Adventures in Design

About Me: Well, if you really want to know...

You might say I grew up with both photography and the internet. I started my photographic career with a series of early 35mm film SLRs. I became interested in photographic journalism and over time graduated to medium format cameras. The last time I counted, I could claim over six thousand photos published in magazines, newspapers, catalogs, brochures and posters.

After more than twelve years working as a full time freelance photographer and writer, I took on a "real job" managing a twelve person Macintosh pre-press team for Applied Graphics Technology. Our main clients were the art directors at two of the largest automobile advertising agencies in Detroit. It became an in-depth study course in quality and efficiency. Meeting impossible deadlines became a matter of routine, yet the agency creatives were relentless when it came to getting things right.

This is were I was exposed to an obscure program called Photoshop, that had just been acquired by Adobe. I leaned retouching, image manipulation and color correcting working for some of the most demanding clients in the business. In addition to becoming extremely proficient in Photoshop, I gained extensive skills in color printing, typography, page design and the like.

Designing and creating printed materials was one thing, but as the 90's wound down, I began to shift my emphasis to web design. Instead of static pages, my designs could move and interact with the reader. More importantly I could now track the responses to my pages. I was able to tell which sections readers liked and which they avoided. You couldn't do that with a printed page, but web analytics tools made it trivial to track reader response.

Although I was working in a new medium, I found my photography experience was still a major asset. I moved to coastal North Carolina to design websites for a series of companies with major real estate holdings. Almost immediately, I was sent off to photograph beach rental properties for the company websites. Before long I was creating extensive "360 degree virtual tours" for several different websites. I also refined my interface design skill and added Flash, 3D rendering and CSS to my repertoire of design skills.

In early 2008, I was approached by Wiley Publishing to write the Sony Alpha DSLR-A300/A350 Digital Field Guide. The 272 page book covers all aspects of the Sony Alpha A300 and A350 and is illustrated by many of my photographs.

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