Veteran readers of Techmount know that while this blog is not of a personal nature, it does represent, in the most part, the areas of technology that interest me (or at least the ones I care to write about). It’s not hard to conclude that it’s focus on technology is very wide. Unlike most professional blogs, which tend to focus on narrow niches, I prefer to widen the focus and write about anything that interest me at the time.

As some have noticed, this blog is not updated regularly, mostly dependent on how much free time I have, or if I feel like writing at the time. Knowing this, it’s not hard to see that I was either busy or not very much interested in writing lately. So indeed I was very busy, and still am, but the writing bug have never left me. So I’m back.

Starting today I’m going to revitalize this blog and write more regularly. And if I don’t … Well, I’ll have to deal with it myself.

After a very long inactivity here, I took upon myself two projects this month. First , the revival of TechMount and second, the August slideshow project. So far things look pretty ok, or in other words, better than I expected. I’m saying this because knowing my schedule and the numerous events during the month of August, I knew it was going to be tough. As things turned out, it was easier than expected in some aspects but easier in others.

Reviving TechMount so far looks like a success, since the begging of the month 11 new posts were posted which is more than May, June and July combined and things look pretty good looking ahead. Sure this is far less than what I expected of myself, not in quantities but in quality. Many things I planned on doing are still at the writing block, or to be more precise in their drafts waiting to be completed. Some should be out soon, others might take a while longer.

Personally I’m starting to enjoy writing again, even though most of the stuff is not out yet, I’m feeling good about writing after a very long while and slowly shaking off the rust. I’m sure that with time I’ll be able to get back in the saddle and write like old times.

As for the slideshow project, things are progressing slowly and it seems the goal will be very hard to reach without compromise. A 100 family slideshow-worthy photographs is a subjective target depending on your own standards. Since I set very high standard for this project it turned out to be substantially more challenging than it seems. For now, with half of the dedicated time gone, I have only 30 worthy photographs. I guess it’s time to speed up.

You can’t really miss it, can you?

TechMount has a new design and it was long overdue. If it looks familiar this is because it’s based on the well known Illacrimo theme with a few minor touches and the first TechMount design that is not by me (if you can call my playful creations, designs). You might notice a few more minor changes and glitch fixes in the future as things evolve.

If you notice any glitches, please let me know in the comments here.

I’ve decided to take upon myself another project during the month of August (The first was the rehabilitation of this site). Being a photography enthusiast, I will try to shoot 100 family slideshow-worthy photographs using a point-and-shoot camera alone. By family photos, I mean the children. The purpose is obviously, to create a slideshow to cover the entire month of August 2009.

I’m using a point and shoot camera, mainly because holding a huge DSLR camera near children make them act anything but natural, the camera becomes the main focus of attention every time it’s around. As most know, the most beautiful children pictures are taken in natural poses during their usual daily playful activities. When you hold a camera all the time, eventually they will ignore it, but I have no intention of holding a fully sized DSLR camera the entire time I spend with the children. Another reason is to experiment with the capabilities and quality of photographs this type of cameras can produce. I’m not out to prove anything, but it will be a good exercise to try and produce high quality end results.

During the month I will use my pocket Olympus FE-300 camera, which is compact and easy to carry around. You don’t feel it in your pocket, it’s light in hand, fairly quick, have a big 2.5 inch LCD preview screen, and produces good quality and high resolution (12 megapixel) photographs. Obviously it’s not a Canon 5D Mk II quality, but that’s not the purpose. Instead I will use the point and shoot camera advantages as pointed above. To make it even more challenging I will try to mix in a few photos from my mobile phone 5 megapixel camera.

Techniques I’m going to try during this project:

• Play with natural light – Since my subjects are children I will have to improvise as things unfold. I will try to use natural light as much as possible.
• Play with the built in flash – The options are very limited here, so it’s probably going to be very experimental.
• Shoot with higher ISO sensitivity – This is not a common practice in P&S cameras, but the Olympus FE-300 has an amazing 50-6400 ISO range. Though the highest ISO is achieved it lower resolution.
• Use the self-timer – This method is used so the camera doesn’t joist when pressing the shutter release. End result should be sharper photographs. Not an easy technique with young children.
• Use my tripod – Never used it for this camera, I’m not sure it fits.
• Prefocus – Though I tend to do it sometime, when your subject are on the move (as they are most of the times), this technique is useless. Still it can improve the quality of picture dramatically.
• Macro Photography – This is another uncommon practice with P&S cameras, but that’s exactly what I’m here for.

The few loyal TechMount readers have noticed this blogs decline for a very long time. It’s been almost two years since TechMount has been severely neglected in every shape and form. This is not how I wanted things to draw out, but frequent bumps in the road made it a bit tough. Although this is not an excuse, it’s time to make things better.

It’s very important for me to express, that I have never even considered to drop blogging entirely.

In the next few weeks this blog will head out to discover it’s new way. Gaining momentum and reenlisting lost creativity might take a while, writing is a slow and careful process most of the times, but this is not a case to give up on. There is much work to do and many new things are about to happen. I have new ideas and a few experiments in mind, and some other things somewhere in the pipeline. Sounds a little foggy? No worries, it will all clear out in the near future.

This is how a blogging backlog looks like in WordPress… Too many idea, too little time…. A 36 hours day would so much help my productivity.

It’s pretty easy to notice the lack of attention this blog has been getting the last few months. Only a few posts every month, and not very thoughtful ones at that. Simply put, the place has been neglected.

There may be various reasons for that, not enough time, fatigue, lack of ideas, and yes, a little bit of boredom as well. Sure, I can blame it all on my new baby girl, born back in February, but that wouldn’t be the truth. (If you noticed I don’t share much of my personal life here, it’s true, I don’t!)

But now things are going to change around here, I’m going for a challenge, which from this moment on will be known as the August challenge. And what’s it all about you ask? I am going to post here regularly, as in every day or almost every day, and get this place lively again. And in order for it to be a real challenge I will go for a number, a nice round number of 50 posts for August. Considering my pathetic 6-7 and even 4 posts a month the last few months, it’s not going to be easy. But there are no excuses whatsoever. A challenge is a challenge!!!

I also have another challenge already planned for September, something I may need to start working on this month to be done on time. But there is a time for everything. Get your count watches ready, here we go…