Grizzly Me
…Me
I’m an natural-born Arkansas Hillbilly and Native Son of the beautiful resort town of Hot Springs, where I was born and remain – an aging Boomer.
I’ve had a life-long interest in Art, and have been into Photography since I was about 12. I’ve studied both, and worked as a Professional Photographer through most of the 1980′s – doing mostly studio and event work back in the days of film and darkrooms. I don’t have to tell you that a lot has changed since then…
These days I’m 100%-digital and loving every byte of it. The landscapes, nature, architecture, and rural scenes of Arkansas are almost exclusive subjects for me – both as photographs, and digital artwork created from them.
… My Coding & Computer Work
It was while working as a photographer in the late 80′s that I became interested in some of the early home computers – and to make a long story short, they ate my brain. I had soon traded darkrooms for desktops, and have been playing (or arguing) with the contraptions since the dinosaur days of early DOS … back in a lost time that predates Windows, Hard Drives, and even the Mouse.
But a predictable thing happened while I was watching computers progress by leaps and bounds – and if you were paying attention to the biz, you saw it coming like a slow wave: Cameras turned into Computers and Computers turned into Darkrooms. Personally, this marriage of technology and art has been nothing less than a Zen-like experience to me.
While waiting for photography to catch up with the digital realm, I became more interested in the underlying code that made things work and have always been interested in programming. With the advent of the Internet, my interest shifted to the code behind that, and to date I still follow the complex mash-up of languages and technologies that drive the ‘net. Since the mid-90′s I’ve made a living as a website designer, though these days I mostly work with Web Applications that function more like online robotic vending-machines than just “pages” of static info.
I’m afraid us hard-boiled geeks aren’t much in need these days by the average person because creating just about any kind of online presence is now point-and-click easy for everyone. I actually see this as mostly a good thing, but of course there’s still a call for us code-hackers – because while setting up something like WordPress may be as easy as a few clicks, when you want to modify it to do some specific trick … you’ll probably need a geek. Gimme a call.
So these days my code-work mostly involves modifying existing frameworks to extend their functions – or simply styling them with custom-made Themes and Templates to give each a one-of-a-kind look. I gladly offer free consulting on matters of what type of site you may need for yourself or your business – and don’t be surprised if I actually talk you out of spending any money on a site, especially if I can show you how to get all you’d need for free! But sometimes you’ll want your own domain and the ability to call all the shots yourself – and that will usually cost you less than $100 a year for the domain and hosting. I also donate free web-work for community service and other non-profit organizations. Feel free to Contact Me with any questions about websites, code, or the business in general…
… This site
MarkCorder.com has come to function as a showcase for what I consider the best of my original photos and artwork – and it’s also an example of how WordPress can be configured as a photo-blog. (So if you want your own, just ask me how!)
I hope you enjoy my original images as much as I enjoy creating them, and hopefully they will even inspire you to get out and find some great locations to visit and photograph for yourself. You’re welcome to save the images you find here to use as wallpaper, etc. – but please read and respect my copyright restrictions for other uses. (And don’t be afraid to ask!)
Happy Browsing!
Mark Corder ~
