Obstacle I

There has been a lot of work done on the website of late. I've successfully gotten everything to display correctly in Firefox, Safari, Opera, AND Internet Explorer. Yes, even Internet Explorer, the browser that hates displaying websites correctly. Soon enough, I'll have it out in the wild and you all can try and break it.

"No sir, Apple products do not cure Cancer."

So to demonstrate how valuable having your business name written into the code really is, I will inform you that by putting "Ryan McGoff Photography" into one blog post six times, I have successfully manipulated the search results that Google outputs when you search for "Ryan McGoff Photography." This blog now shows up as the second result without me really having to do much legwork. And here's you thinking this is hard. If I want to also have top results when somebody searches for a popular term like Disney, all I would have to do is insert Disney into the HTML code of the my website a number of times in order to manipulate the search results.

Before long, your images will also show up in search engines, and you'll be well on your way to taking over the world. Sounds pretty great, doesn't it? It is great, so long as you have a website that functions like a dream, which I sincerely hope I do. The mantra I've been going on is keep everything as simple as I can make it. Over-elegance causes causes confusion and frustration. We don't want that and neither do your users. If it can be said using a symbol, then why use words? That's why I have those obnoxiously large arrows flanking each side of the picture area. The arrow pointing left brings you to the previous image, while the arrow pointing to the right brings you to the next image. Could it be simpler? Perhaps, but not by much. The little button in the bottom left (don't look for it, you can't see it yet) that says "Artist Statement" will bring you to the artist statement. Who would have thought of such a thing? I don't see any need for crazy bells and whistles that only prove I can pay a web designer a lot of money.

HTML. It's a wonderful thing. It's been around since the dinosaurs and everything, including phones, can take advantage of it. Phones? Yes, phones. There are 275 million cellphone users in the United States, including 50 million that are internet capable. It's a growing market that, before long, will be as relevant as browsing the internet from a computer. The continuing problem with phones? They don't much like flash websites. Not to mention netbooks, which are also catching on and are increasingly internet cable everywhere in the US with the advent of USB dongles from major wireless telecoms. Do not get caught not catering to this market.

Currently in heavy rotation:


Refused - Tannhauser/Derive

Nirvana - Marigold

Tsunami Bomb - Jigsaw

Cincinnati

I know a couple of you are in the same boat as me just building your professional website. Once you build it, though, how do you get it to show up as the first result in Google searches? There are a few ways to do it without the viewer of the website even knowing you're doing it.

Alternate text is worth its weight in gold. In building my website, I have inserted "Ryan McGoff Photography" somewhere into the alternate text of every single image on every single page. That way, on any given page, "Ryan McGoff Photography" is written into the code no less than 35 times. Why is this? Web crawlers are very dumb. They're computers, after all. They don't understand the difference between good photos and bad, but what they do understand very well is analyzing HTML code. That alternate text is written write into it. So, if the web crawlers stumble upon your website, they'll think, "Wow, it says Ryan McGoff Photography an awful lot. This should show up as the first result when somebody types in 'Ryan McGoff Photography.'" So, I've got a web page that looks like this:


How many times would you say it says "Ryan McGoff Photography" in the alternate text? If you answered "44 times", then you should probably get a prize of some sort. Here's how it tooks if you look at the HTML code alone. As you can see, it's riddled with "Ryan McGoff Photography."

Another way you can increase the ranking of your website is to connect it to other websites. If your friend posts a link to your website on their blog, that increases your ranking even if nobody visits your site. Hopefully you will get some visits from it, which will further increase your page ranking.

Also, if you have a blog of some sort, that's a great way to increase the size of your scope, which will, you guessed it, increase your ranking, especially if you post pictures from it, which can also harbor your metadata, including your name and your website. Some of the smarter browsers can take advantage of this, so don't discount it.

So, let's review:
- Alternate text is pretty sweet.
- Talk about your friends and have your friends talk about you.
- Have a professional blog.

Winning Days

I meant to talk about this earlier, but I kept putting it off. FEMA has recently decided to let people buy the trailers they're living in. After removing tens of thousands of trailers already, why the change of heart? It seems odd, but Formaldehyde poisoning finally has a new, low price, ladies and gentlemen. You no longer have to be a chain smoker to enjoy all the benefits of Formaldehyde. What is that new, low price? Are you ready for this? Five bucks or less, ladies and gentlemen, and that's a screamin' deal, let me tell you!

Do you like:
- Nosebleeds?
- Difficulty breathing?
- Peristent headaches?

If you said yes to one or all of those, then I suggest you move on down to New Orleans and buy yourself a genuine FEMA trailer for the bargain price of five dollars...or less! That also happens to be the price of your neighbor's happiness. Imagine how happy your neighbors will be when they find out that trailer is not going to be leaving any time soon. If they didn't love that trailer of your before, they will surely consider it the centerpiece of your fine neighborhood.

Civic officials agree, trailers are a good investment.

Currently in heavy rotation:


Social Distortion - Prison Bound

Dan Deacon - Trippy Green Skull

Ludachrist - How Does It Feel?

Dreaming of the Pretty Things

One thing I have always wondered is why music is not taught as a part of art history. Is visual art somehow more important than performance art? It should come as no surprise that I think music is an important part of any culture, but I often wonder why very few others share this same view. I'll admit, I consider myself somewhat of a music connoisseur, but I have always felt that way. Also, admittedly, I have committed musical transgressions over the years, for which I am not ashamed. I was young, and not as versed in music as I am now. Nonetheless, why does music get a bad rap?

It seems that every school year, there's always a debate whether or not to keep music programs alive in grade schools, despite the educational benefits that music provides. Is it because quality music has become the domain of the counter-culture? Do we have to take part in an alternative style of living to break free from the blunders of top 40 radio? And that's not to put down top 40 radio, either. I have my fair share of guilty pleasures that fall well within that realm. Justin Timberlake? Yes, please. Be that as it may, I don't think we're going to be looking back at Eminem's Crack a Bottle in 50 years and think, "That was a fine example of popular music that has withstood the test of time."

So, I think that begs the question. Is the reason that music is not as highly honored as an art the result of the rather lackluster art (if that's what I must call it for the sake of argument) that is created in its name? Has too much of a good thing really become too much of a good thing? Have musicians decided that its better to release everything than to focus on the few gems that manifest themselves every now and again? Or is the industry at fault? I'll blame the both of them.

Also on the list of people to blame is Rolling Stone, who hasn't been in touch with reality in years. While Rolling Stone is, admittedly, the most opportunistic victim of the blame game, there are plenty of well-funded publications that I've read over the years and thought, "Do these people really know what the hell they're talking about?" That's not to say that smaller publications shouldn't be on the chopping block, either. Pitchfork, I'm looking at you.

I've never been a particular fan of musicians becoming creative brood mares. If it takes ten years to create your next body of work, then that's how long it takes. Take, for example, Portishead's Third. After eleven years in the making, Portishead created perhaps their best collection of work to date. I appreciate that more than churning out three lackluster albums in the same amount of time. The point is that art takes time and that art shouldn't be confined to arbitrary release schedules.

It is art, though, with its own unique cultural history and historical context. Perhaps I need to wait for recorded music to mature more before it can be considered part of a historical context. Then again, if the Bush administration is already being added to the history books, then I'm not sure what we're waiting for. Maybe I'm just crazy.

Currently in heavy rotation:


Straylight Run - Hands in the Sky [Big Shot]

Baxter - Out of Reach

Helmet - Unsung

The Fat of the Land

So it's time to spill the beans about the Blake Road Corridor. Before I begin with the statistical information and such, I'd like to take some time to explain the project in a bit more detail.

I first became involved with the Blake Road Corridor when I started working in Hopkins three years ago. The company I work for currently has partnered with civic organizations and the police department. I would always hear sirens going down Excelsior Boulevard toward the corridor. Eventually, I asked the police commissioner why the police cars only went one direction down Excelsior. He explained that the corridor had its share of problems. Just this past April, a Somali man was murdered at the White Castle in Hopkins, located on the North side of the corridor. This was the second murder in a year, the other being a 90-year-old woman murdered in her house. Before that, the city hadn't experienced any homicides in almost a decade.

The Blake Road corridor exists south of Highway 7 and north of Excelsior Boulevard on Blake road. This corridor, about a mile long, makes its home to 1,350 families. These families are mixed in with industrial complexes and retail spaces, which further divide the neighborhoods and further increase the population density. For all these families, there is only one park. On the same road, south of Excelsior Boulevard, are some of the most expensive homes in Minnesota. The houses are more reminiscent of castles than the quaint, single family homes found on the north side of Hopkins or the densely-packed apartments of the corridor.

This document will attempt to investigate what role social and economic class plays on the corridor.

Currently in heavy rotation:


Placebo - Running Up That Hill [Kate Bush cover]

Editors - An End Has A Start

VAUX - Celibate Good Times

Naysayer

First of all, I need to give big props to Canon's warranty service. I sent in my 5D on Friday and it's already on its way back to me. I can dig that, especially after they told me it would take ten business days. Not only that, they're sending it back to me via next day air service. Good customer service is pretty neato.

Now, I don't want everybody thinking I'm all about name-dropping. In fact, the only dropping around these parts is trees on my house. That's neither here nor there, however. Recently, I've talked about how I've become hyper-critical of my own work. Part of this has to do with me being too eager. I've been accused, on a number of occasions, that I want to accomplish too much too fast. I've never tried to dispute that point, because, quite simply, it's absolutely true. Some projects, I take on without having the proper level of maturity. I've always thought that with age comes understanding. That's not to say that I am unintelligent, it simply means that need to live more of my life before I can fully understand the scope of some of the projects that are floating around in my head. I understand that not everything is like fine wine, though, if the idea bears deep roots, then it will only get better with age. Now, I'm not looking to recreate Uncommon Places or The New West. Those have stood up to history, because the photographic community has acknowledged that they are important documents. So important, in fact, that the photographic community, myself included, has decided that they should become a basis for comparison. A standard, if you will. Of course, I am not so naive that I think photographers, or any artist, for that matter, set out to create a new standard. That new standard, just like the old, is made by acknowledging it as the new standard.

I digress.

The point is that I acknowledge that my best work may not be in the near future. I'm fine with that. The question is: what do we do in the meantime? More importantly, what do we do when our work is rendered obsolete by our own means? Eventually, a day is going to come where we all create something so beautiful that all things before it pale in comparison. Will we know it when it comes or will we be reminded whenever we create new work that it doesn't live up to the previous standard set by ourselves? For the record, I am not asking this because it is a fear that I am harboring, but because I am curious as to how people deal with that. Does anybody remember the Verve before or after they created Bittersweet Symphony? I didn't think so.

I digress.

I've decided to take Becky up on her advice to expand my documentation of the Blake Road Corridor to include areas south of Excelsior Boulevard. I will explain that in further detail in my next post, which will include include an artist of statement of sorts and more of an explanation of where the project is, where I see it going, and how I plan to get there.

Currently in heavy rotation:


Eyedea & Abilities - Exhausted Love

Metric - Collect Call

Bush - Letting the Cables Sleep