New Traditional Photography Magazine

[vickersdc]

Hello everyone,

Apologies - this is a duplicate post, I've just found this particular forum after posting elsewhere within RFF.

I'm trying to get started a new magazine for traditional photographers - i.e. non-digital. The idea's only a few days old, but there's been so much support and help that it looks as if it's going live in mid-January.

The idea is to have a community magazine, written by photographers, for photographers - you get to set the direction of the magazine and ultimately how successful it is!

There will be freely available articles over at http://creativeimagemaker.blogspot.com (http://creativeimagemaker.blogspot.com/) and we're hoping to publish a paper version via lulu.com once a quarter.

This really is a magazine / e-zine for the photographic community and many people have already volunteered to write articles, supply images and so on. Currently the site is active and letting everyone know what's going on in the build-up to the 'launch-date'.

This project is a two-way street - you get to contribute, you get to say what happens and I hope you'll enjoy the buzz from it.

Please, if you get a moment head on over to http://creativeimagemaker.blogspot.com (http://creativeimagemaker.blogspot.com/) and maybe subscribe to the RSS newfeed so that articles can be sent directly to you.

Many thanks,

[vickersdc]

Hi all,

Thanks, your support for this idea has been fabulous and I'm just hoping that I can provide you with the sort of framework you'd like to see in a community magazine, and it seems several of you have popped over to look at the site ( http://creativeimagemaker.blogspot.com ) from here. We're also gaining members over on Flickr too and everyone is waiting to see what happens on the 15th January when the first real article goes live.

If you want to contact Creative Image Maker you can - I've set up an email address for the magazine and you can send your comments, articles, images, requests or whatever to creativeimagemaker at yahoo.co.uk (obviously replace the "at" with the usual "@" symbol).

Thanks to all of you - the future's black and white ;-)
David Vickers

[vickersdc]

Hi all,

I'd be really grateful if you all would pop over to the site and leave your comments about the decisions facing us with the paper version of the magazine.

You can leave comments at Creative Image Maker (http://creativeimagemaker.blogspot.com) or you can email creativeimagemaker at yahoo.co.uk and leave your thoughts there.

Many thanks,

David.

[dave lackey]

Hey, this is an interesting venture...

Love the concept. One thing that could be considered would be to have photographers sign up as associates (for an annual fee) to allow them to be published.

I know of one upstart magazine that was going to do such a thing but they were not traditionally-based. Not sure if they are still around.

Good luck !

[maiko9]

Over the decades, I've been involved in a number of hobbies, & it's always the same..... American magazines focus on equipment & contests, offering very little practical help other than a couple of short, grudgingly offered partial-page , often ill-conceived dissertations on subjects covered too many times before, while UK magazines focus on practical advice, solutions, & how-to articles. Their magazines are for hobbyists, ours are for consumers. They get it. I'll be following your endeavor with great interest.

[zuikologist]

I like the format of jpg magazine. I hope this is something similar. I will click onto the other site to have a look.

[vickersdc]

@maiko9: it's an interesting problem to have - deciding what goes in to the magazine. I'd like this to be full of interesting articles that cover a wide range of areas, that inevitably means that you probably won't see every article as being relevant to your needs. But someone will - I need to try and get the balance between beginners articles and more experienced, specialist articles.

@dave lackey: interesting idea - but not for this project I feel. I so want this to be a community-led project; in essence, I'm trying to provide a framework for you chaps (and chapesses) to put forward articles and images that you feel would be useful to others in the community. This never was about making a pot of money and nearly a week later, it still isn't ;-) Having said that, the paper version needs to be self-financing!

Thanks for your comments, keep 'em coming!

David Vickers.

http://creativeimagemaker.blogspot.com

[pesphoto]

sounds like a great thing..I'll be waiting for the first issue.
Would be cool for someone to do a regular feature on building a home darkroom.

[vickersdc]

@pesphoto: your wish is our command ;-) Best keep a look out in the new year over at http://creativeimagemaker.blogspot.com...

David

[shadowfox]

David, kudos to you!

[vickersdc]

Just a quick post to let you know that things continue on apace - I've hopefully managed to secure www.creativeimagemaker.co.uk (http://www.creativeimagemaker.co.uk) with a view to a future dedicated website that we can call our own and I've also applied for an ISSN (basically an ISBN for magazines).

Remember, until the first article on the 15th January, you can keep up-to-date with all the goings on and be involved in the decisions over at http://creativeimagemaker.blogspot.com.

Thanks,
David.

[vickersdc]

What an amazing week it's been! I figured you might be interested in an update on what we have achieved in one week. The site itself has been visited over 750 times with over 1,200 page impressions. I'm sure they're not all my wife, so someone out there has been looking. Thanks to both of you ;-)

Last Friday it all kicked off and this site was started with a grand plan to start a magazine catering for the traditionalist photographic community. The first posts started and people started to get interested; the RSS newsfeed was set up and people have been subscribing to that.

Since then, we have had several offers of articles - thanks to Scott, John, Cheryl, Drew and others. Thanks too, to Rodrigo for his offer of help.

You can currently contact me at creativeimagemaker at yahoo.co.uk, but that's due to change now that the www.creativeimagemaker.co.uk web address has been secured. This means that I can now setup a dedicated web site and thanks to 'Mark', who through his generous donation has allowed me to get the web hosting we need to see this through. That's Xmas taken care of ;-)

This does mean however, that the first article, due to go online on the 15th January may well appear on the 'proper' site, and I'll be working hard to realise that goal. It would be nice to get it right from the start, rather than have to move everything over later on.

As noted on a previous post, we've also got an ISSN for the magazine, which we can use for the PDF and paper copy, and I'm still looking to distribute through Lulu.com to ensure the widest possible coverage. In fact, I've already started to piece together the magazine, working on styles, fonts, layout and so on.

That just leaves me to say a final 'thank you' to everyone, whether you've just popped along to the site to see what it's about, or you're making a contribution. Remember, this is all about providing the community with a means to see what's going on, who's doing what and hopefully teach each other various techniques along the way.

David Vickers.
http://creativeimagemaker.blogspot.com

[Paul Jenkin]

David,

Just seen this for the first time. I love the idea and, as it happens, I've recently written to Photography Monthly (to which I currently subscribe) bemoaning the fact that they might as well call themselves Digital Photography Monthly as there's bugger-all reference to film made in the magazine anymore - well what there is can be described, at best, as tokenism.

Anyway, I'll definitely be interested in following developments (excuse the pun) but as I use both digital and film, I'd hate to see it be film exclusively. Why do we have to choose? We don't...! Why can't it just be about photography?

Don't get me wrong, I now have an M6 kit and I love it. But I also love my D200 / S3 Pro and the various Nikkor lenses I have. I get off on making photos and it makes not one iota of difference how I do it as far as I'm concerned.

I think it's fantastic that you're breathing some life into film. Truly fantastic. However, can we please avoid 'photographic fundamentalism' as I call it as it can get a bit claustrophobic and limiting to be continually there only one true faith..!.

Cheers, Paul.

[vickersdc]

Hi Paul,

What am I to do?! I get emails saying the same thing as you, and then I get emails saying how great it is to have a traditionalist-only approach!

At the end of the day I see myself as a facilitator for whatever the photographic community wants. I hope that it remains about the tradiitonal side of photography, but I also want to focus on the image. There are so many magazines now catering for the digital side of photography that I do feel that the traditionalists are losing out (at least as far as magazines go - one only has to visit forums such as this one, APUG or the large format photography forum to realise how popular the medium still is).

These are still very early days and many ideas are still forming in my mind (and others it has to be said!), so we'll see what the future brings. But for now, I hope that this project gives an outlet to amateur photographers, whether they be experienced specialists, or beginnners, to get together, read about each others experiences, learn from each other and enjoy the pictures. I hope you do too.

Personally speaking, I don't hate digital at all - in fact, I use it quite a bit and this project wouldn't be running if it wasn't for digital; but for my personal stuff I love using film, the cameras, the processing and seeing the resultant image on the negative.

Cheers,
David.

[vickersdc]

So, the dates have been set - the first article will appear on the 15th January and the website will go live a couple of days before, on the 13th.

Before that however, it might be a good idea to get a couple of people to test the site. Would any of you be interested? This testing won't need to be done until around the end of the first week in January, and it'd be useful to check the site out, make sure various links work and that the layout works with your internet browser.

I'm thinking that if we can get 4-5 people running PC's, Mac's with assorted browsers then it'll give me some chance of ironing out any problems before the 13th.

Hope you help - either send me a PM via this site, or email me at creativeimagemaker at yahoo.co.uk

Cheers,
David.

[vickersdc]

Just thought you might be interested in a new competition that will start when the website goes live on January 13th 2008.

It's been inspired by a comment made by a contributor (Christopher Walrath) who has written a couple of articles for the magazine, and it's one of those articles that brought about the idea for a competition.

You'll have to wait until the new website hits the 'net for more details, but although there's no actual prize (other than the self satisfaction of being pronounced the winner - you will have your winning entry included in the paper version of the magazine in April)!

So, for more details look to www.creativeimagemaker.co.uk on the 13th January.

Cheers,
David Vickers.

[jlw]

So, in this new venture's view I find that I am not "creative" if I make my photographs with my Epson R-D 1.

Then again, if I make the same photos with my Canon VI-T and get prints back from Walgreen's, suddenly I have been anointed with "creativity."

In other words, here we go again (sigh)...

I realize that it's necessary for any magazine to have a "niche," but tying "creative image making" exclusively to processes involving dead cow hooves seems likely to be a tediously self-absorbed, sanctimonious little niche...

[jlw]

Over the decades, I've been involved in a number of hobbies, & it's always the same..... American magazines focus on equipment & contests, offering very little practical help other than a couple of short, grudgingly offered partial-page , often ill-conceived dissertations on subjects covered too many times before, while UK magazines focus on practical advice, solutions, & how-to articles.

Start reading the Brit magazines more closely, paying attention not only to the article content but the ad mix, and you'll realize that they tend to be in bed with their advertisers much more than would be considered acceptable in US journalism.

Readers of US mags constantly kvetch that the editorial content is too considerate of the advertisers -- but sometimes in Brit mags that content is out-and-out sponsored by an advertiser, often without very clear notice.

It's the same in Brit classic-car magazines, another segment I read regularly. Yes, it's great to see a multi-page, lushly photographed feature on the major historical significance and fabulous driving qualities of the 1954 Prosciutto Mille Miglia GTS. But some of the luster comes off when you turn the page and find a full-page ad from an auction house noting that, by amazing coincidence, the very same 1954 Prosciutto Mille Miglia GTS just lauded in the feature will be coming up on their auction next month. It tends to make me suspect that even if the Prosciutto were an insignificant, worthless sh*tbox, the content of the article would have read exactly the same...

[gnashings]

This is awesome - great idea, and one that I think will at least take an edge off the streams of prophanity that fly out of me at the news stand "photography" section!:)
I just finished reading everything so far on line, and when I get home I will have to see if there is any way I can contribute!

Keep up the wonderful effort - hope this gathers momentum!

Peter.

[ChrisPlatt]

Hey! I had a Prosciutto, and it's no sh*tbox!

Chris

[Steve Bellayr]

You have a very narrow market here but maybe you can expand it by notifying Nikon & Leica, etc. camera groups. They still have interests in traditional film. Good Luck. & keep us updated.

[vickersdc]

@jlw - I'm sorry to hear that you obviously don't like the idea. For sure, it's not going to be for everyone and the whole idea is that I am able to facilitate other photographers to share their experiences and images they have gleaned over the years. In fact, one contributor that has submitted an article has written about film photography from a beginners point of view.

There are many places where one can get information about digital imaging nowadays, and this project is not about that. The name for this project 'Creative Image Maker' came about because of the creativity required to make an image whether it's processing a roll of 35mm in a Jobo ATL processor, coating glass plate negatives, using Polaroid image transfer techniques or whatever.

Please don't mistake me for being anti-digital. I utilise my Nikon D40 quite alot and in particular for my more 'commercial' outpourings seen at http://www.davidvickers.co.uk with film being for my own more personal work.

I hope that you'll at least stop by the website when it goes live and see what is happening; and watch it grow over the weeks and months to come. If you like, stick around; if not, well that's unfortunate, but then I'm not trying to please everyone.

By the way, as this is a community project, there is no advertising. This is not about creating a huge revenue stream. It is about creating somewhere for photographers to share their knowledge and where others can (hopefully) be inspired by what they find on the site. It will thrive on the ideas, comments and support of that community and I hope that I can create the framework that makes it happen. There's several people out there who are helping out in this project and all are volunteering their time and effort to make it work. Without them, it won't happen as I don't have the time and experience to write so many articles on such a diverse range of subjects.

If you get a chance, pop over to http://creativeimagemaker.blogspot.com to find out a bit about the behind-the-scenes stuff if you haven't already.

@gnashings: glad to have you on-board! I hope you'll enjoy the thrill of seeing your work published, whether it's images or articles. There's also a Flickr group (Creative Image Maker) where you can post your images if you'd like. You can PM me here, via FlickrMail or email me at creativeimagemaker at yahoo.co.uk.

Many thanks,
David Vickers.

[vickersdc]

You have a very narrow market here but maybe you can expand it by notifying Nikon & Leica, etc. camera groups. They still have interests in traditional film. Good Luck. & keep us updated.

Hi Steve,

Do you really see it as a narrow market? Interesting comment, but I have to say that I'm not sure I agree with you on that one. Film is enjoying something of a renaissance at the moment as can be seen by the activity of groups such as this, APUG, Large Format Photography forum, Choose-Film, etc.

I realise that sales of digital equipment is far outstripping film equipment, but many people are still enjoying film.

And then there are the myriad of processes, techniques, camera equipment and so on that can be covered. This subject is HUGE :-)

I hope you'll visit the 'proper' website on the 13th January when it goes live and read the first article on the 15th. After that, it's only going to be one article a week, so it's got to be worth spending 10 minutes, once a week, to see what's happening.

Cheers,
David.

[eric_lajeunesse]

good idee !!!
I will like paticiper has your future project

au plaisir eric

[MartinP]

I'm pleased to see the project is alive :)

May I make one suggestion ? Over the next couple of weeks there will be a lot (we hope) of people curious about the site, so how about a static page explaining about what will be coming - and perhaps giving a link to the blogspot ? At the moment there is an advertisement from the hosting company, why not an advertisement for your publication instead ?!

Keep up the good work, and happy new year etc.

MartinP

[vickersdc]

@eric: bonjour monsieur! Vous pouvez ecrire en francais!

@MartinP: thanks for that idea! Been so busy with everything else that I hadn't even checked to see what is currently at the proper web address! I'll take a look and see if I can change it as you suggest. Thank you.

[vickersdc]

To go with the nice shiny new website that's planned, I figured it made sense to have a proper email address - one that ended in creativeimagemaker.co.uk. An email was duly setup and that's where the problems started!
Personally, I'm not too bothered about using the current Yahoo email address - it seems to work fine and there's a couple of other advantages to me in using it. However, I guess that it doesn't look too 'professional' and I can see the advantages in having a 'proper' email address.

Anyhow, I've setup an email address which is info at creativeimagemaker.co.uk which seems to work OK from some email addresses - although, it now appears that emails originating from Yahoo, gmail, hotmail and BT may not be being received by me.

So - can you (and I know this could open the flood gates!) send me a quick email from your accounts so that I can check this properly. I've tried from my Yahoo account (did not work) and from a Vodafone account (did work). If you can make the subject line "Testing Times", then I can easily seperate these test messages out from any others. Remember, email: info at creativeimagemaker.co.uk if you can.

I will reply to each one - so if you don't get a reply within a day or two, it's likely that I didn't receive it.

Apart from this hiccup, the website build continues on apace, with the various sections coming together nicely. Something tells me that January 13th might come round sooner than I expect!

Happy New Year to one and all.
David Vickers.

[vickersdc]

To go along with the new website, there's a new email address (which is active now) if you would like to contact this project. The email address info@creativeimagemaker.co.uk can be used to submit comments, ideas, thoughts, articles and images.

Speaking of images, the first Feature Image has been selected for the website and there's a photo gallery that will need some more images in it too. I'll be looking through the Flickr 'Creative Image Maker' group at http://www.flickr.com/groups/555449@N25/ to select some for the website. Take a look at the group pool of photos if you get a chance - there's some great images.

The first article has also been chosen, but I'm not giving away any more as there needs to be something of a surprise for when it all goes live on the 13th Jan.

Thanks,
David.

[vickersdc]

It's just a couple of days until we go live and I can't wait! There's been a couple of set-backs, but we'll deal with those in a moment.

The site is just about ready - a couple of finishing touches which I'll do Sunday morning, before publishing the site. I'm looking forward to getting it live, as I'd like to spend some time with my wife and daughter!

Now, about those setbacks. One contributor, John Cowie, was going to write an article but is due in hospital thanks to a bad leg. I'm sure you'll wish John a speedy recovery - then he can use that rest and recuperation time to write that article ;-)
The article that I was hoping to lead with has had to be put back one week to give out writer a chance to complete it! I can't wait for this one, and he was always up against it to produce the article against a pretty tight deadline. Not too worry, as it just so happens that I've a couple of spare articles knocking around that have been sent in!

I'd just like to say a huge "Thank You!" to those who have sent in their writings and images, as well as to those who have pledged articles.

Now for the one big setback...

Despite that fact that we haven't actually gone live yet, I'm busy writing a new website. It turns out that the web hosting package that I purchased (that clearly advertised an 'unlimited' number of pages) only had a very limited number of pages - 66 maximum. Whilst that might sound like a lot - it was arranged as 6 top level pages, each with 10 sub-level pages. That's it - no sub-sub-level pages, and no more than 10 pages per top level page.

Considering the number of articles that I'm hoping we can produce throughout the year, we're not going to get too far with that restriction.

So, I've had to start back from scratch, loading up an web-server and Perl language scripts on my laptop. I've had to dust off a few brain-cells from my days as a Systems Administrator working on UNIX systems to create the new site!

So, don't get too comfy with the version 1.0 of the Creative Image Maker site! I reckon we'll be renting that space for about a month whilst I write version 2.0, then we'll switch over.

Anyway, until then, enjoy http://www.creativeimagemaker.co.uk when it goes live on the 13th January (when we'll also launch the competition). The first article will be on the 15th.

Thanks to all those who have helped with advice, work, comments, pictures and to all those who have joined the Creative Image Maker group on Flickr ( http://www.flickr.com/groups/555449@N25/ ).

David Vickers.

[vickersdc]

I've just pressed the 'Publish Site' button, so I guess that means we're now live at http://creativeimagemaker.co.uk.

You might find that there's a slight delay before you actually see the site - don't worry; because of the way the internet works, the changes need to be propagated throughout the web (for those in the know, the Domain Name Servers need to be updated and could take up to 24 hours).

Cheers,
David.

[vickersdc]

I'm very pleased to announce that Fotohuis RoVo have sponsored the competition in the Creative Image Maker online magazine.

The winner of the competition, entitled "The Image Within The Image" will win a 'creative film set' in either 135-36 [exposures] or 120 roll-film.

For further details, visit the magazine site at http://creativeimagemaker.co.uk if you get a chance, or the competition sponsors at http://www.fotohuisrovo.nl.

Thank you,
David.

[vickersdc]

Well, we are now one week old and what a success it's been! Thank you all for your support and coming to visit the site at http://creativeimagemaker.co.uk.

There's been a marvellous response and it's been great receiving your mails, with the vast majority seeming to like the new site.

So, how well have we done? Well, in the first seven days there's been just over 750 visits and an amazing 3,615 page views (now, that can't have all been down to my wife). Actually, my wife has still to visit the site so she's still a little perplexed about what it is that takes up my spare time!

There's a new article going up tomorrow (Tuesday 22nd January) which I think you'll find really interesting.

The build of version 2.0 of the site continues apace and I had a bit of a breakthrough over the weekend with how articles will be displayed - nothing fancy, I just wanted a particular look and neat coding! So far, the article archive has been sorted out, as has the competition page, the gallery and featured images - I reckon another couple of weeks should see the new, new site completed and ready for switchover.

Again, thank you for the support you have shown - keep popping by to check out the latest articles and images.

Cheers,
David Vickers.

[vickersdc]

There are quite a few things to update you all on...

1. The switch to version 2.0 of the website.
2. Paper-based magazine.
3. Up-coming feature images and articles.
4. Other news.

*** Version 2.0 ***
The bulk of the new website is ready, but it's always a bit of a catch-up as each week passes by as I have to upload new items to the current site and then convert them for the version 2.0 site. The quicker we can get the switchover done, the better!

The change to the new site will mean that it will be unavailable for 24-48 hours whilst the changes percolate through the internet. That switchover may well be happening this week once I'm happy that it is sorted with the hosting provider (there are currently 'issues' around finances for this - i.e. I want a refund!).

*** The Paper Magazine ***
It would appear that the idea for a print-on-demand magazine will not be happening. I received the samples from Lightning Source (whom, I must add, were extremely helpful), but the quality of image reproduction just wasn't what I had hoped for.

This is a bit of a blow in the whole plan, but undeterred I have found a good ol' traditional printer who could well save the day! It's likely that there will not be a magazine in April as I had originally hoped, but with luck June may be more realistic - and here is where you can help me... I will need to have a rough idea of how many people are interested in a proper, quality magazine so that I can obtain pricing. You can email me at info@creativeimagemaker.co.uk (subject line "Paper mag") and let me know. It'll give me an idea of whether I'm looking at printing 500 copies, or 5.

*** Future Features ***
There are so many articles in the pipeline that I want to put them all up on the site now! It's becoming hard to choose what should go up and when! This is fabulous and I'd like to thank those that have already been published and all those waiting in the wings for their work to be published. Over the next couple of months we've got...

- An article by Dorothy Kloss about building a darkroom;
- Several article by Christopher Walrath covering a range of subjects (Chris was one of the first people to contribute and he's still waiting to see his work in the magazine - sorry Chris, it's coming, honest!);
- Stan L-B writes about why light matters;
- Jason Brunner, whom some of you may recognise from the APUG forum, has written a piece about the Fotoman 6x17 camera;
- Jim Read tells us about creating cyanotypes;
- Tom Overton provides follow-on information about the use of coffee as a developer;
- Do you buy equipment from eBay? I know I do, and John Sawula has written an article about it;
- Even I am getting in on the act! I've written articles on the Nikon EM camera (a much under-rated camera), and I'll be kicking off the beginners series with a look at the equipment one needs to create your own images...
- ...and I've also got a Polaroid special planned as well (in spite of recent announcements about Polaroid!).

Feature images are going from strength to strength as well - today (10th Feb) will see not one, but two feature images! Thanks to Dennis Cordell and Alan Huntley for their kind permission to use their photographs.

*** Other News ***
As I'm sure you are all aware by now it's been an interesting time in the world of photography. Fuji unveiled their prototype medium format rangefinder - a 6x7 folding camera and we await to see if it actually makes it in to production in the future. Polaroid, on the other hand, have announced the closure of two factories with the loss of several jobs. This is a great shame to those of us who use Polaroid films - especially for image transfers and emulsion lifts as the Fuji film just doesn't work the same way. It's interesting to note that Polaroid is ready to licence the technology and I wonder who will take over the production of Polaroid films - let's hope someone does!

With that, I'll end there. Please stop by the magazine site over the week to see all the new features. It's at... http://creativeimagemaker.co.uk

Thanks,
David.

[vickersdc]

The current Creative Image Maker website will be updated early next week (week commencing 18th Feb) and this will mean a loss of service for a few days.

The current site does not allow us enough room for expansion as there is a limit on the number of pages allowed and it also has a fixed hierarchy of those pages. We are already near the limits on the articles section and so this update is needed. The new site provides us with much more freedom and I'm looking forward to getting it uploaded.

The new site has a familiar feel to it, although there are some minor differences - particularly in the way that articles will be displayed; with the new site, articles will appear in a new window. Navigation remains broadly similar as do the section titles.

The current site will have to be pulled first, before the new site can be uploaded; following that the domain name servers (that allow your computer to go to the site) will need to be updated and that can take 24-48 hours. I'm looking to start this on Monday, with a view to normal service resuming on Wednesday.

As an additional thing, I'm wondering whether it's worth re-instating the Gallery? I definitely want to keep the Feature Images as that seems to be a real hit, but I'm not so sure about the Gallery - especially when there's Flickr, APUG, et al. What do you think?

Also, I haven't been pushing the events / exhibitions / camera club sections as I've been concentrating on getting articles and images - do you feel that this section is worth building up (I'm happy to do it, if you think it's worth it)?

That's all. Remember that it is a magazine for you and I do value your input, we wouldn't be here without it after all!

Cheers,
David.

[KoNickon]

Somehow I missed this before -- sounds and looks very promising.

[vickersdc]

Somehow I missed this before -- sounds and looks very promising.

What! How could you miss it?!

;-)

[KoNickon]

I'm asking myself that same question!

[vickersdc]

Finally the site is going through the update process, having been taken down by the service provider.

This was the first step in the process - the original site had to be removed to allow me to get a better web hosting agreement. The new site can then be uploaded and the domain pointed at the new server.

I'm currently waiting for some information about the new server before I can upload the version 2 site. It's slow going this update, but at least we have made some progress!

I'll keep you posted.

David.

[vickersdc]

As reported on Thursday, the old site has been taken down to make way for the new site. We had to take the old site down first as the service provider could not run two separate hosting services at the same time - as we cannot point the creativeimagemaker.co.uk domain name at two places at once.

As I'm sure you are aware, I've been very unhappy with this hosting provider and when they finally took down the site (four days late), I purchased a hosting plan with their sister company. With the monies out of the account, I got a response from the site that I would be sent information allowing me to start the process of uploading the new site.

By the end of Friday I still had nothing. I sent in a support call and I'm still waiting for a response.

So, as I write this, we have no site up and running, I can't upload the new site as I don't have the server information I need and I'm guessing that I won't get a response until Monday.

I've also asked for a refund as their customer support service is just appalling. I'll try and find a company that actually responds to their customers!

I'm hugely frustrated and disappointed by this setback - but rest assured that the project is still alive and well, and I'll get the magazine back online as soon as possible.

Thanks for your patience,
David Vickers.

[vickersdc]

Right... there's a new web provider, new functionality and a new site!

The site is up and running, but is still heavily under construction (still has the virtual scaffolding around it). I have decided to go for a proper content management system that will certainly make life easier for me as we go forward.
It was actually quite a 'difficult' decision to make - I'd already recoded the old website so that I could just upload it, but when I started to think about the project as a long-term proposition, it just didn't make sense to carry on having to hand-code articles.

The new site uses a content management system and it will take me a bit of time to get it looking right and setup for our purpose - but in the meantime, if you don't mind donning your virtual hard-hat and stepping in to the building site, the articles will still be appearing and I've uploaded some of the older articles and posted this weeks Polaroid Special.

As it's set at the moment, you will have to login (top right) of the homepage to get access - just follow the instructions.

Thanks,
David.

[vickersdc]

Just a quick reminder that the 'Image Within An Image" competition closes on Monday night (31st March)! Submit your entries this weekend to have a chance at winning the prize kindly donated by Fotohuis RoVo.

For more information, look at the Creative Image Maker website: http://creativeimagemaker.co.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=25.

Thanks, and good luck!
David Vickers.

[vickersdc]

Hi All,

Just to let you know that I've improved the navigation on the Creative Image Maker website - you can now access the current weeks articles directly from the front page instead of having to go to the overall weekly view.

I hope it makes using the site even easier, as there have been a couple of comments in the past about finding your way around the site. As is the case with these things, it was an obvious solution that struck me like a bolt of lightning! I've also made it slightly more 'graphic', rather than just the plain ol' text that used to be there.

So, if you haven't been to the site for a while / at all - check it out.

Thanks,
David.