Taking the Leap!

» Posted by David Taylor on Jul 4, 2010 in Adventure, Alaska, Hatcher Pass, Hiking/Backpacking, Landscapes, Mountains, Photo Tour, Photographer, Summer, Waterfalls | 1 comment

Things might look kind of different around here. I’ve been threatening (myself mainly) to switch the theme and design of my site for some time now. I liked the old one, but it was kind of busy and had gotten a little stale over the past few months. So… I’ll try this one out for a while and see what everyone thinks of it. It is definitely a work in progress. This template, like the last, was created by Graph Paper Press (and then abused by Yours Truly). I like the simplicity of the design and emphasis on the images. Hey, I’m a guy. I like things simple. And I’m a photographer – so I like images. Time will tell.

The downside to this whole switchover? Well… I must assume the blame here. When I created my first website, I organized things poorly. Not the layout per se, but the backend structure. The folder system was not as friendly as it should have been. Hopefully, my new system will prove a more intelligent choice. Fingers crossed… But, because of the choices I made early on, I have to manually repopulate previous posts… yeah.

Now THAT sounds like fun. Errr… not. I also lose my tracking statistics. That is more of an ego thing, as I had just passed 30,000 unique visitors to the site. Oh well… *update* – Apparently, the stats were NOT lost in the transition. The plugin gave me the option to bring them forward during the installation process. One button press and presto-chango all is right with the world!

So, not all of my original posts will be available in the long run & I’ll add old ones as time allows. Probably, a “Greatest Hits” collection, if you will. This new website will be focused on SEO (that’s Search Engine Optimization). So, we’ll see how that works out as well. My plan is to continue with the blog/journal writing I’ve been doing now for roughly 2 years, but also add a stock photography site for image buyers, as well as update the galleries more frequently.

Enough with the boring site news… on to the images! I spent Friday with a solo tour client hiking in Hatcher Pass along Reed Lakes Trail. Jim Casteel is a talented young photographer from Colorado. He’s also an avid and experienced backcountry user, and I really had to work to keep up with him. Youngsters…

It never did rain on our hike, but it looked like it could at any moment. We hiked approximately 12 miles, and at the top of the trail we found that we were wading through the clouds. Not a beautiful day for hiking, but quite comfortable. This particular waterfall separates Upper from Lower Reed Lake, and plummets approximately 75 feet to a narrow ravine that flows into the lake below. It’s a very beautiful location, but also VERY slick. Jim slipped on a wet rock and smacked his Nikon D700 against a rock. His hotshoe “broke his fall”, and is badly dented – but as a testament to his Nikon equipment, it still functioned perfectly the rest of the trip. Thank goodness for insurance policies…

I hope you enjoy a few of the pics I brought back as well as the new format. Stay tuned…

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