People are People Too.

You know who they are, they sit on the side of the road with a sign while you are on your way to work, they are just there to annoy you because they dont want to get a job or get over their drug habit.  No matter how many people say no and how hot it is outside, they dont go away!  UGH!  Homeless people, thats what I am talking about.

For some reason the title of homelessness downgrades a person to nearly non-human status.  It allows us to make excuses not to care, maybe its just in our human nature or maybe its because we dont want to know what struggle is.  But they are there and if we opened our eyes a little bit we could see past the dirt and get past the smell to see that these are people who need love.

Certainly love is the answer to our problem with poverty throughout the world.  Poverty is a cycle and a very viscous one at that.  Today a group of people went out to show some love on Mother's Day.  People gave the women make-overs and new clothes.  They received roses and took photographs to show that yes, they are beautiful.

The event was on San Julian St in Skid Row.  Skid Row isnt for the faint of heart, you come hard or you go home.  But so many people came and they came to serve and show love.  There usually isnt a whole lot of smiling or dancing that goes on down there, but today that all changed.  Even people in wheel chairs danced.

Ok, work is paying off, new site is finally live.

So, some may know that I have been building a brand new GarsteckPhotography.com.  This is very exciting to me and I would love some feedback and input on the site.  I will keep tweaking it till everything is perfect...

Now, what I expect to accomplish with this website.

First off, the intro.  Its your first impression when you come to my website.  If you think the picture doesnt capture you, then just wait.  I have three pictures for the intro and which one that is displayed is picked randomly everytime someone enters the website, so it might not be the same one everytime.

Second part - Easy as pie navigation.  I want my website to be so simple to get where you are going.  In the Air Force, we called it Army Proof.  So if there is something you think should be changed to make it easier to navigate without cluttering up the design then let me know.

3rd part - I want my pictures to be the focus, so i cant have all sorts of things distracting your eye when looking at pictures.  So when you click on an image, the background fades away so that you are able to easily focus on the picture.  When you click off to the side, the picture goes away and the background fades eases back to normal.

4th- my portfolio, the site is only as good as the pictures on the site.  I dont want content overload, so no more than 12 pictures need to be displayed, in fact that may be too many.  So I need help deciding which pictures should go or stay.  Suggestions are great on this part.

5th, the contact form.  It goes straight to my email so if you have comments or anything, let me know.  Try it out, send me a message so I can work out any bugs.

Again, let me know if there is anything that can be better.

As of right now, Im already working on things to make the site better for the viewer.  I am making the whole site able to be resized.  Not everyone has the same size browser so you will be able to see the pics as big or small as you need it to be.

I am making the thumbnails less cluttered.  I want a little more space.

Finally, some people have trouble working through some parts of the site.  I would like to think that I have made it so simple that people dont know how to deal with it and overcomplicate things.  Well, I will be helping with that transition.

So, the website is www.garsteckphotography.com and enjoy :)

Things on the horizon.

What a great couple weeks of growing for me.  Im still getting accustomed to LA but Im growing to love it here.  Here is a little update on whats been going on.

Last week I had a photo shoot with an amazing band called Petree.  They have a CD coming out soon and you will definitely want to pick up a copy of it.  I built a small landing page for them as well, www.petreeofficial.com.  Check it out and tell me what you think.  The photo shoot was at a place called the Jesus Wall Studio.  It was definitely unique and we all had a great time.

For me, I am learning how to lead and take control with these shoots.  For a photographer to be a photographer he has to be in control.  He has to take his vision and combine it with his experience and knowledge in order to make a successful final product.  For me, all the technicals are there besides the leading part.  I am just a laid back person and let people do what they want.  For the most part that works, but in cases where you are shooting band promo shots, you have to tell the people what to do because they give you a specific vision to shoot for.  They dont have the expertise, you do and all eyes are on you.

Also, I've started another project.  I have been wanting to do a photo documentary for a while now and I have decided to just go full swing with the project.  I want to turn it into a book and hope and pray that it spreads like wildfire so that the reality of poverty in our country is realized on a personal level.  Oh, btw, I already designed the cover.  Its a rough draft but you can get the general idea.

I would love for any feedback as well on these projects.  I have a new website that will be going live, hopefully this week.  This is the first full website that I have designed and developed myself.  Later versions will have a shopping cart as well.