Shutter Mike Photography

I discovered while in New York City a handy app for my Droid that put the subway maps right at my finger tips.  Then there is the iPad app that puts NPR and all its newsiness right in my hands on demand.  I can get the weather, search for a new job, do my banking, or find a new vegetarian recipe for dinner all with an app.  So why not an Ansel Adams app? Well now fans of the photography of Ansel Adams have an app for that too.  Created by Hachette Book Group, Inc. (publishers of Ansel Adams 400 Photographs) in collaboration with the University of Arizona’s Center for Creative Photography, the world’s most extensive archive of Adams’ work and writings, the Ansel Adams app”…provides a multi-tiered introduction to the life and work of the most honored American photographer of the twentieth century.” Here is what you get with the Ansel Adams app which sells for $13.99 through the iTunes Store:

• A slide show of 40 Ansel Adams photographs with your choice of audio narration, written commentary or music.
• The ability to run the photographs as accompaniment to your own music.
• The ability to send the photos as e-cards via email.
• Video clips from Ansel Adams documentaries.
• Letters between Adams and many famous people.
• A time line of key moments in Adams’ life.
• Web links to site that would be of interest to any fan of Ansel Adams.

So it is a bit like a coffee table book on the work and life of Ansel Adams that you get to interact with.  For the die hard Ansel fan it is probably worth checking out.

I have  been working on putting together a second website to act more as a portfolio of my work for a while now.  I want some thing that is not a blog to send to potential jobs, use in an “artist” profile and the like.  So I started working with Wix, a free website editor to create my new site.  Wix has templates for most every type of Flash based site you might want (mostly for photographers and artists).  Their interface is relatively easy to use, although it can get a bit frustrating at times too when things don’t land exactly where you thought they would.  Then once you have your site built Wix will host it for free (with advertising) on a domain such as www.wix.com/mywebsite. If you want it ad free and on your own domain their rates are pretty reasonable and you can upgrade to various different levels.

I played around with building my site for a while but never hit the publish button.  But I have been getting more offers and inquiries lately to photograph beyond just my “art” so I decided it was time to pull the trigger.  Check out version one of mikesmallphotography.com.  It is still a work in process and I am tweaking things here and there.  But so far I am pleased with the result and have already used it to start turning a hobby into something that could bring in some extra money.  For new photography toys of course.