Archer's New Rival

(itunes: the cure, where the birds always sing)

Mel Taylor of O-Rock 105.9 picked Archer's New Rival as her fave band of the week...kudos boys!

During the shoot they had a crew filming their video. It was based around a photo shoot with me so they shot footage of EVERYTHING (wardrobe, makeup, shooting, etc).

Thanks to everyone on my crew for all your help (you know who you are)!

Archer's New Rival is an awesome band, great music so check them out:

http://www.archersnewrival.com/index.php

The Lighter Exchange

(itunes: 10 years after, I’m going home )

The singer and guitarist of 10 Years After is Alvin Lee and according to my dad, this performance at Woodstock brought down the house. I love music that can do just that.

The Lighter Exchange can do just that. This band is comprised of Christian, Brett, James and Travis. Shot on location at The Lodge courtesy of Aaron. You can catch these boys in May when they play the Florida Music Festival (www.floridamusicfestival.com).

Bryan Malpass

(itunes: plain white t’s, hey there Delilah)

Here is yet another talented artist you can see in May at FMF.

http://bryanmalpass.com

Easton, 3rd times the charm...

(itunes: bright eyes, drunk kid catholic)

Hope you enjoy the photos from my third shoot with a lovely band called EASTON: http://myspace.com/eastonrock

3rd times the charm...this is their 3rd bass player. Hopefully AJ is a keeper! RIP Alex and Greggor.

Now I have to say ciao and go pick up my pug from the Vet. She had her yearly exam today and is shot full of shots – literally.

PS – Anyone see any Cadbury Bunny commercials this year? I haven’t. I don’t care much for the eggs but that bunny is pretty darn cute.

Brand Spankin' New - My HIGH DEF Website!!

(itunes: where the river goes, stone temple pilots)

www.brook-pifer.com

Rewind to 11:32 PM on Sunday April 1st.
Mat: Its done.
Brook: Really
Mat: Yes.
Brook: You’re not doing a cruel April Fool’s joke are you.
Mat: No.

36 hours straight w/ no sleep. That's how long it took Jedi Master Mat Gaver to execute my new supa-fly HIGH DEFINITION website. I know the term HD is totally overused for silly things like lasik vision correction (makes you wonder what they were doing before HD vision correction). But to apply the term HD to this website is totally legit. Some might even say 2-Legit 2-Quit.

This is the FIRST EVER website (my lawyers said I can say this) that is truly HD. It automatically scales to whatever monitor you are viewing on. And yes, it looks BAD ASS on the 30" Apple Cinema Displays. It makes me want to click my heels together 3 times and say over and over "its so pretty, oh so pretty."

I've had many discussions with Mat over what I wanted and didn't want on this new site. Whether or not to have thumbnails was a big challenge. For the convenience factor I wanted them but it was hard to incorporate that into the full screen site without fracking up the rest of the minimal but sexy design. Mat solved this problem perfectly.

Many photo websites (including past incarnations of mine) were over designed to the point where the design and flash functions took away from the point of the site - showcasing photographs. Don't get me wrong those sites are cool but I wanted the emphasis to be on the work, not the slick flash functions. I think the flash work Mat did shows he really listened to my needs and still made it high-end at the same time.

Then there was the debate over a photographer bio. I swear every photographer bio I read is so full of BS and big-headedness (is that even a word). I've had my bios written by professional copywriters and although they sounded eloquent I still felt like it was too much me, me, me when I want everything to be about the work, work, work.

Another pet peeve that I can safely say has never been a part of any website of mine is the stupid "click to enter" buttons. What's up with that? Why do I need to do that extra step, I want to see something right away and clicking to enter is a waste of time. And yes I know flash intros look cool but again, waste of time from my perspective. I'm busy and want that 30 seconds (to mars) back.

Now making the photographs so large without a copyright disclaimer was a big deal. I'm sure many ASMP photogs are gonna crap themselves when they see that. I know the importance of copyright and my stuff is registered. Am I worried people are going to steal my photos - nope. If they do I'll open up a can of legal whoop-ass on them. I think having full screen photos will pay off way more than worrying about the risk of thievery.

All in all, Mat did a PERFECT job. Everything I wanted and didn't want was taken into account. His subtle high-end transitions and design showcase is excellent taste. His help in editing the photos for the final selection was spot on. And he even built it so I can just upload a file and the site can stay constantly FRESH without complicated and time-consuming website updates. I can't say enough what a STELLAR job he did. Thank you times infinity!

If you really did read all this now is the time to take a break and check it out:

www.brook-pifer.com