Journal of David Atlee @ Frozen Designs

David Atlee designs and builds websites, takes photos, plays with digital design and writes stories about odd things.
 
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    Stage 6 And so it launches…

    Monday, February 15th, 2010

    After a month of many long hours over numerous days and nights of designing, coding and getting over excited with the results, Frozen Designs version 7 is now live. Beyond the already blogged path of designing from content upwards, I have learned alot and it has helped push my skill sets. I have used alot of Javascript and I give thanks to those wonderful folk out there who provide the scripts to plugin and amend.

    I think my biggest gain has been going through alot of my old photos and giving them a polish and shine using HDR (high dynamic range) logic. What is HDR I hear you ask? Well when you take a photo it can only capture a certain range of light (and in turn colour and detail). So often to get a good balance of the main subject matter you lose detail in the darker and lighter areas. So true HDR, is to take 3 or more photos capturing the correct exposure for the dark areas, the medium areas and the light areas. Then using some software such as Photomatrix you combine the images to give you a final image that shows the detail across it and with it some fantastic results. You can read more about HDR here, I will admit that alot of my images are only using one image and some digitial magic in Adobe Lightroom, but this was due to the fact I did not take the photos with HDR in mind and so did not have the range of exposures required. Even so it is amazing what you visual information a RAW image contains and the results have been amazing compared to the now quite dull originals, please go see yourself. HDR is something I will have in mind with future photo shoots and I will set up the bracket exposure on camera.

    The design page I am very proud of, I still feel it needs some tweaking visually, but then in the words of Leonardo da Vinci ‘Art is never finished, only abandoned’ and a deadline for launch is proof of that. It was a chance to play with unique navigation ideas to view the imagery, again it allowed me extend my coding knowledge through image maps and CSS which is great way to create some fun interaction and still have accessibility in the framework. From here I want to work on design skills and improve what I can create visually using Illustrator and photoshop, maybe one day be featured in those design feeds I keep tweeting or passing on via my google reader shared items.

    Anyway, if you are reading this I hope you are at my website already, if you are viewing this through a rss feed, then go have a dig around.

    So with the website project relaunch at an end, what is next I ask myself. Well I have a new website to build for a client, need to get my creative writing back on track with posts to Imagine Tales along with a novella. Alongside these as mentioned, more photography and desiging of which the result will be posted up at my website and written about here. And I really do need to get out on my mountain bike.

    Till next time.

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    The Fall

    Monday, October 12th, 2009

    Once again  it has been a while since I posted to my journal and as ‘Fall’ arrives with all it’s colours I decided it was about time to write something here for all those unsuspecting people who according to ‘Google Analytics’ keep looking at my website.

    So what has happened over the last of the late summer that has befallen the UK? Well friends have been married and begin new lives, engagement  and babies are arriving with each new marriage and new eras are beginning all around me.  OK, yes I am thirty-something and friends who I still see with air of early twenties are taking another step into adulthood. But this is no bad thing and it comes with lots of smiles. I hope they all will be happy.

    As for me, I am still in that period of change that came up about this time last year and is still ongoing. Job interviews on the horizon (one tomorrow) and with luck I can finally start to plan abit further ahead than 6 months, maybe a snowboarding holiday or Alaska even and look at where I want to be in a few years.

    My recent projects have been heavily impacted from job applications and a couple of freelance web jobs for clients and their new maritime business ventures.  On my Imagine Tales website of short stories I have finished the five part story ‘The Grass‘. This tale was started many years ago and it sat going stale with no direction.  At the time I wanted to write of demons, I think I may of recently watched ‘Trainspotting‘ judging by the main characters addiction issues and was still heavily indulgent in ‘Hellraiser‘. But I really enjoyed coming back to this tale now that I want to take my wiriting more seriously.  One of the things I enjoy about posting upto the website on a regular basis is that it forces me to write and lets it flow with ease. I don’t have the time to revise and revise and rewrite, so what you get is whilst given some edit treatment, it is pretty raw still. Even I am often not sure how the story will develop until I sit down in from the of the computer and reread the last part for inspiration to carry on the tale.

    Prior to the ‘The Grass‘ I had written the ‘The School‘, a short story based on a dream that occurred last year, I rather manic time and one I wanted to escape and in which this tale highlights with alot of description. Dreams are funny things, some can be harrowing and leave you out of sorts for the new day, but then others leave you peaceful and calm. You have travelled and seen wonders, felt peace and all without leaving your bed.

    Anyway one must depart now and begin to think about that job interview tomorrow. Put aside those to be written stories of home furnishing stores of Hell and stealing time.  Till next time my little minions.

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    Unexpected Lease of Life

    Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

    Well it has been a while since I posted to this journal and to be honest I was about to bury it. But then from out of the blue my friend is hassling me and google analytics tells me people are visiting, so I was thinking maybe I should carry it on. To understand why my journal almost died I have to start at the beginning.  OK well not the beginning but about a month and a half ago.

    This journal started as an experiment in blogging and as part of a drive to get more traffic to my site. But I soon realised that my journal had little direction, no real specific subject matter or concept beyond me going on about stuff in my life. I wanted an outlet for my photography beyond my Frozen Designs portfolio, I wanted to give my photos more purpose. Along with the photography I was writing and coming up with lots of little bits of fiction as ideas popped into my head.  So I decided to combine the lot of it and gave birth (in a manner of speaking) to Imagine Tales.

    Imagine Tales - David Atlee's tales of imagery

    Imagine Tales is a new web venture for me, whilst frozendesigns.co.uk has been invaluable to me, I knew it was not suitable as it has always been a portfolio website and what I needed was more of an online book. So I ordered the URL, got a new wordpress installation ready and so it began. Hence why I have neglected this journal as my efforts have been directed elsewhere along with poor viewing statistics meaning I lost some motivation to update it.

    But now I think about it, this journal does have some purpose it is an chance to blabble myself about stuff that is going in my life, whilst few may read it, it is something to go look back over and remember what makes me me! Not to mention; be able to tell you about cool stuff and also it is another avenue to promote Imagine Tales. So please go check it out,  have a read and subscribe to be notified of new tales being posted.

    So what else is going on?

    Well I have ventured into the world of motorbikes, passing my CBT a little over a month ago and buying a Yamaha SR125 to zip around on. I gotta say it is fun and traffic no longer seems much of an issue nowdays! I am already feeling the urges for a bigger bike, but that will have to wait till I can afford the big bike test in a year or so. Until then I shall have to feel inadequate at the lights when the big bike pulls up next to me being ridden by a cute blonde chick; like this morning. Still at least I won’t be wrapping myself round a tree from getting too much power too soon.

    Mythical Creatures stamps from the Post Office

    Mythical Creatures stamps from the Post Office

    Today I purchased my first ever stamps for the purpose of collection, it is a new level of geek for me. But let me explain and who knows you could be buying them yourselves tomorrow, especially if you are a fan of the Sandman comics. It is the last release from the UK post office, and it celebrates the mythology of Britain, the artwork is by David Mckean and with it some sort pieces of creative writing by Neil Gaiman. You can get the Mythical Creatures stamps from the Post Office online or by queueing up, which is a feat of human endeavour in itself.

    Neil Gaiman has wonderful angle on everything, it’s a little bit off to the side of the typical perspective and in that unique. You will have more than likely seen his latest creation in the guise of the animated movie Caroline, whilst I have not seen it personally I have heard great reviews.

    So with the evening drawing near and I must embark upon my iron horse, well iron donkey anyway. I sign off for now and whilst I can not promise regular updates here, I will try to keep posting when I feel the need to shout from the roof tops. In the mean time go read some of my stories at Imagine Tales.

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