ALPINE PHOTOGRAPHY NEWS

DesignX - Our HTML5 portfolio by aPHOTOFOLIO that simply rocks

Let me start by saying that for a period of 3 months I was relatively happy customer of Livebooks. Abstracting from some communication problems with designers of my 2950$ custom website, I have enjoyed good ol' flash-based website with a decent flash-based CMS. It wasn’t perfect, yet it worked and it served it’s purpose of displaying my work on the web in simple yet elegant way.

However, many of you, who follow me on Facebook probably noticed the publicity and assignments we have gained literally days after Facebook officially featured us using their various channels, including the main page with almost 100 000 000 followers worldwide.

Just to keep the long story short, new assignments = more photos = more movie clips = more behind the scenes material = growing need for more complex portfolio to show off our work for you guys, but also for future clients!

Before changing the portfolio designer, I have contacted Livebooks. I have asked for additional “PROJECT” section, more video pages, + more intuitive video “ABOUT” page. It appeared that every single extension I have requested will cost... a lot of hard earned $$$. Fair enough, portfolio development can be a challenging task and obviously requires a decent number of man-hours to complete!

However, the biggest disappointment came when I was notified many of the changes I had requested were simply incompatible with the present, yet ridiculously outdated, flash-based architecture of Livebooks content management systems. Hence, I decided to make a switch of portfolio host provider!

It didn’t take long to find an alternative: DesignX platform by aPhotoFolio.com

I am still working on the portfolio adding new galleries and project sections! So, our work on the site is not yet done! However, these are the key features of our new site that really make the difference, at least in my mind and ... pocket: 

1. It is based on HTML5 language which is, supported natively by all modern browsers irrespective of the operating system, let it be Windows or OSX (no ugly and slow Flash plugins required, unless you turn on backwards compatibility option for old browsers on which you can have your portfolio displayed as a flash web-page).

2. Every single aspect of the website design, including font sizes, colors, font types, placement of menu items etc. customizable via simple yet very powerful CMS. No more countless hours spent on waiting for the response of Livebooks support to add extra page or little modification to my portfolio! Something that is really a great relief as I want to have full control over my portfolio!

3. No more ugly pop-ups with video clips! Everything nicely embedded within my new portfolio. Both custom-encoded H264 videos and VIMEO content! Enjoy this one: http://www.alpine-photography.com/PROJECTS/UNDERWATER-PIXELGUIDE/2/

4. Organizing project files: photos, videos, text pages is done with easy and very intuitive drag’n’drop interface.

5. Every single text page can be highly customized with additional user-defined HTML elements! Just check my NEWSLETTER section, programmed using ready-made MailChimp HTML widgets. http://www.alpine-photography.com/NEWSLETTER/1/

6. Easy to use, and very powerful PDF-portfolio builder! A truly cool feature for agencies and future clients that within a single click can retrieve the latest portfolio in a form of very elegant PDF file!

7. A dedicated iPhone / iPad app that retrieves your content from your portfolio CMS and uploads it to your mobile device so you can also show off your work to your clients at their location while being offline! Very, I mean very cool and fancy feature!

Summing up, would I recommend DesignX by aPHOTOFOLIO? Hell yeah! Considering the elegant and slick design, HTML5 coding efficiency and number of features it is an awesome package that comes at very reasonable price! Exactly half the price of my previous portfolio that was simply disappointing in very many aspects!

Interested in DesignX? Please follow this link! You should be able to setup your own trial website in relatively short time!

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Do What You Love! - Our Facebook Story

The making of "Cascades of Light"

Since the photographs from the "Cascades of Light" project entered publication stage, I feel we can share some of the keynote shots of the session.

First of all, please allow me to introduce the project in the video below.

 

Let me add that due to low temperatures (daily average -10C / 14F and night average -16C / 3F) we were quite concerned about the battery performance of our Elinchrom Ranger RX and Quadra RX lights at these temperatures. Insofar, I have used Quadra RX at -5C and there were no obvious problems with the unit nor dramatic drop in battery life.

Jefff Mercier and Mathieu Durand at the foothills of Cascate di Lillaz ice fall

Preparations before the climb

New LaSportiva Batura boots at their glory

An now a short video that explains the "secret" behind the very blue ice color.

 

Below, a selection of photographs from the night part of the photo-shoot.

First tests with blue gel on Ranger RX unit

In order to conclude the session, we have recorded this clip. The temperature was way below what I believed was -6C. The overall lenght of the night-shoot was 4h.

 

The day-part of the "Cascades of Light" was shot starting from 8 am. It was really cold. A decent -16C in the morning. We have managed to reach the icefall before other parties. Just for the sake of experiment, I have decided to keep the light setup exactly the same as during the night-part.

A small selection of top-perspective shots, snapped with fish-eye lens to show the relative placement of the lights with respect to the climber.

The relative placement of lights with respect to the climber. Elinchrom Quadra RX on the right hand side.

Just to conclude the "Cascades of Light" a behind the scenes video and an interview with yours truly, put together nicely by Hugo Pilcher from Epic TV.

 

I want to greatly acknowledge our benefactors who supply us with outstanding gear that makes productions like that possible:

Clothing

- Rab

Photo equipment

- Nikon D4 and D800

- Nikkor 14-24 f2.8, Nikkor 16 f2.8, Nikkor 24 f1.5, Nikkor 24-70 f2.8, Nikkor 16-35 f4.0

- Nikon SB910 and Nikon SU-800 Commander

Lights

- Elinchrom Ranger RX S-version

- Elinchrom Ranger Quadra RX S-version (asymetric)

Triggers

- Pocket Wizard FlexTT5, ST4, AC3 Zone Controller, PlusII and PlusIII in repeater mode

Tripods

- Redged RNB-2

Batteries

- Eneloop XX (via Photofuture.it)

Video Lights

- Rotolight RL48 (via Photofuture.it)

Packs and Bags

- Pelicase and Clik Elite (via CameraLand.nl)

Do What You Love! - Our Facebook Story

When I received the first message from Facebook Headquaters, I thought somebody was making a prank. I have simply deleted it! Exactly one week later, a new message appeared in my inbox! An editorial producer at Facebook, asked me if we could have a telephone conversation. (I hope I don't need to explain how excited I have felt). It was one of the nicest telephone calls I had in a long time. Not only because, the story of my photo career would be featured by Facebook, but more importantly, because I had a chance to meet and talk to a wonderful person, Jeffrey Gerson, from Facebook Stories department. (BIG, I mean BIG THANKS, Jeffrey. I truly wish I could work with more as communicative and pleasant people, as you are, Sir ;) ).

Just to cut a long story short, me and Lumi have been asked to prepare a max 3 min. long video featuring the crazy developments from the last 12 months. The only problem was, Lumi, was in Spain. Exactly 15 min. after the telephone conversation with Jeffrey, I have called Lumi, and very quickly briefed her about the recent developments. (Poor thing, spent the whole next day on travel back to the Netherlands). The video shared by Facebook, has been put together in 48h, thanks to great help of Roger van Zaal, Ed Dorrestein (Alkmaar part) and most importantly Lumi, who shot the 80% of the clip, both here in Groningen (home / university ) and in the French Alps.

I won't bore you guys with more, unnecessary details. I have put this post together to acknowledge all these amazing people who during the course of the past 12 months helped me greatly in achieving my goals.

- Lumi who has shown unprecedented level of professionalism, devotion, kindness and understanding! I You are the best and the most sympathetic camera operator, ever!

- My dear friends, Antonio, Davide, Navid and Santi for their constant support, great help with projects (I owe you guys)!

- Nikon Europe, and their awesome Marketing Team, who did find the time to listen to my story, and provided me with an amazing opportunity of joining the ambassador programme!

- Pocket Wizard, especially Dave Shmidt, for listening to my story during Photokina, and providing with amazing new line of triggers, that make my climbers shine (literally)!

- "I love climbing" crew, especially Gaylord, from whom I have learnt quite a lot about social media and marketing|!

- Ed Dorrestein for mentoring, CameraLand crew, Redged Crew, ClikElite Crew for their photo equipment donations and invaluable product feedback!

- Corrado Cabras from photofuture.it, for friendship, advice, and great support concerning Eneloop, Rotolight, iProLens!

- Rab, especially Nikki Skinner, for constant support and outstanding outdoor gear!

... and finally, you, my dear Facebook friend who stumbled upon this blog. The greatest prize I could ever wish for, is your feedback and a sign of appreciation. THANK YOU!