue ball lands on the man in front of me. A 20-ish looking man holding a paddle offers, "Sorry." It's 3:00pm now, time to go.
Homeless Joe, cardboard sign in front, heads toward me as I leave. And I say quietly to myself, "Hello Joe. I must be going."
Perhaps I
can go dark.
Scott on
05/04 03:34pm
Leave a comment
So a couple of weeks back, I'm heading to the beach and I run into Willie. Stop and talk for a few and Willie tells me this horrible story about how he had gotten detained a couple of nights earlier. How all of his stuff was now up at this other location a few blocks north of the elder care facility. How even his cane was left up there.
As long as I've known Willie, I've never seen him without his cane. I've never even seen him standing. And only once in the months I've known him have I actually seen his eyes. He always wears sunglasses. And he always has a pocket radio.
The cane is part of Willie. It helps him get from point A to point B.
After being kept overnight somewhere, he returns to the facility only to find that they gave his room to somebody else. Gave his room to somebody else. Yeah. He's sleeping on the couch of a friend in the facility until they can get it sorted out. He's got his hands on another cane and another radio by now.
Willie is telling me all of this and I feel awful for the guy. He doesn't drive, he barely walks and he needs to go pick up all of his stuff that's at this other place. I tell him I'll drive him there the next day.
I run into Willie two days ago and it dawns on me that I never went by to pick him up. I feel like a complete piece of crap. Willie remembers that day perfectly, though. He recounts sitting outside that morning waiting for me to come by and finally comes to the realization that, "He forgot about me, just like everybody else does."
This is guilt defined.
I hand him the pack of cigarettes I had been carrying around for him for a couple of days. We talk. I go to the beach.
There's a certain kind of guilt I'm sooooo familiar with; the subtle kind that people like to impose, knowingly or not, that sits on your lap like a spilled plate of food. It's easy enough to wash off and there isn't any damage. Usually, it doesn't even get into the clothes.
This type of guilt, though... the kind where you really let someone down... this is much harder to clean up, and I think it's going to leave a stain.
Scott on
05/04 11:17am
Leave a comment
Yesterday was all about the friends. My best friend has his first child. Very, very cool. Couldn't be more excited for him.
Then? Then last night around 7pm, I get a call from the brother of this guy, "Hey, I think I'm outside your building. I live in South Beach now." Moved less than a block away. These brothers... we all lived in Saudi 8000 miles away, and all three of us went to the same boarding school eons ago (the younger brother now on my patio was in school there a year after we leave). Weird.
Not that weird, though. There are two other kids from Saudi, from my class, that live in the area. One out near the Gables and one in Hollywood. Everywhere I've lived, there's always a brat around.
Anyway, I get a call from Kristin and an email from Anna last night, too. And earlier, a lovely, lovely text message from Taylor comes over.
I was happy. Then I fell asleep.
The sun is coming up earlier, I notice. I need to go get more sunrise photos again. But definitely not this morning. Right now, I need coffee.
OH! And how could I forget! I talked to another friend of mine yesterday for a nice long while before we somehow mysteriously got cut off. And we planned out this thing we're going to do next week. And I'm sooooo excited. It's going to be very very cool. Very cool. (Hey you. Sorry we got disconnected. And I saw later that you called back. But I was sucked into the visiting friend by then.)
Scott on
05/03 07:01am
Leave a comment
As those of you who come here on a semi-regular basis know, I've been changing the site. And I've been talking about changing the site. And changing it while it's live.
That's kinda working out alright. So let's talk about things, shall we?
- A Penchant for lists...
I don't know what's up with me and bullet points lately, but whatever. This will be the last bulleted list I do for a while. I'm tired of bullets. But that's not what I'm here to talk about.
- The gallery...
I'm pleased with the way it's working. And here's what I'm doing now: Photos that I've been posting to flickr? I'm no longer posting photos there the way I have. I'm watermarking them all with that lovely little logo (minus the yellowish circles) and I'm not uploading anything bigger than 1200px.
Full-size images will only be available here. That being said, I've been kind of magooing (As in Mr. Magoo) with the gallery and the images. Some are full size, some are not. Some are watermarked, some are not. It's complicated. But it'll all be consistent before it's over with. Some of the images here, you can click on them and see the full-size image. Some, you only see 1200px wide (or tall) when you click on them. I'm fixing all of this and making everything consistent. And seriously? Feel free to give me feedback on the layout. Nobody has said anything so I'm guessing it's ok.
- The google ad...
I've placed a google ad here now. For the time being, it appears under the first entry on the main page of the blog. I've never been crazy about google ads because I don't like something external that I can't control on my site. And I look at it and I'm like... "Why?"
Well, the simple answer is two-fold. One, it should generate all of about $0.03 quarterly for me if everything works out as planned. So in six years, I should be able to buy a pack of generic cigarettes (adjusting for inflation).
But the other thing is, it's somewhat fascinating to me to see what ads pop up given the content of my site. I'm kind of all over the place so it'll be interesting to see the ads that come through.
- The other thing that's coming...
I have been talking about this with my manager for a couple of weeks now: Patrons.
With regards to the galleries, I'm going to make a Patron option available. Everyone can go now and view the photos in the gallery. I've limited some access rights (like commenting or something; I can't remember, I need to sort it out), but the Patron concept is really simple:
For those people that feel inclined to support my work, they'll be able to make a donation, thereby becoming patrons. The benefit to being a Patron will be that I'll be releasing photos that ONLY patrons will be able to see. Different shots, different angles, and behind-the-scenes looks at model shoots.
Other things that MIGHT be included with Patron status will be interviews with models, as well as just more general detail about the shoots. I haven't figured out exactly what will be part of it, but it will certainly include more photos and behind-the-scenes photos.
That's pretty much it.
It's like this, though... I've only done one shoot where less than 1,000 photos were taken. Most shoots run in the count of 1,500 to 2,000 shoot range. While certainly there is no sense or possibility of posting ALL photos from a shoot, probably one in five should be posted. And hopefully, with enough time, I CAN post one in five. Flickr has been great for allowing me to share some of my work there, but I simply take scads of photos and it is difficult to keep up with everything.
Anyway, I just wanted to give an update on the site and make you aware of changes.
Oh, too... the style, or layout, of the gallery is in a continual state of change so it may flip-flop from one look to the next as you browse it. You're not having a weird trip; it's the site. Although, maybe you are tripping. I don't know.
OK, that's all.
Scott on
05/02 11:02am
2 comments ·
Leave a comment
[SEE EVERYTHING HERE]
