New Button!

I don't know if you noticed or not, but we're getting so high-tech here at HCM that we now have two buttons on the pic of the week (TWO!!!!). If you haven't already checked out the intro video, you can now do so by clicking on the Second Button™ at our homepage.

This week's pic was brought to you by being tired at the Airport, in Texas, on the way back from my friends' wedding. The coffee was hardcore (as you can probably tell by the incredible rates at which the picture makes it look like I'm drinking it).

This is Cake Town

It was the Big Guy's B-day the Saturday before last, and therefore, cake was had! While it was a pre-made cake, Miles and I decided to ad some of our own flavor with the oh so clever clogan*.

*clogan [cloh-guhn]: cake slogan.

Our cake was no lie, it was delicious.

A Rip Roarin' Good Time

Friend of Handcrafted's Jason Miller at home on Captain Jacks trail - As seen in this months issue of Peak Region Cyclist! Woohoo!

Photo By Miles McIlhargie

Web Development Costs

Here is a nice article that cleanly breaks down the web development process and typical associated costs. Not a representation of exactly how we do business but a nice general overview non the less.

Courtesy of solosignal.com

http://www.solosignal.com/how-much-should-web-site-design-development-and-hosting-cost

Design for Quality

A nice bit here courtesy of Business Week. It is true. In this day and age of excess, consumers are ever more forced into making quick-witted decisions about the products they purchase and the services they contract. The importance of a relevant and clearly delivered brand message has never been greater; and in this melee of advertising one of the most effective ways to get through is by way of strategically well designed marketing efforts.

http://www.fastcompany.com/big-idea/design-more-quality-technology-or-top-down-strategy-%E2%80%93-one-factor-can-make-long-term-profits

Taking You To The Danger Zone

The next wave of dealership commercials? Well, you wouldn't forget it, that's for sure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnF6i0b9Ux8

Nature is swell.

Living out here in the vast wilderness of Monument has been like visiting a wild animal park. OK, maybe not exactly, but the number of critters that have seemingly surrounded our house is more than I am used to. So far we have encountered numerous species of birds, including 4 juvenile hawks that like to play in our yard, raccoons, snakes, coyotes that wake us up in the middle of the night and I believe a fox visited our deck last night. More nature pics to come!

More like Bald Hill.

It's really called Bald Mountain, but Miles is probably correct in calling it a "hill."

Story behind pic: I was heading home from Denver on Sunday and the clouds were creating really interesting light on the mini-mountain (not to mention I'm camera happy with my new wideangle lens), so I pulled off the side of the road and snapped a few off of my favorite hill in Monument.

BLOG THIS!
~Lee

INTRODUCING!!!!!!

We would like to introduce a new member to our team... ladies and gentlemen I give to you Justin Fillinger (APPLAUSE)!

Justin is a special (effects) guy who hails from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), and we are more than happy to have him with us now at the Crooked Porch. It's always a pleasure to add more talent on the Handcrafted team, so we welcome Justin with open arms.

I would imagine everyone here has similar thoughts but, I know I can't wait to see what mad skills Justin brings to the table.

You can check out Justin's Demo Reel here: http://www.g3pro.net/JustinFillingerDemo1.mov

NOT HDR, but from my cool new iPhone

Still waiting to see the HDR pictures of the Crooked Porch (our 100 year old farm house Handcrafted Media calls home) so I took things into my own hands and snapped this picture with my nifty new iPhone.

This is Lee's office... the 8 foot desk was made from cubicle parts we salvaged.  

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Obey the pug.

Enjoy this glimpse into the eyes of the wise one,
for the pug reigns supreme in the Crooked Porch.

Good Weekends Are Good.

Sunday my mom and I went to visit my little bro. up in Ft. Collins aaaand these happen to be some flowers I took a picture of while we were there. CSU has an Annual Testing Garden, and no trip to a garden would be complete without flower pictures right?

Expect many more pictures soon, getting my wide angle in on Friday.
~Lee out

Can't you feel the Patriotism?

Hells yeah. This is how we do!...
Fourth of July parade in Monument baby!

Allow myself to introduce myself.

My name is Lee. I like taking photos.
Here is a photo I took that I like.
I used some sort of f-stop, an apparently fast pseudo film speed and created a pretty radical depth of field?... whatever that is.
Anyways... enjoy.

What we wanted to be when we grew up.

Why? Why not, thats why.

Lee, a ninja turtle or cowboy
Jonathan, a pilot
Miles, a pilot or marine biologist
Joy, a veterinarian or scientist
David, an advertising guy (no, really)
Wicket, a little man

This says it all.

Anyone want to carpool?

Old school

This is actually the first shot taken at our offices. The image is of an antique push mower we found in the garage after moving in. It's a nice touch on our front porch.

A vast landscape.

More Chi-town scenery. You can walk for days on end to take in all of the amazing architecture the city has to offer. This building is not particularly amazing but we enjoy the composition and intriguing allure that it has on the viewer. This shot is all like, "hey!, look, im a big cool building, and i have a lot of friends, come check me out." More to come...

Road Trippin'

So I went for a road trip last Thursday to see some friends in Texas and float the Guadalupe River. The drive down through north texas is pretty awesome, albeit a little boring at times. You go through a bunch of tiny towns that have some pretty grand photo opportunities. This just happened to be one of them.

I actually stopped to take pictures of some grain elevators but saw these three cars all lined up next to each other. So I shot 1 picture of each car and here they are. Don't remember the name of the town... I want to say it was Childress but I'm not positive.

Road trips are great, not to mention ones with a new car.
~Lee

Get on your power and STEAM!

Well, the title doesn't exactly work as well as Miles' did but whatever. I took this picture about 2 months ago (maybe longer).

During the winter in Colorado Springs I always thought the steam coming from the power plant downtown looked pretty awesome. So naturally, as with all things awesome, I decided to get up early before work and take a picture. It ended up being a tough panorama to take because the steam was moving pretty fast. I'll probably try to get a better picture again next year.

More power to ya,
~Lee

P.S. I also got a new car yay! And since it is also awesome I took a picture of it as well.