Welcome To PhotoPXL.com Version 2.0

Thank you for being part of the PXL family and community. This site is a work of passion for me, just like my photography. We have been in existence for a few months shy of two years and we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you, our readers. Thanks very much for the support and all the help. Many of you have voluntarily contributed with surprising support, and I thank you for that too.

With the help of our web team, Aokay, we designed photoPXL so it could grow, change and evolve into the future. A lot of thought has gone into the back end. Please explore by clicking on an author of an article, and you will find related posts, articles, and images in the gallery. Everything is connected.

One of the things that have always bothered me is resolution and image sizes on websites. Until now, our images were restricted to a 1000-pixel wide image, as that is the width of an article. This size is still bigger than many sites, but it didn’t satisfy me.

I sat down with our web team and we discussed what we could to change the size presentation of images. With a little bit of work, we realized we could double the resolution of images for a clearer view, as well as allow readers to click on an image and open it to the full width of a window. It could even be clicked again to be even larger, and then could be dragged around to see more detail.

Now as a member you can do just that. Many of the articles over the last few months have been set up so that you can click on an image and enlarge it. There will be some articles this won’t work for because of the image sizes that were submitted. Going forward, we hope that our authors will be sending us larger-size images that you can view.

Since many of our readers use mobile devices, this new feature will be very noticeable when reading articles on those devices.

We have also introduced Light-Night / Dark mode. Some of our readers said they would prefer a darker mode with white type on a dark background. This is now available at the click of a button, which you can find in the top-right of the page.

These features, as well as some others I’ll share in a moment, are available only if you have signed up for a membership for as little as $9.00 a month. First, and foremost this site will always remain free. You can read the same content and use the forum and community section by signing up for a FREE account. The benefits to click to enlarge an image, light-dark mode, and a host of other benefits only come from being a member, though.

Why charge for membership? Simple, we are a business trying to grow in difficult times. As we come out of the pandemic I’d like to offer more content, videos, and tutorials, as well as workshops. We can only do this like any business if we are funded. I’d love to add more people to the team. I’d love to go out and do face-to-face interviews as we did before on that other site. Plus, I want to serve up content more often. Right now it is a one-man team.

Yes, I am fortunate enough to have Chris Sanderson and Michael Durr for video work. Chris does a great job overseeing the forum and battling the constant attack of spammers trying to invade our site. Jeremy Roussak also has volunteered his time to moderate the forum. As you may have noticed, the forum is getting more activity all the time, and it is really a pleasant experience with no name-calling and barbs like some sites. The forum as well as the whole site is meant to exist as a community. While we may not always agree with what others say, we can disagree in the forums and elsewhere in a civil and polite manner. Nothing less will be acceptable.

We will also be adding more benefits to each membership level. There will be vendor specials as well other offers to help give you a return on your membership investment. There may even be a monthly PDF magazine.

We also recently added for all readers the option to have articles read to you. The controls for that are at the top of each article. You may find this helpful if you are doing other things but want to hear the content of the article. You can also speed up the reading. The length of the recording is visible too.

As a member, you get new options regarding your profile. As you can see in the image, you can display how you want your information displayed, or even hide it if you prefer. You’ll get more images in your community gallery space. I encourage all of you to use this feature so more people can see your work and comment on it.

PhotoPXL can only be a success with readers and members like yourself. Together we can share our passion for photography with the community at PXL, and grow to be better photographers together.

On behalf of myself, Debra, Chris, Michael, and all the great authors of columns and articles on this site, I want to offer a heartfelt thanks.

Please stay safe and visit often, as we have a lot of great content coming your way.

Kevin Raber
May 2021

Kevin Raber
Indianapolis, IN

Photography is my passion and has been for5 0 plus years. My career in photography has allowed me to travel the world, meet some of the most interesting people on the planet and see things I could never have dreamed of. My goal is to share the passion of picture taking through photographs and teaching with as many people as I can, hoping it brings them as much joy and happiness as it has me. I do this through photoPXL.com, this site, as well as Rockhopper Workshops, and other projects, as well as teaching as Artist In Residence at the Indianapolis Art Center.