Ian is from Malta, and is a skilled graphics and web designer. In addition, he is a superb photographer and world traveler. The aptly titled “Ian’s Travels” is a photojournal/blog outlining his recent trips to places like Sicily, Cambodia, Tanzania and Morocco.
The site is slick and verygood looking. The navigation in the top bar and side bar is flash driven, and the slideshows are Flickr-based (I presume from the pink and blue dancing circles on the loading photo screen).
The site is refreshing to behold after looking at countless blogs built with blogging tools instead of sites built the old-fashioned, hand-designed way of yore. Ian has a great eye for layout and user interface and this comes from the vocational information outlined on his About me page..
The bulk of the site is photography-driven, and his photography is quite stellar. I spent an hour just walking through his overviews, Sicily, the stunt photography… everything. But here is my criticism: With photoblogs, there is something lacking. Supporting narrative or simple captioning so we know what we’re looking at or what Ian was experiencing during his trips.
I know a picture can say a thousand words, but a few more words flowing from the hand of the artist himself would augment the site in wonderful ways. I think for example of a recently weblog reviewed photo blog by Massachusetts based photographer Tom Sheehan (see http://www.theweblogreview.com/review/3374/ for the review and link to his site) who photographs locations mostly within his own neighborhood, but explains why he framed a particular picture the way he did, or what drew him to the spot to photograph.
In Ian’s News section, there are a handful of short articles, including a nice “to do” list that really gives an idea of where he wants to head in life. The About me page is very informative but talks more about his vocational life than his passion for travel and photography.
I enjoyed my visit here, but left feeling like I didn’t get the “full picture,” to throw out a bad pun. I would love to hear more from Ian… in addition to seeing where his eyes fall across the vast landscapes of this world.
I am giving the site a 2.75 rating for right now, because it is a very young blog, and I think Ian shows a lot of promise. Perhaps a re-review in a year, with some more content and some more narrative will boost that rating.