What it is

theGOOD Uploadr is a desktop application built on Adobe Air. The application is currently in alpha with a push to release beta around the first of the year 2010.

theGOOD Uploadr aims to improve and augment the Flickr experience by adding many features to the uploading process.

Some Links

theGOOD Uploadr
follow along for updates.
theGOOD Uploadr in the Flickr App Garden.
theGOOD Uploadr is a product of theGOOD. An interactive think tank.

Over the last couple of years my addiction to taking pictures every day has grown in intensity. More recently this addiction has heightened my curiosity to a point of seriousity. You do realize that seriousity should have inclusion confirmation from Merriam-Webster. If truthiness can make in, seriousity should. Seriously. Ok, back to the point. I’m getting more serious about photography. I even purchased a serious camera. Along with this serious camera, and an overabundance of seriousity about it’s use, I’ve gone and constructed myself a website dedicated to my photography. It is my hope that this will inspire and urge potential clients to contact me about my services.

The concept of the site is to take as much distraction out of the interface as possible to allow all focus on the content, the photography. I decided the entire site could be controlled by a small non intrusive control. I also wanted users to be able to interact with the photography by zoom and panning. Users also have the option to zoom out to see the full photo. Finally, I wanted a super easy way to content manage the site. Since I’m an avid Flickr user, its API was a natural CMS choice. I merely have to tag my photos in Flickr and they show up categorized on my site. I’m a big fan of leveraging the many publishing outlets I already use.

If you are a photographer, and are interested in owning a site similar to this one, chirp me.

Chris Teso – Portland Photographer

After much back and forth to the drawing board I’ve come up with an idea for my new site that satisfies several needs. Furthermore, I’ve gone ahead and built it. The two main needs for the site are as follows:

1. Maintain the ability to update the site easily by leveraging the many publishing outlets I already use.
2. Aggregate all of the content I create across multiple platforms into one simple easy to use interface.

The solution for number one was to use Yahoo Pipes to aggregate RSS feeds from the various publishing platforms I already use. These platforms are as follows:

1. Wordpress – runs my blog, my portfolio and my flash lab experiments
2. Flickr – my photography
3. Vimeo – my movies
4. Google Reader – what I read

Solution #1
Pipes allowed me to marry each disparate RSS feed into one long feed. This essentially allows me to use each platform as a content management system. I had to write a few ASP scripts to enable wordpress specific posts to be translated into an RSS feed before sending it off to Pipes to be assimilated.

Solution #2
I created a simple flash application that hit the Pipes feed and displayed content in an animation that resembled a stream of data or consciousness. Within flash I had to do some custom String manipulation to identify where the various pieces of content may be originating. Once these were classified it was as simple as building out the classes that would run the content manipulation. It was also nice to get to play around with the new 3D api built into Flash 10.

All and all I’m very pleased with the site. It will allow me to continue to use the publishing platforms I like, the platforms that are best at housing content, and still display the content in one central stream.

Check out the new site here : http://www.christeso.com.

Permalink: http://www.christeso.com/index.php/portfolio/istream-a-flickr-vimeo-wordpress-google-controlled-website/

(Please open the article to see the flash file or player.)

Yea, it’s the same thing as over there on the right… but it needed its own post!

If you want one for your blog leave a comment below. I plan to automate that, but for now I’ll take requests.

Permalink: http://www.christeso.com/index.php/lab/flash-flickr-widget/flash-flickr-widget/

Are you a Flickr member?

Are you an aspiring photographer?

Are those two synonymous?

Do you want your own photography website that you can control via Flickr simply by using tags?

Do you have your own website but find yourself duplicating your efforts by having to update it as well as Flickr?

Are you getting sick of these questions? me too, let’s cut to it…

FLICKR CONTROLLED PHOTOGRAPHY WEBSITE

Look and Feel:

Currently two different looks:
option 1 – Photography Portfolio
option 2 – Portland Child Photography Portfolio

Both are completely run from Flickr. Simply specify the categories you want, tag your photos appropriately, and they will show up on your website in the order you specify.

More customized designs can be obtained for a fee. [see below or Contact me for more information.]

Customization Options:
There are different customization options available. For example, in option 1 you can either have a ’search tags option’ or remove it if you wish. Also, option 1 will allow you to send someone directly to certain photos by adding a simple parameter to the url like this

Base price = $500
Comes with all files, category navigation and instructions on tagging.

Additional Custom Options @ 100/hr:
- customization/design
- website hosting setup
- domain name setup

Contact me fore more info.

Permalink: http://www.christeso.com/index.php/lab/flickr-controlled-photography-website/