Refined my Website.

Refined My Website.

So I have been busy, the is great and no complaints. 12 weeks of straight work has meant that I neglected a few things along the way, one of which was my website. Now a couple of weeks ago I had a meeting with a prominent photographers agent from New York and had the opportunity to really go through and edit my site. This all came about thanks to the good people at Mastered, there are ongoing benefits to having done the course with Nick Knight and this certainly proved to be one of them.

As I said I had been working pretty much every day for weeks and was stressed out and feeling a bit burned out. My meeting was at 23:00 on skype, I was totally unprepared. Brent was a little late for the call, he is a busy guy which gave me 10 minutes to make some notes and then we were chatting. He cut straight to the chase and spoke about my style, it's darker qualities and how I should stay true to myself and my vision. We spoke about my desire to work in the wider Asian fashion market and in particularly Shanghai, for which he felt with a bit more work under my belt I would be a good fit. 

As we talked I made a comment which is becoming the mantra for my style, "There is much more life in the darkness". 

Have a look at my work, it is lit but the is a dark quality to it, I use light to create shadows just as much if not more than highlights. This is not something new, the essays I wrote at school were commented on by my tutors as having the same quality. Don't for a second think that I am a dark or sinister person, I am far from it. I just find a certain romantic nuance and mystery in the noir. 

And so I followed the instructions and set about removing the chaff from my website. Refining it's look and cleaning it up, making it more balanced and focused, and can't wait to add my latest editorial fashion story once the publication is released.

I have spent a few days beginning my journey on learning about SEO and implementing that knowledge. It is amazing what I can get done when I put my mind to it, old dogs can learn new tricks.

Acquiring new skills has been something that my latest clients have been pushing me to do. Figuring  out making short film clips, cinemagrams and 2.5 parallax images are all new skills I have learned over the past few months and am enjoying developing. Soon I hope to have better video production options and really get into making short film pieces, who knows I may even invest in a drone if the time is right for that (not to mention I just really want a drone!).

I can hardly have a photography blog without a picture in it can I, or can I? This is about my now refined website, so if you want to see pictures I suggest you visit here: http://www.duncanlongden.photography/. Of course you may well already be on the blog page of my website, in which case the links to the pages are at the top, what are you waiting for?

Let me know what you think if you have time, feedback is always appreciated.

If you want to book me for work get in touch so we can discuss your needs and get started making a great project together.

You can also check out my Instagram , Tumblr, Twitter and Linkedin. Remember to LIKE COMMENT, SHARE and FOLLOW.

Thank you and love to all.....

Kenting to Taitung

Kenting to Taitung.

Leaving the southern most point of Taiwan behind me there was only one way to ride, North. I was sticking to the East coast, the sky was grey as was the ocean off my right shoulder. I felt a little saddened that my journey was in it's final stages, so much had happened in the few days since leaving home to set out on the road. I was calm on the comfy seat of the big scooter, suspension adjusted to take the weight and a fairly simple ride to my next and familiar stop. Just one night in Chishang Township. 

Chishang Township is a small town just north of Taitung, it is famous for it's paddyfields and also Mr. Browns avenue. The avenue was made famous from a TV advert and then a tree got blown down in a typhoon. This caused a bit of a todo in Taiwan and soon the tree was lifted, replanted and furnished with plenty of support. It has turned the area into a bit of a tourist hot spot, some would say this has ruined the place, but I have never known it any other way. Coming from a city like London, I would not call  it busy there, I find it relaxing and tranquil.

One of the best things in Chishang is to get up early and grab some soybean milk skin for breakfast, it is really delicious and a favourite of mine when I am in this little town.

Of course before I got to the township I had to make the ride up the coast, I didn't bother to stop and make pictures as the sky was so grey. However I was sitting at a junction figuring out a way to go when a fellow scooter tour rider stopped to ask me directions. She was surprised to find out that I was a foreigner, but I had a working satnav now and so pointed her in the right direction. It's always good to meet a friendly fellow traveller on the road, nice to meet you Pappa Jane..

What a ray of sunshine on a grey road. Pressing on I made enough time to take a slightly different route up into the mountains before travelling down to the B&B. The clouds made the the light interesting, finding a good view I waited for the sun to set and light the valley below me.

On a sunny morning the paddy fields around Chishang Township can look so amazing in the early morning light.

This image was made on a previous visit and shot on my fabulous Fujifilm X-Pro2. On the actual morning I arose on my scooter tour, the clouds were low in the valley and the weather looked ominous. I had a very long ride all the way up the coast, past Hualien and on to Yilan. So this was not the greeting I wanted from the weather...

That's the tree by the way, just in case you were wondering.

It was time to go, the longest single ride of my whole trip and the penultimate leg of the journey. You can find out about that bit next time and then we are almost at the end of this story. Hopefully you have been enjoying it, sorry the posts aren't super regular I am not the greatest blogger in the world, but I do hope it has been of some interest.

Until then, check out my Website, Instagram , Tumblr, Twitter and Linkedin. Remember to LIKE COMMENT, SHARE and FOLLOW.

Feel free to get in touch, if you have any questions, bookings, assignments etcetera, I am always interested to hear from you (contact me).

Love to all...