So I thought it’d be a good idea to start this blog of with an explanation to everyone who followed my adventure (while it was happening) why it is I’m starting it all again. But first, for any new readers, a bit of back story about this blog.

The History

It all began one hot summers night back in... No wait a minute. It was a cold, wet and ridiculously early in the morning in April when I set off on this adventure. I had been planning the trip for a few months and a couple of days before I left my job editing TV commercials to prepare. The idea was pretty open, no set destination and no set length. Just travel and explore while taking photos and writing about the adventures.

And that’s what I did for the next three months. I tried to write every day (when I wasn’t too busy having fun or getting in trouble) and I posted hundreds of photos along the way. Mostly of amazing Australian landscapes. Since returning though, I’ve always had that niggling thought in the back of my mind that it could be better.

You see, at the time, I didn’t know a whole lot about the internet and web design and the easiest approach was to use Apples iWeb to create the blog. It worked well and my web site was published with little difficulty. The problem, I would eventually discover, with iWeb, is that it has very little controls to be more advanced. For instance I could not have any way of selling my photography through the site and there was no way of optimising the site for search engines (or SEO as I’ve come to learn).

Basically this means that the only people who would ever get to see what I’d done, was people I actually gave the web address to as it would not appear in the likes of Google or Yahoo.

Learning New Skills

Over the last year since I’ve returned home, I’ve set about learning this internet stuff. Let me tell you, I’ve lost some serious amounts of hair in the process. But thankfully I can be quite obsessive about things and have stuck with it and have learned an enormous amount. In fact, I could probably get work as a web designer if I tried.

So here it is. The new look, totally optimised JCDaydream web site. It’s now listed on the search engines and I’m getting new visitors daily (I hope they actually return when there is some content here...) In the gallery section there is also the option to purchase almost all of the photographs from cards to posters to framed prints. Even mugs and t-shirts. There isn’t much here yet but within a few weeks this site will be bursting with content.

To Those That Came Before

So why would you want to relive the adventure if you followed along in the first place? Good question. And the answer is Time! I now have the time to put a great deal more effort into the photos and writing. Plus there are now stories I can tell that I didn’t want to at the time.

While I was on the trip, I knew my family was keeping up to date with all that was going on. Being the considerate guy I am, I didn’t want the to really know the stuff that may worry them. Like getting lost in a rain-forest, nearly getting blown off the edge of a cliff in the Blue Mountains and so on. But they know I made it home safely now, so all can be revealed.

The Photography

Any photographer will know that you don’t just get that great photo, there’s a lot of work involved. First you have to get all the stuff in camera right, find a good subject, discover the perfect angle and composition, make sure the lighting is right, etc. But then there is the post-processing like colour correction, cropping and more advanced photoshopping techniques (If you have a problem with Photoshopped images read my other blog post on The Great Photoshop Debate).

This can all be very time consuming and, well, at the time, I just wanted to live the adventure and not be stuck behind a computer. So I gave myself a time limit of 30 seconds to process each shot. At the most I allowed a minute. Although almost everyone commented on how good the photos were, I knew they could be a lot better. It’s probably easier if I just show you.

The original RAW file straight out of the camera

This first image is straight out of the camera. Because there is so much data in an image file when you shoot with Camera RAW, quite often the image can appear washed out and lifeless. I remember the first time I saw this, I was so disappointed until I realised that you still need to develop digital photos in a similar way to ones shot on film.

Processed while on the road

This second image is after processing the photo while I was on the road. It’s better but it still wasn’t up to how I saw it when I took the photo.

Processed with time and care

Click Here To Purchase Print

So this brings us to this final version. With a lot more time on my hands, I’ve now been able to get the image looking how I wanted it to all along. I haven’t really changed the image at all, I’ve just bought out what was already there.

Back To The Beginning

So now I’ve explained all of this, hopefully you’ll understand why I’m doing it. Hopefully you’ll want to join me for this adventure a second time. Think of it as the Special Edition version. And to anyone who is just joining for the first time, I welcome you and hope you enjoy my stories in pictures and words.

Oh yeah... I almost forgot. For any of you that subscribed to the old RSS Feed, you’ll have to update your bookmarks to this NEW RSS FEED as the old one will no longer work. If you’re unsure what RSS is and why you would want to use it, read this informative post: What is RSS?