Kevin Merchant Photography News 2007

I really expected the web site to go live in July. But here it is, September and I've been to Ecuador and the south coast of Oregon. Since I've been back, I have been finalizing the PHP engine that drives the Image Gallery. I believe it is ready for some real-world testing, so here goes. If you have any trouble with the site, you can send me an e-mail to let me know.

Last year about this same time, I had the opportunity to travel to Ecuador with a mission group to assist with a teen summer camp. Naturally, I took some photo gear with me.

The camp is located near the town of Tabacundo, north of the capital city of Quito, in the province of Pichincha. It's about an hour and a half trip from Quito, depending on who is driving.

The camp is very near the equator at an elevation of approximately 9,700 feet. You have an exceptional view of Mt. Cayambe, a snow capped volcano that is the third highest in Ecuador. In one respect, seeing this mountain was similar to seeing Mt. Rainier in Seattle, when it wasn't obscured by clouds, it was spectacular.

This place is the land of clouds with sweeping panoramas. A lot of my photos from that trip prominently feature the clouds.

Again this year, I have an opportunity to travel to Ecuador with a mission group to help construct a playground set at a school for autistic children. I will be in the same city as before, but hope to have some new photo opportunities.

Judging from the date on my first entry, it has taken quite awhile for the dust to settle on the construction of the web site.

Actually, before I took on the task of designing the web site, I tied myself down to my desk, almost literally, to work on the task of cataloging 20+ years of film that I have shot. In May of this year, I completed that task by printing labels and putting them on the slides. I never thought I was going to finish, but persistant chipping away at the mountain completed the job.

Finally I can start on the web site. Where do you start? Yeah, I've got lots of images, mostly still on film or in digital RAW. But first, how to display them? Well, I had been dabbling in PHP for another web site development earlier in the year. In my Internet wanderings, I came across a snippet of PHP code in a tutorial that provided a very rudimentary image gallery. With a substantial amount of rewriting and improving, I produced gallery software that automates the display of images without the need for a database or creating web pages every time I have images to add to the web site. The need for a database driven solution may come later, but for now the PHP software works for me.

Thanks for coming to visit. The site is currently under construction and I hope to have something put together soon. Please check back. Or, if you would like to know when the dust has settled, send an e-mail and I'll send a notice when it's up and running.