Manatee Web Site and MySpace Page Update

I just published new web site and MySpace page updates for Manatee. Their previous web site was based off of their first, self-titled album. It's been almost a year since the album came out, so it was time to update everything while they continue to write, record and play gigs.

Web Site: http://www.manateetheband.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/teammanatee

If you're going to SXSW this year, Manatee should be there. Stop by and check them out.

Wrapping Up the Month Plus Snow

I've had an extremely busy time this month, and since the last week of November.  I actually have not taken a day off since the day after Thanksgiving.  I thought that the holidays might be a little slower which would allow me to finish up the last of the site updates I want to make as well as design some printed marketing material so that I can get out and start to get some more photography and design work.  Things haven't really worked out that way.

There are a lot of things I should be wrapping up in the next few weeks which should hopefully allow me to take the last week of the month to focus on finalizing things on the site, portfolio, keywording my photo archive, etc.  In the meantime, I have a few big shoots I have scheduled through the end of the month to complete, a logo for Danville Ink, a pair of MySpace page site designs, some commissioned photos to shoot and some print design to complete.

As I finish some of these projects, I will most likely outline some of them in successive blogs.  I have a lot of new lighting equipment I am testing out this weekend, so I may go through and shoot photos of all of the samples of current print work that I have to put together into the coming DESIGN section on my site.

In the meantime, I recently shot photos of the snow we had here in Clayton, CA.  From what I have been told, there has not been snowfall that has stuck to the ground since 1976 here, so it was a pretty big deal.  I cancelled all work for the morning to head out and capture some shots of the area before the snow had melted.  It was nice to have snow in the yard again.  Here in the East Bay area is the only place I have ever lived without snow during the holidays and I have always missed it.

I also went through the site and added a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section which I will be expanding over time to help people with questions about how to use the site and just general questions about my work and what I do.  I have also prepped the site structure for the DESIGN section which will serve as my design portfolio of past and current work.  I should have that portion of the site wrapped up before the end of January. The "ADD TO CART" button is now more prominent on any applicable gallery pages, which will be helpful for anyone trying to purchase prints or license images... which I have also added.  I now have a full system to offer my images for rights managed use in pretty much any medium.  Pricing is derived from industry standard FotoQuote software, so the licensing costs are always up to date, accurate and reasonable.

I plan on a couple more blog posts before the end of the year, but maybe not before Christmas.  So, if I don't get one in before next week, I want to wish everyone a merry Christmas, happy holidays and hope you have a safe and warm week.

Custom Tattoos By Jesse Del Rio

I spent the early part of the afternoon doing some preliminary testing before I set out on the design stage for my friend and tattoo artist Jesse Del Rio.  I am going to be using Squarespace again as a platform for both the blog and as a CMS to run everything and I wanted to make sure it would be flexible enough to provide the design features I wanted to incorporate for Jesse... otherwise I was going to just code a static site.  The new site will give Jesse the ability to put fresh content on his site via a blog (something he does not currently have), and as well as a CMS that will allow him to keep content updated on his own, including galleries of his current tattoo, painting and flash artwork.

To see some of Jesse's work, please visit his current web site at www.tatsbyj.com.  The painting shown here is one of his newest pieces in a collection he is working on, which will be my basis for his overall site design.