Web Profiles

"The site is best viewed using Microsoft Internet Explorer at 1024x 768."--a.k.a. the writing on the wall

So began an e-mail from a photographer who wants his work featured in this department. Guess what happens when you use another browser, such as Opera, to look at his site? Nada, nothing, zilch, zero. You get a white screen. I don't know about you, but I want as many people as possible to view my websites, not just Internet Explorer users. Hey folks, we have choices: there's iCab, Firefox, Netscape, Safari, and even ChiBrow for kids (see "There Is Life After Internet Explorer" sidebar). Download one or all and give them a test drive to find one you like. In the meantime, all you web designers out there, take some time to smell the flowers. There are lots of other colors and choices available besides Microsoft's.

There Is Life After Internet Explorer

Just because Microsoft's Internet Explorer comes pre-installed on your computer doesn't mean you actually have to use it. My VW GTI 337 has a cigarette lighter but I haven't lit up in 20 years. Internet Explorer's slow speed and well-known security flaws should be enough to make you switch. Why not discover the wide world of browsers and find something a bit different? Here are a few places to start:
iCab--www.icab.de
ChiBrow--www.chibrow.com
Firefox--www.mozilla.com
Netscape--www.netscape.com
Opera--www.opera.com
Safari--www.apple.com/safari

A Photographic Billy Pilgrim
Occasionally I come across such unbridled talent that I'm tempted to go back to Etch A Sketch. That's how I felt when viewing Wilson Hurst's website (www.wilsonhurst.com) the first time. Here you'll discover a brilliant vision and dazzling virtuosity wrapped in an Escher-like interface that TARDIS-like is "bigger on the inside than it is on the outside." Clicking on Images takes you into a "salon" with two galleries: Dynamic and Legacy. Oh, by the way, be sure to click the text at the top of the salon window. (I won't spoil it for you by saying what you'll find.) Once into Legacy, there are 15 collections, each containing a page of 25 tiny thumbnails. Placing your mouse over any one of them changes the larger picture in the center.

© 2004, Wilson Hurst, All Rights Reserved

There is something familiar yet otherworldly in his depiction of everyday scenes. Even cliché-ridden subjects like flowers take wing going "where no plant has gone before." It would help if the images had titles, but they are numbered and the numbering system starts over for each new collection. The Dynamic gallery contains collections within collections and uses a different (you're surprised?) format. If you poke around you can find evocative titles such as "places.jpg," one of my favorites. Hurst's imagery defies easy description, but the words reality redefined come to mind.

Classic Photojournalism
Half a world away in County Wicklow, Ireland, Rod Tuach's website (www.photosspain.com) showcases photographs of Spain. Some of these images immediately call to mind the work W. Eugene Smith did in his classic Life magazine photo essay "A Spanish Village." My editor tells me not many people these days remember the golden age of photojournalism that redefined the way news photographs are made, as they are gradually being eroded by a happy face media. Even if Tuach is not channeling Smith, his images speak for themselves. The site's format couldn't be simpler and doesn't impose its own aesthetic. A list of file names and titles (anybody else listening?) runs up and down the left-hand edge of the screen. Clicking any of them displays the photograph with a simple copyright statement.

© 2004, Rod Tuach, All Rights Reserved

The villagers seem unaware of this invisible photographer and go about their daily lives being captured in moods from studied ("At a village fair") to effervescent ("Women laughing"). Yet there are Kafkaesque incidents, such as "Man at gate" and "Kids in alleyway," that provide unexpected moments that Tuach captures in luminous black and white images. Even on broadband this site can be slow to load. Be patient, it's worth it.