Outdoor Discoveries

What originally was a news section for the rest of the website soon became a place for me to write about human-powered wanderings in the countryside. Photography inspires me to get out there, mostly on foot these days, though cycling got me started. Musings on the wider context of outdoor activity complete the picture, so I hope that there is something of interest in all that you find here. Thank you for coming!

Why have a website?

31st August 2006

If you have been having a look around my blog, you’ll notice that it is a loosely organised collection of thoughts around hillwalking, photography, public transport and website updates. That’s because I want somewhere to share these otherwise my website would become more of a rambling mess than it is at the moment (seriously though, I hope that it’s not that bad). There are other things that I could add here like thoughts on web design and development but I feel that would dilute the whole purpose too much.

Nevertheless, I have noticed two types of websites that are similar to my own: ones devoted to hillwalking and ones concerned with landscape and architectural photography. The latter can get quite serious with their owners travelling either far afield or being up and about their craft at both extremes of the day in summer and out all day at the other end of the year. Also, tripods are a necessity for these folk (must force myself to use mine at some point). Then there are the hillwalking websites. These also have photos but they are to illustrate the route being described rather than for their own sake. This need not be formal as you will see from Fraser Dickson’s site. The purpose of his offering is to describe his experiences on the hill but he indulges in (digital) photography along the way. Another extreme is offered by Sandy Saunders’ The Walk Zone where there is no route text at all, only photos taken out on the featured walks.

So where does my site fit in? Somewhere between these two extremes as it happens and there are three elements to the information that I present on the photo gallery website and here in my blog: photography, walking (urban as well as rural) and travel. The photography element of this is obvious: it is the whole point of my main website. I also have a directory of links to other photo galleries. Walking (and cycling) and travel provide the commentary to the photos and there is also a visitor directory on there. Indeed walking and travel are backbone of what I post here too. Therefore, a suggestion would be to separate the photo gallery from walking and travel. It’s an intriguing idea and one that I might just consider.

Comments:

  • Patricia Hennessy says:

    I love your work. I am also curious about your name. My grandfather’s name John Hennessy. Do you have any relatives in Cincinnati, OH? Keep the pictures with the writings. It’s more enjoyable and it helps us be in the in the same place with you as you write.

    Thank You

    Patricia A Frank

  • John says:

    Hi Patricia,

    Thanks for your comments. I don’t know of my having any relatives in Cincinnati but I do know that there are loads of us John Hennessy’s out there. I work for a large multinational company and it has two of us; we keep getting each other’s email from time to time…

    Thanks for dropping by,

    John.

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