The new splash page here on guyrhodes.com embodies everything I envisioned for my new web site. Clean, simple lines along with a straightforward navigation interface – plus – a few of my favorite colors!

I can’t tell you how great it feels to kick off the first blog here on the completely redesigned guyrhodes.com. This web site has been a long time coming, and for the first time, I finally have a place in cyberspace that is truly representative of everything that I do. I invite you to take a peek at all the areas linked above if you haven’t already, from galleries which feature my favorite works from over eight years of lighting and photography, to video clips from some projects which were a lot of fun to produce! I hope that my site serves not only as a place to learn more about my work and myself, but as a fun destination online to enjoy yourself and be inspired to create your own works of art.

None of what you see here would be possible without a few very talented individuals. First and foremost, my web designer Laia Prats gets a standing ovation for her tireless efforts in making my site exactly what I wanted it to be, from scratch. Nothing you see on this site is cookie-cutter, and reflects Laia’s supremely refined skills as both a designer and a technician in making those design elements actually function as intended.

I must say that, throughout the process of building this site, being on the other end of a client / artist relationship with Laia was very eye-opening to me (since I’m usually the artist dealing with the wishy-washy client who doesn’t really know what they want). Now, I was “that guy” asking Laia to bump text elements down by 1 pixel, or to make background elements 10%, no, 15%, ehhh, maybe 10%, darker.

There were even a few times I asked Laia to change something because of an idea I had, only to change my mind hours later and ask her to put it all back to the way it was. I felt terrible during these moments, but not once did Laia make me feel guilty. She’s a consummate professional with not only awesome design skills, but great people skills to match. If you’re thinking about a web site that needs to be uniquely yours (or graphic design – Laia also designed business cards to match my site), look no further! http://www.laiaprats.com/

I also need to thank Jerry Davich, a writer I’ve worked with at the Post-Tribune newspaper for the past six years, who agreed to write my bio for the “about” page. While I really enjoy writing, the thought of summarizing everything that I do in a brief, entertaining piece was daunting to say the least. Jerry “interviewed” me over the phone (I use quotation marks around the word interviewed because it really felt more like a casual conversation), and had the copy posted on this site (no edits necessary) emailed to me a few days later. Having this out of the way allowed me to devote more time to polishing all the content I wanted to share here. Jerry currently has a book out called Connections, which you can learn more about at http://www.connectionsbook.com/.

Lastly, I need to give special recognition to all the people who helped me look the site over as it was in its beta phase. From testing how fast my videos loaded on your internet connection, to helping me decide which photos to include (or not) in my various photo galleries, to giving my color palette a stamp of approval over a chicken finger basket at The Steer. You guys know who you are, and I couldn’t have completed this project without your help!

If you’re wondering what happened to the entries on my old Blogger blog (which, until yesterday, encompassed my entire web site), they, along with the blog, are no more. The new technology implemented here, which will make it much easier for me to share my work with you more frequently, wasn’t playing nice with Blogger when we tried to port those entries over to this blog. I may gradually re-post some of those old entries here by hand (the entries themselves are archived) in the coming months, but don’t hold your breath.

One thing I will allow you to hold your breath over are new updates. As I’ve already alluded to, my new site and blog interface make it VERY easy for me to share what’s going on in my work world and my brain. I’m going to make a conscious effort to post here at least once a week, even if it’s just to share an interesting photo or link to a new product that I find exciting. I also want entries and discussions here to encompass all the fields I work in, not just photography.

As I’ve shared in past entries, photography and video inherently lend themselves to blogging because the art forms provide an immediate, tangible product that can be shared online. Lighting design, however, requires that I stop lighting and pick up a camera to shoot the process specifically to post here. Again, it’s something that I’m going to work into my routine more often, to give you guys a better behind-the-scenes view (pun totally intended) of everything I do!

Let’s get the rock show!