Darker Skies Decade

A Decade On

Ten years ago today, the Darker Skies photoblog was launched.

A few changes have taken place over the years since that first post went live. Darker Skies was originally just going to feature my black and white landscape work. Gradually I came to the realisation that the blog could do so much more. Little did I know how true that was.

First of Many

Darker Skies was the first blog I set up using WordPress – in this case, wordpress.com. At first, I wasn’t very sure about the content management system. Was WordPress the CMS I was looking for? Did I even need another website? I wasn’t very sure at all that i did!

Ten years and numerous WordPress powered websites later (my own and clients) the answer appears to have been a big yes. Those early steps started a change in my ideas about what a website could do that was desperately needed. A website for a photographer is essential and WordPress is about as good as it gets for creating and running a site. I’ve grown to love WordPress.

Another Ten?

Yes, I think so. The Darker Skies site provides some important services for my main website via the Jetpack plugin linkup. Moreover, in the last few years, it’s taken on other roles including helping out with the podcast. It’s an important part of my website family.

I have a Nikon F3 HP that I regard as ‘my’ camera. It’s not a ‘work’ camera like the others I have. The F3 is for my photography. For me. The Darker Skies blog serves a similar function. I should blog more often but maybe quality over quantity is best. Maybe I just need to try harder.

Favourite Moments

The blog has covered all kinds of topics from travel through to family trauma. Some of the posts have been painful and taken a lot of writing. Others have been a joy. Websites, like life, contain all kinds of moments.

Picking favourite posts isn’t easy so I’m not even going to try. What I would recommend is having a look through the archives list located in the sidebar. I recently looked through and found images I’d completely forgotten about!

Here’s to the next Darker Skies decade!

Pressed Pictures

There are plenty of photography apps out there but the Pressgram iPhone app is one that i’m really looking forward to seeing. Quite simply the app works like Instagram but posts the images directly to a WordPress.com or .org site. So i could connect the app to this website and post directly here. I really like the sound of that.

The launch date is currently August 2013 which means that it would be ready, fingers crossed, for my next trip up to Scotland. If it is ready, then i do intend using it to document my travels. Will it stop me using Instagram?  No, i don’t think so, but it is very easy to see why some people would love to have this app as an alternative.

The Pressgram blog can be found at http://blog.pressgr.am/

Lighten Up

The DS blog has had a bit of a makeover to refresh the layout and feel of the website. I was getting a bit fed up of the dark theme and thought it was time to lighten up. Brighten up.

Another bonus to the new theme was a widening of the sidebar which has also been tweaked to include the new widgets for Twitter and Instagram photos.

I have tried to add my feed from App.net but so far no luck. Looks like it will remain a work in progress. For some reason the widget doesn’t recognise the RSS feed.

So there we have it. I rather like the lighter look and the sidebar is much, much better. 🙂