And They're Off!

Ah, the handy racing cliche on the day we launch the new photography website and its companion blog. (That would be the one you're reading right now.)

When a 50-1 shot whose owner towed him 17 hours from New Mexico to Louisville wins the Kentucky Derby, that gives hope to a lot of long shots.

I lived and worked as a TV sports reporter in Lexington, Kentucky for three years. As you might imagine, I spent a lot of time covering racing. Central Kentucky is known for two things: the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Basketball.

I learned a lot about the race that dates back to 1875 — only 10 years after the Civil War ended! — and has run every single year since. Two world wars and one Great Depression failed to stop the streak.

Though I still watch the Triple Crown races, I've lost touch with the sport since I moved back to Florida. I do visit our local track, Tampa Bay Downs, but it's mostly to take pictures. My last trip was a couple weeks ago. Here are a few of the shots:

It Counts

Now the new site is up and running, I've e-mailed some of the folks I've shot with asking them for testimonials of my work. A couple of them had offered before so I didn't feel like I was imposing.

I also put a call out on my personal Facebook page soliciting feedback on the site. They probably thought it was spam but if they're friends, they'll look anyway. I hope they're friends. I haven't used my Facebook page to create a wide network of people I don't know. I do not have any Facebook friends whom I have not met face-to-face.

Some people seem to use the site almost to collect names. I've gotten requests from people that not only did I not know, I had never heard of them and had no idea what possible connection I could have had to them.

But I digress.

I also added web site counters to the new site and this blog. It will give me an idea how many people visit and approximately where they're from. I'm not trying to track people; I just want to know if people are seeing the sites. If you're reading this, you can't say the effort didn't count for something!

Welcome!

Pardon the sawdust as we get the new blog and website going. As you may have surmised, this one centers on photography. In particular, photography by a new company in the Tampa, Florida area formed to provide such a service.

I wanted the blog to have a plain design to match that of the new PRP website, which has an acutely simple layout. The reason is not because I'm lazy. Or that I'm a largely unskilled web designer. Or some devious combination of the two.

The idea was that the plain site would help the photography stand out.

Oh, and I should mention that "I" am John. The name Philip Randolph Parker comes from the middle names of me and my brothers. While, as you know, there is "no I in T-E-A-M," for the moment I am the team. I take the photos, I build the website and I write the blog.

They really are labors of love. But sometimes they are labors!

They are also works in progress. However you happened to have stumbled across this, I welcome your feedback — nay, I implore you for it.

If nothing else, the creation of even that simple looking site gave my HTML and CSS muscles a real workout. (HTML and CSS are some of the codes computer geeks use to make websites.) And I made a breakthrough discovery about sub-domains, which will interest absolutely no one outside of the guy writing this sentence, I realize, but this blog is brand new and I don’t imagine I’m talking to anyone but myself right now.

If I am mistaken about that, I thank you for reading.