The following is an article from Sherry Ott of OttsWorld. On September 8, 2006, Sherry Ott began a journey which would take her to 23 countries over 16 months. Having worked in business for 14 years, she decided to give it all up, and see what was outside of her 6 by 8 foot office. Sherry is one of the co-founders of Briefcase to Backpack which offers travel advice for career breaks or sabbaticals. I had the opportunity to customize Sherrys Global Photography smugmug site before she began her journey.
Prayer Flags at Sunrise
Sometimes your travel itinerary can have a big impact on your photography and bring you new, unexpected challenges. The Annapurna Circuit is a 18 to 21 day circuit trek in the mountains of Nepal. You climb to heights of 17,000 ft. carrying your pack and sleeping in rudimentary guest houses with no heat. Some might not call this a vacation, but I love hiking and the challenges that it brings. Plus, this was a chance to use my new filters and wide angle lens in the mighty Himalayas!
Photography while trekking is like running a marathon in a way; at mile 18 you see something you want to shoot and you have to get out your 5 lbs of camera equipment and put on the right lens and filters, take the photos, and then pack everything away again and resume running to mile 19. It’s exhausting!
The eyes have it
Due to the nature of the itinerary, weather conditions, and high altitude; I found the photography much more challenging than my normal trips. I don’t like to carry a lot of equipment when trekking therefore I stuck to my Cannon 40D, and 3 lenses. No tripod, no flash; I had to keep it simple.
I quickly realized one of the biggest challenges was the constant changing light situations. Bright sun and dark shadows in the mountains made exposure a nightmare. Plus, I didn’t have the luxury of shooting at the ‘best sunlight times’. When you are trekking, you don’t have the extra time to sit around and wait for the right shot with the right light. After all, we had an itinerary to get over the pass and due to weather conditions we had to try to stick to it.
Glacier Lake
Normally I would go out and research a place/people one day with a few shots, review the shots that night and then go back out the next day. However, when trekking and covering great distances, you don’t have the luxury of going back. You are always moving forward!
Not only did the light prove challenging, but the physical exertion took it’s toll. Once above 9000 feet, I was working and breathing so hard simply trekking and I couldn’t physically get the camera out fast enough to get shots; I was moving in slow motion!
I look back on all of my photography of the trip and realize that I did shoot a lot more in the beginning and at the end. However the middle of the trek which required a great deal of physical strain, I didn’t take nearly as many photos.
Rocky Landscapes
In addition on the day we crossed the pass at 17,770 ft, it was too cold and I was too worried about the trekking challenge ahead of me as well as my safety, that I didn’t even carry my own photo equipment. I packed it safely away in my guide’s bag and I simply carried my point and shoot. As we started the slow 4 hour climb up the pass, I saw a guy setting up a shot of the sun peaking over the peak and I immediately was filled with envy.
However, even though I was envious of his shots and all of the shots I was missing, I knew that I had made the right decision. My concern was first making up the pass in one piece, photography second. I knew my limits and was positive that the mental struggle I would’ve had carrying my expensive equipment in a precarious situation, outweighed the need to shoot. So I relied on my point and shoot in this situation.
Connection Point
I was still able to get hundreds of great photos, the challenge was mentally accepting that I wasn’t able to get EVERY photo I wanted! So, as you plan your next travel itinerary, consider your shooting conditions, time, and environmental factors and set your photography expectations appropriately!
Car Models
View all of Sherry’s Nepal Photography
So…. you want to write a blog, add cool pictures, but you don’t know how?! Well then, I wrote this blog just for YOU!! <grin>
Please read the rules about adding pictures and then follow the step by step instructions I’ve provided ~ and when you are done…. voila! You have created your own blog posting.
Good luck and happy creating!
Tracey
READ ME FIRST!!!
Rules for adding images to your blog:
1. Image width must be equal to or less than 950px in width
2. To change the image size in the blog posting, edit the image source line in the blog posting on the HTML page.
change the “-L.jpg” to , example -O.jpg to display the Original size, -M.jpg to display the Medium Size, etc…
img src=http://www.jrphotosandwebdesign.com/Michigan-Nature-Photography/Traverse-City-Michigan/traversecitysunrise/674112382_tWUJF-L.jpg
For different image sizes, please refer to http://www.smugmug.com/help/display-quality
Creating a Blog:
- Login to the Administrator site.
- Click to select Posts from the Dashboard and a shortcut menu appears, as seen in the example below:
- Click Add New. The Add New Post screen appears.
- Enter the Title for the Blog Post and the body of the post. There are word processing tools available to add bullets, numbering, and text justification options. Text can be bolded, or italicized for emphasis. See example for where to add the blog post title and the body of the message:
- Tags help identify what your article is about. Tags can either be selected from a predefined list or added manually. To view the tags that already exist, or add tags, find the Post Tags area on the right side of the screen. To add pre-existing tags, click to select the Choose from the most used tags in Post Tags link. To add your own tags, click in the field and enter each tag separated by commas. See example below:
- Categorize your blog post by clicking in the check boxes to select the appropriate categories from the Categories area on the right side of the screen. New categories can also be added by clicking the Add New Category link.
- Scroll down to the Discussion section and make sure the Allow trackbacks and pingbacks and Comments options are selected (have checks in them). This allows readers to add comments to your blog article and pingbacks allow other sites to link back to this article. See example below:
The Author field defaults to the name of the user logged in. See example below:
- Locate the All in One SEO Pack section. This section controls text relating to your blog posting that appears in the Browser it is viewed in, as well as the Navigation Bar at the top of the article. NOTE: Keywords entered here should be the SAME as the Post Tags entered in step #5. BE CONSISTENT!! See example below:
- Pictures or videos from any Smugmug site can be inserted into your blog post. To insert a picture from a Smugmug site, click to position your cursor where the picture should be inserted.
- Open your Smugmug site and navigate to the photo to be inserted into your blog.
- Locate and click on the Share button in the upper right hand corner of the Smugmug screen, as seen in the example below:
NOTE: The settings in your gallery must have external links set to “Yes” and social sharing set to “Yes” to see this button. Setting can be changed in the gallery by selecting Tools, Gallery Settings.
- Click the Get a Link option from the drop down menu. Click to select the Embeddable Links tab, as seen in the example below:
- Click the Copy button for the image size you want to use. The following confirmation window appears:
- Click the Allow access button. The Copy button changes to ”Copied!” to indicate that the picture has been copied in that size. See example below:
- Switch back to your blog, click on the HTML tab.
- Click where you want the image to be inserted.
- Right click and select Paste from the shortcut menu.
The URL will be pasted into your blog on the HTML tab, and the actual picture will be visible on the Visual tab, as seen in the example below:
18. Click the Preview button in the Publish section to review your article.
19. Make any changes and when ready, click the Publish button.
**Don’t forget to social share your blog posting (facebook, twitter, etc…)**
Note: Tracey does both technical training and writing of documentation/course material on a professional level. If you are interested in her reviewing your web site content, please contact us.
Tags: blogging, how to blog, wordpress customization, wordpress design, wordpress integration, wordpress web site design
Back in 2008, I had the opportunity to work with Cathy Hartman Photography on the customization of her smugmug site. At the time, her photography business was “Treasured Moments” photography.
Cathy recently contact us for ‘an extreme makeover’ to her site with new colors, banner, logo, slideshow, content and music. LT worked with the Cathy on implementing the modifications. Most importantly, LT did not have to ‘recreate’ the customization of her smugmug site. The customization is design specifically for ‘extreme makeovers’ and enhancements for photographers who change there market brand strategy. This results in both a savings in time and money and expedites the redesign process. LT also work with Cathy to design and develop her wordpress blog which looks exactly like her smugmug web site.
Cathy writes to us “I have loved photography since I was a kid. It was always a great hobby, but not something I had time to pursue professionally. Most of my images were of my six children, 10 grandchildren, and students at my dance studio. Three years ago I sold my dance studio and last year became an empty nester. This gave me the opportunity to take my photography to the next level. I am very passionate about my photography and feel so blessed to spend every day with my camera. Some days I think I only want to be a baby and child photographer because I absolutely love the little ones. Then the next day I change my mind as I have a blast with a senior. Weddings are awesome – who doesn’t love a wedding! It means so much to be able tell the story of the couple’s special day through my images. And, I still have my passion for dance, but now as a dance photographer. There is nothing like capturing the beauty of a dancer whether on stage or leaping through the park. ”
Before – Treasured Moments Photography
After – Cathy Hartman Photography
After – Cathy Hartman Photographys Blog
Congrats to Cathy Hartman Photography on the new implementation of her market brand and “awesome” job LT!
Visit Cath Hartman Photography to see more images..
Tags: Cathy Hartman Photography, Event photography smugger, Event photography smugmug web site, Event photography web site, Portrait photography smugger, Portrait photography smugmug web site, Portrait photography web site, smugmug, smugmug customization, smugmug design, smugmug photographer, smugmug photography web site, smugmug pro, smugmug web design, St. Louis Missouri photographer, Wedding photography site, Wedding photography smugger, Wedding photography smugmug web site, wordpress customization, wordpress design, wordpress photography web site, wordpress smugmug integration
Steve and Marian Uffman from Louisiana enjoy using smugmug to store and share their family memories.
Steve tells me why he selected smugmug – “Photography is old hobby that I had put on the shelf some years ago – and then along came grandkids – with digital photography and a run rate of about 1000 photos per year per grandchild, printing was no longer feasible or a good method for sharing. Hence, we turned to the web for a solution and found nirvana ( at least so far). Being a retired CEO and founder of a technology business, I took on the project of gathering family photos from near and far that I could put on a website. After auditioning several sites, I found SmugMug to my liking but wanted to put some pop and professionalism into the site. Well as the story goes, handling and organizing over 10,000 photos is a big enough job by itself. I needed to find someone that could help get the site just as I wanted. Along came Jerry and in very short order we have a site that is rocking and rolling something that my family all enjoys whether they are in Louisiana, a hotel on a business trip or doing volunteer work in the remote areas of Mozambique. Not only has having a medium to share photos being wonderful but it also has inspired me to vigorously dust off the old hobby! I am either with my grandkids or in the outdoors 365 days a year, so there is plenty of opportunity to capture magical moments of all matters of wild thing – whether it is a critter or grandchild, it such a joy to capture the moment and then relive them day after day on the website. Thanks Jerry for all the great help and support.”
Tags: Event photography smugger, Event photography smugmug web site, Event photography web site, family photography smugger, family photography smugmug web site, family photography web site, smugmug customization, smugmug design, smugmug photographer, smugmug photography web site, smugmug pro, smugmug web design, Sports photography smugger, Sports photography smugmug web site, Sports photography web site, Steve and Marian's Uffmans Family Galleries
Tags: Best of Show Portfolio, Cole Hoffman, Diane Heath, Gold Key Portfolio, Rochester Hills Michigan, Stoney Creek High School
During 2009, I had the opportunity to work with Teresa Nora (‘T’) on the customization of her smugmug sites. ‘T’ has two smugmug sites.
One site, Imaging by T, is branded for her family portraits and art. Within Imaging by T, ‘T’ caters towards her Teen/Senior market with an unique market brand (Imaging by T – Teens). Ok you smuggers, basically that means it is the same Smugmug site but with an unique theme applied to all of her ‘Teen’ related galleries.
Her other site, Teresa Nora, is her ’sensual’ site. This smugmug site is branded towards her boudoir photography. The goal was to keep the ‘family’ related photography on one site and the ’sensual’ related photography on another site.
Her combintion of attention to detail, poses and unique locations result in very unique and breathtaking art for her clients
Recently Redbook magazine featured an article about ‘T’ and her ’sesual’ photography titled “I Posed for (Very) Sexy Photos” by Kimberly Ford. Congratulations to ‘T’ for her photography and her techniques apprearing in a national publication!
What an honor it has been to work with such a wonderful artist. ‘T’ – I am looking forward to working with you on future projects!
Teresa Noras ‘Senual’ Site (note: Adult related content)
Tags: Boudoir photography smugger, Boudoir photography smugmug web site, Boudoir photography web site, Family Portrait photography smugger, Family Portrait photography smugmug web site, Family Portrait photography web site, Imaging by T, Redbook, Senior Portrait photography smugger, Senior Portrait photography smugmug web site, Senior Portrait photography web site, Teresa Nora
Richard “Dixie” Atkinson frokm Alabama travels around the United States specializing in Nature, Wildlife and National Park photography.
“Dixie” comments “Basically, I am an artist at heart. My major in college and my degree was in Fine Art earning a Baccalaureate Degree in Fine Art (BFA) with a minor in photography. My bio on the site sort of says it all – in that I was a good technical photographer having learned the ropes at Rochester Institute of Technology. At the time I was in the Army and was transferred to a location where I couldn’t pursue a BFA in photography, but I did find a school that would let me apply my photography education to that point towards a degree in Fine Art. Best thing that happened to me, because, as stated in my bio, that is when I developed my “eye” for photography. I have never been a person to say that the camera should show what the eye sees. As a fine art photographer, I envision the final result before I even ’snap’ the shutter and do my exposures accordingly. To me that is where the real art lies.”
“My favorite (photography) is pretty self-evident and that is landscapes and wildlife.”
“I don’t know about funny or interesting photography stories. I travel 49 of 50 states and specialize in the US national parks. I do 95% of my travel alone and much of the time I am “roughing” it in that I camp out or sleep in the back of my F-250 truck which has a simple camper cap on the back with a small cot. Since I am in remote locations and traveling alone (which includes day long hikes with my gear, etc.) I always have ten days worth of food and water with me and travel with a Spot locator for emergency situations. So far, I’ve been lucky in that I’ve never gotten lost (aren’t GPSs great) or totally stranded. However, I have hung my truck up on rocks and in streams while crossing them. Luckily, I’ve always been able to wench myself off or out of any situation I’ve placed myself (or the truck) in. The spot locator also has a blog site where fans can track me and this year will be first year that I’ve used that feature. After I get use to it, I may get you to add it as my blog site.”
“Dixies” comments on his web site : “It was a pleasure working with you on the site. You were very responsive to my requests and had the site up in no time. I am extremely please with the final results and highly recommend your services to anyone needing smugmug customization.”
Visit Visit Photographs by Dixie to see more images…
Also be sure to check on “Dixies” Find page google map – very impressive!
Tags: Photographs by Dixie, Richard Dixie Atkinson, smugmug customization, smugmug design, smugmug photographer, smugmug photography web site, smugmug pro, smugmug web design, USA National Parks photography smugmug web site, USA National Parks photography web site, Wildlife photography smugger, Wildlife photography smugmug web site, Wildlife photography web site
j Rost Photography (Julie) specializes in Sports, Events, Music, Weddings and Portrait photography in Sacramento California.
Julie comments “Photography is a very personal expression of the world around us. For me, it is a natural extension of my art background. Having spent many years creating art the old fashioned way with pen and paper, I was quickly enamored with the visual thrill of Photoshop! Discovering the magic of photoshop drove me to create my own images and hence the photography was born. The combination of taking great photos and then taking them a step further in photoshop is a thrill that will never tire with me. I don’t rely on Photoshop as a post-production band-aid, you HAVE to get it right when you shoot the image, but rather a way to make photographic art. There is something very special about capturing just the right moment with the camera and taking it to a breath-taking image. It is what thrills me and keeps me shooting and creating. For me, the art and science of photography and photoshop go hand in hand seamlessly from one to another…like the circle of life if you will.
Julie comments about her smugmug site and jR Customization “Working with Jerry has been a dream come true! I have been struggling for years to make my website do all the things that I wanted it to do — while LOOKING great! As a photographer, I am very visually driven and have never been able to find a way to showcase my work on a functional platform that does both beautifully. For all you photographers out there…stop what you are doing and hire Jerry to work on your site. It will be the best thing you have ever done and I guarantee you will love it. Jerry has found the magic combination of building the behind the scenes functionality in a way that will make your site stand out and look amazing! Thanks Jerry…you ROCK.”
Visit Visit j Rost Photography to see more images…
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Deb and Keith of Franklin Photography specializes in Sports, Events, Music and Nature photography in New Jersey and Florida..
Deb tells me “Keith and I don’t just love photography – we are passionate about it, and in different ways. For Keith, it’s capturing “the shot” two-fold – the image, and the action within in such a way as to capture the intangible energy, the tension, the moment so that anyone viewing the image feels that they are right there too. For me, it’s capturing “artistic emotion” – you all know what I mean – in that simple click of the shutter that serendipitous event of stopping time and capturing visual emotion within the 4 squares of your frame. It’s like your first kiss, your first hole in one, your first anything – you can’t wait to feel that rush again and so you keep on capturing images.”
Deb and Keiths favorite type of photography – “I don’t think we have a favorite, although we most often are drawn to sports/action, photojournalism, family and stock.”
“I think our most recent “interesting” story was shooting for Bob Baldwin, a phenomenally talented jazz pianist, at the Hartford Jazz Festival in CT this year. We were so caught up in taking our shots while on stage we didn’t realize how large the crowd was – until we looked up and saw a virtual sea of 50,000 faces looking back – I think my mental response was a cobination of “Holy Sh@#-!!” followed by “oh, this is soooo cool”!”
Deb comments about her Smugmug site “We LOVE our web design. It effectively captures the timeless essence of what we do. We were blessed to work with a dynamic team – Bold Print Design out of NC, and jR Customization, design/programmer extraordinaire! Both groups tactfully kept us on schedule and were particularly helpful in taking my sometimes incomplete vision and pointing out better ideas so that we optimized our site in a way we had not anticipated.”
Visit Visit Franklin Photography to see more images…
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“I just wanted to stop by and say hello and tell you how much I love your customer support and quality – Smugmug is the best!”
I heard that quote so many times from so many Smuggers while I was with Smugmug and Bay Photo at Imaging USA 2010.
Larry (LT) and I had the pleasure of joining the Smugmug team in the Smugmug/Bay Photo exhibit. To say the exhibit was busy is an understatement!
I spoke – and listened – to so many Smuggers – I lost count after 200 (and that was only Sunday!). We answered questions regarding Smugmug Pro, Smugmug customization (“WOW!!! – that is a Smugmug site? – awesome”), Bay Photo, order fulfillment and general techi stuff!
So many smuggers and ‘fans’ stopped by to say hello and to meet us. Amanda and Alisa Lynn from Alabama, Candace from Tennessee, Cindy from Alabama, Alisha from Georgia, the Time Smart Images team from Pennsylvania, Jeanelle and her friends from Mississippi – the list goes on and on. A few photogs even referred to my writings on the internet. I thought to myself – “people actually do read my blog, forum answers, articles and newsletters.” David Jay stopped by and I had the opportunity to demonstrate some of the cool Smugmug Customizations/Wordpress Customizations we have completed.
I also had a few conversations with some sport photographers on how I used Smugmug for my youth sports photography (which is my fav photography!).
Honestly though, the conversations I appreciated the most centered around the non-Smuggers who were just starting off and “don’t have an internet site” or “I only use Blogger”. Smugmug has so much to offer them…functionality and flexibility for any photogs business!!
A few other photogs bowed their heads in shame when they shared their nightmare stories of using a competitor’s site. “I cannot sell my art to my customers with my boring site” some photogs cried! It was not a hard sale explaining all of the features that Smugmug Pro offers.
“Oh my gosh – I know that web site – I love it and her photography is breathtaking!” “I’ve seen her photography before – I want to photograph like her!” “Your jR?? I love that web site – the photography is the best!!”
Here’s a secret I am happy to share… a few of the photogs I have worked with to customize their web sites are more popular than they think they are. And yes… Jaki Good Photography (Jaki) from Ohio, Moments Photography (Alicia) from Louisiana and Studio KYK (Monica) from California I am talking about you!!! Your customers love you and so do your peers!
We had our fun as well – Markham and LT “skooled” me on some iPhone apps I did not even know about (Bump, Lego Photo, etc). At the end of the day LT ask if I noticed how light the traffic was in other exhibits in the area as compared to Smugmug/Bay Photo. LT said “That exhibit had so many team members just standing around doing nothing all day!”.
A big thank you again to the Smugmug team (Markham, Jeff, Frederique, Candice) – they were great hosts! This was such an eye opening experience – I enjoyed and appreciated every moment.
Oh, and Smuggers, you must check out the Metal Prints from Bay Photo – they rock!
Still not a ‘Smugger’ ?? Visit Smugmug to learn more…
Tags: bay photo, imaging usa, smugmug customization, smugmug design
