Website reopened!

Hello again. It's been far too long...

I'm glad to announce the reopening of ashleycorr.com after its temporary closure in mid January. I decided to strip the site back to its bare bones and rebuild it using HTML5, which supported web viewing on iPad & tablet, which the previous version did not. It was a laborious task to say the least, but the graft is now behind me and as of last night the site has no been declared open. In fact, since I reopened its doors just a few hours ago, the visitor counter has notched up an extra 70 hits, so I'm very pleased with that.

As for the new look website, I'm more than happy to reopen it as it is, even though there are a few half built pages that are currently hidden. Hopefully those will be completed and open during the next couple of weeks. They include new galleries such as Black & White, Seascapes 3, Astro Photography 2 and Published Work. I also have plans to add new video to the TV Channel, plus a free download page where visitors can help themselves to Wallpaper/Screensavers that features a selection of my work.

I would like to ad more pictures of myself to the profile (AC) page too. I had a handful of shots to choose from but wasn't too keen on them so I binned them off and settled for the one that is currently showing, even though you can't see much of my face. Maybe that's the better option, lol.

I'm looking forward to updating the site during the next few days and beyond. It's been a long time coming. Until then, keep watching this space. Cheers!

AC

Welcome Back!

November 2013 seems a long time ago now. It was the last time I updated my Blog page before the big overhaul at ashleycorr.com. Now that my site is up and running once again I hope to restore normality in the shape of new updates on Blogger, starting from today, with news of recent changes. Firstly, my Canon 5D2 went to the Canon graveyard last week after it took a tumble on the rocks near St. Mary's Island, Whitley Bay. A gust of wind swept my tripod off its feet, taking the camera with it, face down in a rock pool. It suffered water damage despite the fact that my filter holder took the brunt of the impact. The attached lens was unmarked, although it needed recalibrating through my insurance broker. The camera and lens were away for five weeks, although it seemed much longer then that. Being without a camera for that amount of time wasn't a happy experience, but what can ya do? Eventually the camera body was deemed 'Beyond economical repair' and as the 5D2 had been recently phased out, my insurance company replaced it with a 5D Mk III, which I was over the moon about. The 5D2 was the camera I had wanted to get my hands on for a few years, not even considering the 5D3 because of its hefty price tag, so to own one now goes above and beyond what I expected to run with. Although I've had the new camera for slightly over a week now, I still haven't been out to test it in the field, but that will be corrected during the next few days as I have more time to play with. Having flicked through the menu settings on the 5D3 I must say that my initial findings are very impressive. Lots of upgraded features, lots of head scratching too, which seems to be part and parcel with these things, no matter how many user manuals you have ticked off the list.

Currently looking at new tripods too. The trusty Manfrotto took a clout on those rocks, although I need to be more vigilant in those kind of situations. One thing is sure, it will only happen once!

Also dabbling with new image software in the form of Google's excellent plug-in's for Photoshop - Nik Collection. Some really interesting stuff bundled with it.

And that's about it for now. I'll have my Blog page restored to former glory in the very near future, bringing you more of my escapades form my trips into the depths of God's Country and beyond. Until then, welcome back!

Ash

Website Overhaul

Hello once again!

I'd like to inform the visitors to ashleycorr.com that my website is in the early stages of an overhaul. I've decided to ditch the slide shows in favour of a more practical and presentable look, which will include a thumbnail pop-up gallery which displays larger images. At present the slide show window displays images at 600 pixels (long edge), and instead of trawling through a slide show to find a specific image, you can now view a selection of thumbnails as soon as you reach the page. By clicking a thumbnail image it will now reveal an enlarged image of 800 pixels (long edge), which is a big improvement and obviously more beneficial as far as detail is concerned. The musical accompaniment remains, and this will play from the moment you reach the page, until you leave it. As you can imagine, this project will take many hours to complete, and I'm hoping to chip away gradually over the colder months to finish each and every page. I've already completed 6 pages to date and hope to tick a few more off this week, as well as maintaining regular updates with new images. And if I've still got time to spare after work and family commitments, I might be lucky to get back out with the camera, he he. Oh well, plenty to keep me busy, eh.

We recently returned from a fantastic break in Venice, so look out for my new 'Night time' shots, coming soon. Our last visit, in 2011, was a one day visit as we were staying on the Italian mainland for a week, but this time we actually stayed in Venice for four days, seeing the place at night for the first time. Venice under the lights is something else, and we had our best holiday, even if it was a mini-break in Mid-September!

Plenty more photo updates to come...
Ash

www.ashleycorr.com

Hello again and welcome to my new look blog page. I've been toying with the idea of tarting this page up for quite a while now, as the original template wasn't consistant with the theme that I designed at ashleycorr.com. Gone is the brown background with the less than interesting header bar -  'In' with the plain white and mid-grey, along with the ACP logo of Penshaw Monument. Now then, that's better! So there seems like no better time than now to write about my website and the nuts, bolts and many cogs within it. Since the introduction of ashleycorr.com back in 2006 the site has evolved and developed into much more than it originally started its life as. It's humble beginnings as a modest 20 page web site has grown rapidly during the past six years and now contains a staggering 156 pages and almost 1000 photographs. God only knows how many hours of work has gone into the site down the years, a labour of love that continues to this day and hopefully many more years ahead. I often tinker with the site, as you may have noticed from time to time, as there's always room for improvement here and there, although I always try to avoid making wholesale changes with its overall appearance as I feel that this can distract the visitor and be quite off-putting, especially if it happens regularly. I used to do this in the early days, until I realised quickly that I was chasing my tail. No more.

So, more specifics about ashleycorr.com - currently showing a hit counter of 75,111 visitors as I write this blog entry, the site was set up and designed by myself, with no previous experience of Web Build. Those first few days were an opener, to say the least, when I opened up the Content Management System and wondered what I'd let myself in for. Although the toolbox didn't look too daunting, unlike that of Photoshop CS6 (gulp!), there was a hell of a lot to get to grips with and a brief dabble with the tools left me with no doubt that my delve into website building wasn't going to be an easy one. After dipping my toes in I quickly got to grips with quite a few of the features and found the software was exactly what I'd been looking for, as everything was there 'In the box', so to speak, just waiting to be lifted out. Exhibiting photography couldn't be easier and everything I wanted was here, including slideshows with the facilty to add music, pop-up galleries, image effects and much more. With an 'All you can eat' disc space of 5000 Megabytes there is scope for thousands of image uploads in future, so the sky is the limit in that particular department.

Forthcoming plans for my site - well, unless by some quirk of observation you haven't noticed a complete lack of activity on my Profile page, I can now announce my intention to get my arse into gear and turn that blank canvas into what it's supposed to be, a page about myself with accompanying photographs of yours truly. Hang on a minute, maybe that's not such a good idea at all, he he. For one reason or another I simply haven't got my act together to design the page, although I did have it up and running four years ago, only to 'Pull it' a few days later due to the cheesiness of my profile pic. Oh dear. I need to get out there and get some new photo's of myself, on location, camera in hand, so if you're up to the task then give me a shout. Profile page aside, there are no immediate plans to add anything major to my site, although I'm constantly thinking along the lines of improvisation, so don't be too surprised if I introduce new ideas at some point in the near future. My Canon 7D shoots stunning High Definition Video, which is something I may incorporate once the footage is edited, so keep your eyes peeled for that one. The Store at ashleycorr.com will be hosting new products shortly, including my new 2013 calendar, as well as A1 and A0 poster prints of my photography. Again, watch this space!

Finally, a big THANK YOU to you, my audience. Without those 75,111 hits my site wouldn't be what it is today. I often wonder who visits my site and where they live, which town, which country, which continent. I'm looking into Google Analytics, to find those answers, which are always interesting. As far as my blog page is concerned, click on the two images above for the latest stats - these relate to my blog page only, not site-wide. To date, my blog page has 10, 733 page views since its introdution on July 18th, 2009. It's all good stuff!

And on that note I shall make myself scarce. Time for a cup of coffee.
Thanks for visiting!
Ashley Corr (Webmaster & Curry Connoisseur)