Site Information - photonelly.com
September 2008
Technologies
Static HTML with CSS and JavaScript.
Some PHP but no database backend yet.
CSS-based layouts with no tables.
Blog powered by Blogger with a customized classic template.
About photonelly.com
photonelly.com is a photography portfolio site that I put together for myself after being inspired by other portfolio sites I had seen. It features my favorite locations and subjects to shoot, some of my favorite photos and why they're special to me, as well as different camera gear and accessories I use and where to find my photos across all my other sites. There is also a blog that will be focused on various photography topics.
How It Started
As I was doing research for Maui Wall Candy, I had spent a fair amount of time browsing through other people's photography and portfolio sites looking for ideas and a general feel for what those types of sites were all about. About halfway through, I thought it would be neat to have one for my photography work.
So, shortly after finish the photo store, I took a few days to rest and then jumped right in. I was very excited about the concept for this site and that generated a lot of momentum to keep me focused on finishing this site fast. I would say the majority of the layouts and functionality were done rather quickly, and it was the content itself that filled up the remaining days to finish. You know what they say, content is king.
History
It was about two days after I finished the photo store that I started looking for graphics for a logo, and once I had that ready, it felt like I was shot out of a canon. All told, it only took me about nine days to finish this site, and the majority of the last 4 days had really been content. As mentioned above, once I got started, I had a lot of momentum that pushed me to finishing this site quickly.
Photography hasn't always been a hobby of mine, and it has only been in the past few years that I have really made a substantial investment in the time (and money) it takes to really enjoy taking beautiful photograhs. You can read more about how this hobby started for me on the About page at the site.
I have had a Flickr account for over two years by this time, so I had already posted a lot of photos online. Most of those photos were from Maui and are featured on Ka'anapali Dreamin', but the others didn't really have anywhere else to be showcased, where I could tell the story of their significance and meaning. photonelly.com also helps fill that gap and is a central place to view details of all my photography.
Features
The site is fairly static right now, but it does offer some functionality to be added to it down the road.
As being a portfolio site, there are certain things you would come to expect with the sections of this site. It features a group of pages showcasing the different locations and subjects I like to shoot, which is cleverly named Viewfinder. That section is then followed by my favorites, which displays a handful of my very best photos and why I think they're special. There are a lot of photos that I have which would qualify for this group, so it's only a matter of time before this section grows larger.
Other features of this site include a Find page that offers details of where my photos are featured on my other websites, as well as a Buy page that tells the story of Maui Wall Candy and how to buy other photos that aren't from Maui. The About page mentioned above in the History section explains what the site is about and chronicles how I got started with photography in the first place. It's interesting that I've only been doing this for the past few years but have already accummulated so many photos.
The last part of the site is the Blog, which I hope to have some fun with. There are a lot of cool new toys out there for photography these days and some tricks and services online that I use and would like to share with others. It will likely be limited to 1-2 posts a week if I'm lucky, mostly due to other time commitments, but I hope to have some good feedback and interactions from readers.
What's Next
While there is a the possiblity of adding a few dynamic features to the site, such as a search section or updated feeds from Flickr and other sites to show my latest photos, the majority of the time on this site will be for adding more Favorites and blogging. I could see a page or two that features Flickr stats using their API, but nothing is planned right now.