So, I had been using CMSimple as the platform for the smartshots website for several years. It pretty much does what it promises, i.e. it’s a simple content management system – and although it has served me well, it was a little rudimentary for where I wanted to go with the site. Well, a lot rudimentary, actually 🙂
WordPress is pretty much the de facto blogging / content management platform these days, thanks to its ease of installation and use, and its extensive customizability and extensibility. Plus there is some integration with Photoshelter, the home all of the images that I deliver to clients, as well as my nascent stock image collection – so I can easily do stuff like dropping in slideshows or individual images, like this:
I can even blog from on location – although usually there’s no time for that because I’m busy, like, taking photographs! I guess that’s what Twitter is for – you can follow smartshots, (although I don’t post from that account too often), or if you’re game, my personal account, stevenpam.
The new site has been in the works for some time; but all my other projects, and the daily demands of photo shoots and just running the business, all seem to have got in the way of the launch. But we got there in the end (we being me and my friend Brent Danley of Saco Bay New Media. Do let me know what you think. Oh, and if you use a feed reader, point it at http://www.smartshots.com.au/feed/ to get new posts as I add them.
Anyway, enough of the geeky tech ramblings… we’re here to talk photography, right? My own little brand of commercial photography, more specifically. So here’s a glimpse of some topics I may have in the works (let me know in the comments if you’re curious about any of them in particular)
- My expedition to Tasmania in which almost all of my favourite shots were from my point-n-shoot pocket camera
- Taking photos in the dark, with earplugs
- My dalliance with being a food photographer
- What I’ve learnt from teaching photography to 8 year-olds