As a semi-retired guy from Alaska, I’m busier than ever.
Designing and posting to this Travel Site is a new chapter in a long career in the graphic arts. I worked in commercial printing doing pre-press lithography, typesetting and layout work, most of my adult life. I also did a lot of photography along the way. In the early ’80’s I ran my own pre-press trade shop producing ‘camera-ready’ ad slicks and loose color separations from a 299L Hell drum scanner. It was a giant thing. We catered to local Ad agencies, PR firms and a few oil companies. That all ended with the advent of desktop publishing.
I’ve been using Photoshop since version 2.5. Yes, I’m that old.
I posted my first Web page to the ‘Net in 1996 and have freelanced photography and graphic design for quite some time.
Photography is my first passion… something I’m driven to do.
I’m finally back to selling Fine Art Photographic Prints via my new Site on ImageKind. The ImageKind ‘Widget’ in the sidebar on the right will take you to my 3 galleries. From there, you can order prints in several sizes and in several different configurations.
My photography spans more than 40 years. I still have B&W negatives from a Brownie box camera I used to photograph the aftermath of the Good Friday Earthquake of March 27th, 1964 in downtown Anchorage. I’ve shot with everything from half-frame 35mm to studio 4×5’s. Back then, I maintained a second darkroom at home with 3 enlargers so I could process and print my own composite black & white images. Today, I shoot a mix of digital SLR and medium format film, depending on the application. Even if I shoot to film, I still scan it and do all my ‘darkroom’ work in Photoshop.
A very special thanx to “ChiChi Consuelo” for assisting
with the pirate portrait and intro video.. Arrg!!!
Additional thanks for the tireless help of me First Mate, Nancy for technical assistance in every step!
About the Blog and Site Details:
My Blog is not your typical diatribe about the island’s upscale Casino hotels, its superlative golf courses or its health spas which attract the rich and famous.
Those are things we already know about Puerto Rico. None of that will be featured here.
To expose the heart and soul of Puerto Rico.. something missing from mainstream media.
A one man effort to demonstrate what makes Puerto Rico, “The Jewel of the Caribbean”. That said, I will also point out what to avoid and the cultural differences between the residents of Puerto Rico and mainland US, all in a most respectful way. I live by the adage- “When in Rome…”.
So I’ll be sampling everything the island has to offer, the food, the music, the culture and the history. I will be reporting on it here, a few times a month, allowing for any complications. A one man show of sorts… Anthony Bourdane, look out! Who knows, I might actually get a tattoo.
I’ve spent a lot of time researching the “Commonwealth of Puerto Rico” for this Web Site…
Besides 400 years of Spanish history and a very colorful past, Puerto Ricans are fiercely proud of their island. Whether it will remain a commonwealth of the US or not, only time will tell.
If I were to rate my Blog for ‘adult content’, I would say PG-13.
I will avoid any vulgar language or blatant nudity, I promise. However, I will be covering mature adult subjects like Casinos, Cock Fighting, the Night Life, ExPat stories and the seedier side of the island’s culture.
Noth’ns off-limits. Be Yee Warned… Arrg!
Winter is the most popular time to visit, for obvious reasons. Most tourists seldom venture out of San Juan. In my first trip of 5 weeks, I spent a little over a week in San Juan before taking off to explore the rest of the island.
That’s all history… After 46 years in Alaska, I moved to the island for good, 9 weeks later. I’ll miss Alaska, but I like Puerto Rico that much. Still do!
“After all, this Blog’s dedicated to folks like me,
free thinkers living on a budget who love to explore.”
Tools Used to Create the Dog’s Blog:
The “look and feel” for this Travel Blog was originally created on an old Dual Processor G4 Mac with an internal zero raid array, using Adobe’s Creative Suit. A custom WordPress theme was first created with Artisteer. A mature tool for Windoz, but still in beta for Mac at the time (2009). It has since been updated to a newer, responsive Genesis based theme from WPEngine (formerly StudioPress) where adaptable themes and hosting are all they do. And they do it very well!
WPEngine is dedicated to secure managed hosting and creating unique and impressive themes at a cost less that you’d think.
It is possible to put up a free WordPress Blog, but you are stuck with using their themes. Maybe not a big deal since they have dozens to choose from. WPEngine helps you create WordPress sites and content quickly with prebuilt content blocks, sections and full page layouts using Genesis Pro! Personal or Professional, even eCom with built in WooCommerce.
I also found myself having to learn to use FinalCut Express for editing YouTube videos so I could add title graphics, a Website watermark and music. Every frame of every video has the Website address incorporated. Me YouTube vids now have their own Page on the Dog’s Blog.
As of late 2011, I’ve retired the venerable DP G4 and aging 17″ MacBook pro and now work entirely from a 27″ iMac connected to several back-up hard drives. The Zero Raid is now mounted in an external Firewire 800 case.
Images and Video…
As far as camera gear goes, 95% of the still images were shot with an ‘aging’ Sony A100 D/SLR (10MP) along with 3 AF lenses- A very wide zoom, a short macro zoom and a medium telephoto zoom. Since about June of 2012, I acquired a Sony NEX-7 so that was my primary camera until I got my A7rII. They both allow me to shoot manually, which is more my style. The post about Isla de Cabras has a short review on the NEX-7.
Most of my shots are done with the very wide angle zoom.
I also recently scored a true macro lens and look forward to using it.
Images are enhanced for the Web via Photoshop and copyright watermarked. All my shots are protected under Creative Commons 3. This allows anyone to use them as-is, but NOT for commercial purposes and only if the watermark remains intact.
Almost all of me videos were shot with a simple VadoHD and edited in FinalCut Express as mentioned on my dedicated YouTube Page.