Not wanting to jinx anything but I really feel almost ready to launch the new site which has been sitting, under construction at the root level of imagi for a week.

The calamity of the weekend has been averted, and with James from work giving me a hand we have one big hurdle to get past and then it is ready. imagi v4.

It turned out after he had done some work, and I updated some modules for the site, that I must have copied some essential Drupal system modules as well. Consequently when I updated the Drupal installation all hell broke loose.

Fortunately it was all recoverable but I am guilty (and I know a lot of you are) of not backing up before the update. Always, always, always backup. I know if can be a ball-ache but when things go wrong and you are prepared it's all worth it.

Now the snap above isn't really my best side but I think it's kinda fun. I am twisted in the grimace because Marg, Nik's mum, had reached around Malc (Nik's dad) and grabbed me!

The weekend was horrific!

I worked on the new site with James, my colleague and IT guy from work. We had some problems with modules on the new update for Drupal and after James left I decided to update it myself rather than wait and do it with someone who knows what they are doing.

Somehow I managed to really kill the website and I could see nine weeks of work going down the drain.

Needless to say the next time I do anything major I will be backing up the system first, which is something I know to do but as many of you will understand sometimes can slip. Never again!

Consequently the site is damaged, but not dead so I can postpone my jumping off a tall building for the moment.

You know at this point I really wish I had just used one of the set templates for a CMS system rather than trying to learn loads of new web-building techniques. Hey, maybe in a year a so when I am not destroying whole websites I will look back on this and go "hey, that was actually a very positive thing and I learnt alot".

Then again, maybe not!

I am not sure I have had much to say on imagi of late. We all have ups and downs with personal projects and that, coupled with trying to get my head around Drupal, the CMS system I am using for the rebuild, means I haven't really been 'into' posting for the site.

I just hope I feel more inclined when it's ready to go up. God, what a waste of time that would be if, after I finish, I am less inclined to blog than with the original.

My boss is away on holiday soon, the lucky git. His departure makes me yearn to have a holiday too, but alas it doesn't look like we will at all this year. 8(

How totally crap is that?

While I am thinking of warmer shores, here (above) is a snap taken while boating under the giants near Los Gigantes, Tenerife.

Tenerife has been the destination of choice for so long, it even gets a category in the new site.

Our lawn is slowly but surely coming on. My Nik will be happy; she can get organising the garden parties and barbeques.

I noticed there was a sharp increase in user traffic to imagi the past month which, I have to say, I am at a loss for. I haven't been giving the blog my full attention or getting a lot of photography taken, as the new site eats what free time I have. Maybe everyone has been visiting on the off-chance that I manage to get the new site up. Yeah, maybe that's it.

The site is getting close now. I was tempted to put a temp link up so anyone who fancied a preview could have a gander, but I think that is just my impatient side, trying to move things along. Better to wait and have a working site than spoil people's experience with a shoddy preview.

What a glorious weekend! Far too good to be in on the computer.

Actually that is not strictly true. I did work with James on my site a little but we uncovered some pretty major flaws in its construction so I have to backtrack a little which means further delays. (Hell that's no problem as long as I get it online at some point this year).

It's looking like the end of this month may be the launch date so we shall see.

I didn't have much time and only got the camera out in the garden. I liked (above) this shingle shot but there's not a huge amount to it, so see what you think.

Nik and I went to help her brother move into his new place with his girlfriend after work.

I am not posting too much tonight as I am whacked out, but I have just got time (and energy enough) to post a snap I took of Malc and RIk checking out the drains!

Anyone else feeling the heat?

Let's just say I have a little more padding on my torso than I like, and I really can't shed heat very well, so today, after a work meeting in full attire, I really need to chill out. Don't get me wrong, it is so good to have the sun return to Albion, but really, when am I ever satisfied?

In light of the delay on the new site I am still posting here, to old imagi. This (above) is another shot from the charity fashion show I shot with my colleague from work. It occurs to me as I type that, while I liked the overall position of the bride and her maids, it does look a little like the girl on the left it covering her face rather than blowing cute kiss. (I thought I would just mention that, to clear it up).

Congratulation to my friend Minty (from Menagerie fame ). He has his new pad in London and it sounds smoking. So beer and food round his then. ;)

Note – it will be nice when I have the new site so people can actually comment on my comments so it doesn't look like I am talking to myself all the time.

Right?

Hello?

Anyone there? ;)

OK, James from work couldn't help me over the bank holiday so I still haven't got the new site to a point where I can use it.

I did manage to get out in the city and Bradgate park, where I took a bunch of fairly mediocre shots, with the odd one having some potential (one of which I have posted above). You may notice the thumb and main photo format are slightly larger and have no surround. This is because the new site uses bigger photos and the frames for the pictures are in CSS not on the actual images themselves. I am just trying to get used to this new format now, before the other site is ready.

I am not making a new page for this month as, hopefully, I will be getting the new site up.

I have been processing some photos I took of a charity fashion shoot, one of which is above.

I can't remember the last time I didn't post for as long to the blog. Between getting a new computer, installing the software 'fresh' and doing the first photo shoot I have done in ages, I just haven't had the time.

That isn't strictly true. I have had the time eventually but what little time I had I wanted to at least make an appearance with Nik, so she didn't feel completely on her own.

It's strange but once I started to do the new full install on the system I had to wipe the lappy too. You know computers are like houses, you just have to spring clean them now and again for them to return to their full glory.

So what's new?

I did a photo shoot with Ian from work. I think it went ok; I haven't even looked at the pictures yet other than on the back of the camera. How crap is that? I think they will be fine.

Work is good. I am still trying to get better at web work, coincided with my work on the new site.

As I have said the new version of imagi should be up for the end of this week, but the new gear has put me at least a week out. If I manage to get James from work to help this weekend I may get it to a place where I can post it up Sunday or Monday.

Maybe?

Oh and I have a confession. They new system packs a serious amount of graphical wallop, so they odd game or two has snuck onto the PC Vista partition of boot camp.

And these games sure are addictive.

Keeping with the flowery theme (below).

I am off with my pal from work (Ian) to shoot a fashion shoot for the charity Rainbows, which I really looking forward to. It will be the first time I have picked up the camera in quite a while.

Nik and I are stuck in because the weather is so lousy. So to make her feel better, and to give me something to post, I am adding this photo of the beautiful colour of spring (with some enhancements from Photoshop of course). With any luck our garden should bloom with similar colours, should the sun ever decide to make an appearance.

The new website progresses, although I am not sure it will be ready over the next two weeks (deadline is end of this month).

I have had a few, new people visiting imagi saying how much they enjoy my photos. To all of them who emailed me recently, thank you for stopping by and I am very happy you like my photography. Please come back when the new site is up and running after April (fingers crossed) and feel free to comment on any pieces that give a reaction – good or bad (I honestly don't mind constructive criticism. After all, one man's meat...).

I really have nothing new or good to post at the moment so I dug up this oldy from my visit to Kent about 2 years ago (yes, it has come to that). The guy singing was fantastic and I wish I had taken more shots of him. Who knows, maybe I will catch him again this summer if Nik and I take a trip to visit her friend Rachel, and her husband Jey, who live there.

I thought I might type for bit today. I am still trying to get my head around the CMS system I am using to make the new imagi so get little time normally.

Thank goodness for James, out tech guru at work, who is helping me for a couple of hours at the weekends. He does help to speed things up a bit.

My Mac Pro still hasn't been shipped so I suppose the customisation is taking longer than usual. I really can't wait until I get the new computer. With the passing of my old PC, a machine that I made almost 6 years ago, I feel the need for new tech.

At the moment I do all my work on my Macbook Pro, which I have had for two years (man, that has flown by).

My other machine, the 17" Powerbook, which had stopped working, has gone off to a new home. A guy found me through eBay who wanted one for spares. He need the laptop in a hurry, so I obliged. It got there safe and he hasn't been in touch so I presume all went well.

Chromasia is posting a few HDR images at the moment, and this put me in mind to have a go myself. I haven't played with HDR in quite a while. To be honest, I think its application is limited at the moment. It really can make images seem quite bizarre, and they can take quite a bit of work to get to any particularly useful standard. That said, Mr Nightingale at Chromasia seems to be doing ok.

So the image (above) was taken from 3 bracketed shots, each a stop apart. I recombined in ARC and played around with it a bit in Photoshop. See what you think.

I am note sure if this is good luck or bad. The PC has just died, but I am getting a Mac Pro pretty soon. I did want to keep the PC desktop for mundane tasks, like downloading and such, but it seems to have shuffled off that digital coil.

Nik and I were thinking of getting a canvas made of the above photograph. I have reprocessed it, this time with subtle tints of colour in the distance, rather than making it black and white like the original.

So with the PC going down and a million other things, I am thwarted with any Druple time and hence the deadline on the new site looks far too close for comfort.

I realise you may be getting bored with skating shots so I will make this the last one.

Nik prefers this shot to the first one I took of her last month.

With my poor 'bruvar' Rick having his photo put online, (below) on the 1st, it seems only fit that I put up a picture now of his lady.

Now Luce, with all your flailing around on the ice, you didn't really think you were getting away without me taking a photo or two, did you?

I guess the question you are asking is, did she fall over? In her defence Luce made a made grab for the side of the rink and escaped disaster. Much to my chagrin! ;z (What a photo that fall would have made – oh well!)

Below is a shot for the kiddies, of them at the side of the ice rink. This one, unlike the photo from the 1st, is a little more romantic (and flattering! Sorry about that shot on the 1st Rik but I had to post it ;) ).

As you know, if you have been visiting imagi, I am laboring over the new version of the site, which doesn't leave me that long to post to the old. So sorry if things are a bit sparse here on the blog. I will keep posting the odd photo. Promise!

Whatever next? Recycling the old graphics from previous pages? Has it really come to that?

Yep! I am afraid so, if I am ever going to get this new website up and running.

Here is another excerpt from the ice skating at the weekend (above).

That is actually the face I pull all the time when I skate.