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Update to my photo blog shanemcdonald.me

Update to my photo blog shanemcdonald.me

by | Sep 3, 2017 | Photography

I have been running a photo blog since 2010 on www.shanemcdonald.me .Over the past 3 years, I have not given it as much attention as I did at the start. With this in mind, I have just redesigned the whole layout of the site.

New Photo Blog additions

Firstly the homepage is a full-screen photo. This is important to show off my photos. For years I hated the fact that the photos were not as big as they could be. The front page also scrolls to give more information about the photo blog and my photography.

The blog pages are a bit nicer to read now. I stripped out a lot of widgets which added little to the user experience. The next step for the blog pages is to increase the content. I hope to have a weekly post now for this photoblog section.

The Instagram section is back up and running. A previous plugin stopped working and no longer displayed my @shanesphoto Instagram feed. Not it looks a lot better and pulls live images from my Instagram.

Photo Blog Design Challenges

One of the problems I had when I first redesigned the site was the size. Google rated it as zero on the mobile-friendly grader. There were far too many requests and the images were too large.

By adding some caching software, minifying plugins and an image optimiser the site was suddenly rated a lot better. It is now at an acceptable rating on Google but some extra tweaks in September should see it improve further.

Future Improvements

I hope to add a new gallery and some other features to further enhance the site. I have a lot of photos not uploaded so there’s plenty of content to come. The site has done very well for me in the last year and in October 2018, Shane McDonald Photography blog won a Silver Blog Award at the Blog Awards Ireland which were held in Dublin on 25th October 2018. I hope to add some new posts to the website very soon, as I recently did some food photography for Arcane chocolates in Dublin who make some of the Best Irish Chocolates.

If you wish to view the new photography site it is at www.shanemcdonald.me

 

Social Media & Photography Blog & Photo Sharing

Social Media & Photography Blog & Photo Sharing

by | Dec 28, 2012 | Photography

Photo Sharing on Social Media

As you may know, I have a photography blog at www.shanemcdonald.me. Photo sharing is important to me so I also share a lot of this photography content online via Instagram, Twitter, Flickr, Facebook and only recently the site at 500px which I have been slightly addicted to. I have just posted my Photography Year in Review and look forward to more of the same in 2013.

I really enjoy sharing photography and images online either on the specialise photography sharing sites or social media. It is nice to get feedback from the photo sharing by visitors who either compliment or provide constructive criticism. I have often posted photos on social media which I thought were poor or average photos which the public have loved. Often the photos you have taken which you may not like, those might be the ones the public really like. That’s one benefit of the social media photo sharing. Another key benefit of having a photography account on social media is seeing other photographers work. Being inspired by other content or getting ideas is always a benefit.

My Photography Social Media Accounts

If you wish to follow any of these photography & photo sharing channels which I have outlined below via the social media and social sharing links below.

Shane McDonald Photoblog: http://www.shanemcdonald.me
Shane’s Photography on Twitter: @shanesphoto
Shane McDonald Photography on Instagram: @shanesphoto
Shane’s Photography on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShaneMcDonald.Photography
Shane’s Photography on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/people/shanemcdonald/
Shane’s Photography on 500px : http://500px.com/shanemcdonald

If you do follow my photography on any of the above please drop me a note and let me know that you saw this post. I will also do my best to ensure I follow back any related accounts.