The Purpose Behind It
At the risk of seeming rude and/or whiny: many "photo albums" on the Web are quite static and designed without much effort to make the Web surfer's visit more enjoyable -- you've seen the kind I mean, right? The ones where the same ten 100-plus K pictures of Barky the Golden Retriever, Mittens the Cat, and the Significant Other sit on a single page, month after month, even after poor Mittens has joined the Choir Invisible and what's-his-name is no longer quite as significant... you have seen this sort of thing, right? If not, consider yourself lucky.
If so, then you'll know what I'm trying to avoid in setting up this album of mine. I've wanted to put up a lot more images from my life and travels, but I don't want them to stagnate, nor hog too much memory. I pondered how best to do this, and the answer I've come up with is to show a half-dozen or so at a time, updated every few weeks, with a thumbnail index to prevent long download times for something you didn't care to see anyway. I'll also keep a thumbnail-indexed archive of the photos and descriptions available (via the "Previous Entries" page) so you can see what came before, especially since some photo subjects may recur or relate to others previously shown.
I hope this album will serve both as an amateur gallery and as a sort of photographic journal of my life, since I don't keep a written one on my site. Anyone interested can journey with me, on time delay of course, as I roam from place to place, soaking up the sights, and providing stupid commentary in the captions. I also intend to make use of hypertext in the written commentary, to keep things lively, and give you a first step in finding out more about various topics that might be of interest.
This Is Current?
Well, since this is a new feature and I've got a lot of photographs of previous times, the site won't necessarily always bring you the latest images from my life. First I've got to get caught up, and then there will undoubtedly be lulls in which I'll go back and feature pictures from the past. A time stamp will always accompany the current group of photos... which is really what the "current" applies to: the present album group of images, not the fact that the pictures are absolutely "current".
Must There Be Frames?
Yes. Though I'm not a great fan of frames -- mostly because they can be easily abused and cause problems thereby -- the best way I could imagine for constructing the site the way I wanted it was to use frames. They are, by now, a pretty standard feature of browsers... unlike, say, layers, which are REALLY nifty, but not universally supported.
The Quality of the Images
I try to select only the best or most interesting pictures from my supply. You may not agree with my selections or subject matter. That I cannot argue against... beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder. Sometimes, however, it is also in the screen of the beholder, or the scanner of the beheld. For instance:
A Notice to Any Interested Parties
Forgive me for being overly stern (or presumptuous!), but please recognize that all the images featured here are, unless otherwise noted, the property of John Marquis. Any unauthorized use of these images is strictly forbidden; should you wish to use any of these images in any way, please e-mail your request, and I will very likely give you permission to do so. The same can be done if you would like a larger version of one of the thumbnail-only entries, or if you just want to send me your comments on the album, be they good or bad.
And Finally...
Thank you very much for visiting my site, whatever your reason for browsing in. I've tried to do my best to make your stay here, however brief, an enjoyable and informative one. Happy surfing!