New Website

I've had the same web design on my main page for a long time. I was more than due for a renovation of my online presence.


The first phase in this renovation was the launch of Florida Wedding Photojournalism. I wanted to separate my wedding work and show my distinctive wedding style all on its own.


The second phase was moving my blog to the new www.mccrystalimage.net. Finding the right theme and design to work in was very important to me. I needed something clean and easy to navigate. I think the new blog does that well.

Finally, the main website needed a complete overhaul. I love the redesign process and finding a look that will communicate who I am and be a great showcase for all of my work. I like to think of myself as "old school" in a lot of ways. At the same time I'm very innovative and driven my challenges. That's a hard thing to communicate in a site design. Hopefully this new look will represent me well.

I would love the hear your feedback on the new looks. Please, drop me an e-mail or a comment on the blog.

Storage Solutions

I’m pretty obsessive about my data. I have the negativess from my first wedding in 1998 still in storage. The idea of losing a single image scares the pants off of me.
 
Because of these things I have been a religious person for back ups in multiple places and media. The size of my archive is getting insane though. I am having to make a big change in how I handle things.
 
I have two of these

Fantom G-Force MegaDisk

s on the way. Very cool desktop RAID solution. Each is 1 Terabyte configured in a redundant RAID 1 so each one has a duplicate of itself internally on a second disk.
 
The first will hold old archived projects and the second will keep up with my present workflow.
 

Along with these I will continue to do my regular DVD backups as well. Doing all this makes certain I am in good shape for the long run.

 
Because I’m uptight, I’m working on a 4th location for stored data. (yes, forth, the third is my online server for the lab) Soon I will be expanding my online server space to incorporate a full backup of all my files on a secure server in another part of the country.
 
Yes, I probably need therapy, but I don’t ever want to tell a client or myself I can’t print something because the file is gone.
 
(This year I started giving my wedding clients DVDs of the finished images this year as another level of protection.)

E-Store

I am trying something new. I answer a lot of questiosn about the gear I shoot, the computer and software I use and the books I'm reading. Somewhere along the line I became a resource for others around me. I'm not certain when it happened, but I'm going to embrace it and see if I can help a little more.

To do this I'm collecting the things I use in an Amazon store. I will leave descriptions of what I use them for and why. Hopefully this will give you a good starting point if you are looking to get some gear or just wondering how it is that I do what I do.

You can vist it HERE

I will keep adding things as I get a chance. Amazon will also be adding a few related items that will help fill out the list as well. There are some items that I'm in the process of acquiring (I take a long time to research anything before I commit) and I will tell you why they are on the list as well.

Enjoy!

Michael

Runing Like Crazy

This as been a busy season for me lately. One of the big things that has set me into hyper busy mode was my decision to go back to Mac. I've been a PC guy for a lot of years and it is proving to be a steep learning curve. More than anything it is an unlearning curve. I am having to unlearn all the habits I developed trying to use PC's ad their weird ways of doing things. Software that is simple is hard to use when youare busy looking for a harder way to do something than the engineers designed.

I have to say I'm loving the new system. My MacBook Pro is running faster than the desktop system than I have been running. There is a lot to learn and new paths t get from A to B. Overall I'm very gald I made the leap back to the platform that made me fall in love with computers in the first place. My college room mate from my freshman year introduced me to Photoshop 1.0 on a Mac and I was sold. I stopped using my manual typewriter right then! (Yes, I was still using a manual typewrite then... I'm a bit stubborn)

Blake High School

Last week I had a chance to visit my firned Linda at Blake High School. She has been teaching Photography there since they opened. I've been in and out of that classroom for most of those years teaching lighting and helping with critiques etc. I love going there. The students are amazing. I have seen some unbelievable art come from the students in that program. My visits always leave me inspired and challenged to do more and better work. I get a refreshing peek at how my work as a photographer began.

I spent time with a small group of advanced students talking about portraiture and lighting. These are areas I love to teach. There are so many simple and creative options for lighting and studio work. Very challenging and exciting. I love to see the ideas start to spark while I'm talking and photographing them. It reminds me why I love this so much...

Wedding Photography

I have been doing a lot of thinking recently about why I photograph weddings. It was kind of a shock for me to realize I have been doing weddings since 1989. That's a long time!

My junior year of high school my logic teacher told me I was going to photograph his wedding. I told him he was nuts, that I hadn't done one yet and that I wasn't about to photograph someone who could influence my graduation as my first. He insisted that not doing it might effect my graduation as well.

I called a good friend and photographic mentor and told her my situation. She easily said that I was ready and all I needed was some prep on the logistics etc. I was still unconvinced. Well, Carolyn had a two wedding Saturday scheduled soon after that conversation. I learned more that day than I realized. I was exhausted but unbelievably excited by the end of that day.

My first wedding went by with a relatively low level of stress. I think I was nursing batteries to make it through the end of the day, but I made it. He ordered reprints from me every year for a few years as an anniversary gift for his wife.

I've photographed a ton of weddings since then. I've made it a point to find opportunities to spend time around other wedding photographers who work in inspiring ways. I have also continued to challenge myself by raising the standard for my own photography. I've realized that I can never "arrive" and stop learning. I will continue to grow as long as I have the desire to do so.

I think I still photograph weddings because I love them. It is a great opportunity for me to spend the best day of a couple's life with them, share their joy, document it and preserve it so they can show the photographs to their kids and grand-kids. I'm creating history for those families.

Other photographers find weddings to be stressful or boring. I find them exciting and fun. There are so many opportunities for amazing photography. The key for me has always been to know a couple and enjoy who they are. When I can do that, my best work happens.

I think it's that emotional investment in a couple that really sets my work apart. I'm not working from a prescribed list of my favorite shots, I'm inventing, exploring and discovering what works for each couple as the day goes on.

One big change I've made in my business approach is I've stopped worrying about how many hours I'm working on a wedding. This opens doors for me to capture even more of the wedding day, create a better story and be available to all the moments of the day, not just the ceremony, formals and reception. I wish I had made that realization a long time ago.

Have a Great Fourth of July!

Sigur Ros Video

glosoli_hd_1000.mov (video/quicktime Object)

This is an amazing and video and some haunting music. As a photographer I love the visual feel of the whole package. As someone in leadership I find it very challenging.

Real People. Really Remarkable Lives.: The Fear of Failure Drives Success?

Real People. Really Remarkable Lives.: The Fear of Failure Drives Success?

This is an amazing article. David Jay from OSP pointed me in this direction from his blog and I had to pass it on.

I grew up pretty poor. We always ate, but there was always a sense that we didn't really have enough to get by each month. i know that experience has dirven me a great deal in how I approach life.
I love to save money and hide it away. I'm always driven to work harder and acheive more. I hate to waste. I've always believed fear was only a bad thing. Maybe it's good in some controlled doses... I'll have to check my perscription.

One Step Ahead

Last night was awesome. I went over to Orlando to be at the first night of Gary Fong's "One Step Ahead Tour." It was really a very cool night. I learned a lot and I met some great people. I ran into some very old friends who I haven't seen in years and had a chance to catch up a little and I met some new friends who I met through Open Source Photo. I was glad to meet some people whos work I admire and get to spend some time learning with them.

 

I also met a handful of up and coming photographers that are going to be great for our industry. We need more honest, hard working people with great vision and passion. I guess every industry needs that.

 

I'm in the process of implementing some of the new ideas I picked up after an evening with Gary. I'm looking at this as a fresh start in a lot of ways. Gary's process is very simple and that is a beautiful thing in itself. I was glad to hear a number of the things I am already doing on his list - blogging (hey, I'm doing that now), collages, web slideshows, treating clients as friends and giving them the best treatment possible because they are friends, etc. I was also somewhat freed to go with my heart on some issues, like get rid of time limitations as part of the creative fees.

 

Now it is time to let some more creative ideas start to gel in my brain. That's going to sleep to dream....

 

New Website

I just finished a major renovation of my website. I wanted a much more open feel to the site. I think this renaovation will have that effect. The last version of the site looked and opperated like a handheld electronic device. This site is much more fluid. It looks like something created on water color paper. I really love the feel of it and it gave me the opportunity to take some design risks I wouldn't have in the past. You will have to go see it.

Michael