The short answer on its technical details: I started with WordPress and phT for YAPB and customized each. I would not release the work I did for MPG as a stand-alone set of code, but I could do similar work for any photographer or artist and so could you, with the tools I referenced.

If you’re considering WordPress then ready-made themes I might work with include http://bueltge.de/photos/ from http://bueltge.de/photoblog-theme-fuer-wordpress/465/ from Germany, or the flexible and simple http://photoblog.xyloid.org/.

Design side, MPG and I surfed roughly 75 to 100 good photography portfolios, first. Design memes emerged which made laying it out and color choices simple, per the goal of looking professional or industry standard.

A portfolio site and especially in photography should stay nearly out of view, moving you through scenes like a stage crew. This is not the time for gimmicky user interfaces in Flash which take two minutes to load and invent whole new ways to use a mouse — portfolios for which relatively few potential clients will have patience.

MPG needed graphics to represent her portfolio on other sites, and to incorporate it within those sites, such as her own MangoPowerGirl.com. On the left is one such graphic, which is shown in a sidebar of her site like a “tower” ad, linking to her portfolio.

MPG’s portfolio feature requirements included:

• — to be able to update it herself,
• — to have it easy to page through, with large-enough photos one at a time, and
• — to have categories with “thumbnail” views per each including an “all photos” category.

MPG’s photography portfolio is broadly compatible across browsers, operating systems, and even hardware and display settings, e.g. scaling well for lower screen resolutions while maintaining image quality.

Above all MPG’s photos are a joy to see. View select work at Mango Power Girl Photography, hundreds more photos centering on food, nature, markets, and related stories at Mango Power Girl, and thousands more of her photographs, one uploaded almost daily in MPG’s flickr stream.

p.s. for a super fast portfolio, you can also tag photos or group them in a set on flickr. For a tag, try the word ‘portfolio’ or any word, then to present the portfolio, share only a link to the slideshow flickr automagically generates per tag or set.

Here’s an example from my own flickr stream, showing photos I have tagged with “wallpaper” meaning they could be used as a computer desktop, wallpaper, or background image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianglanz/tags/wallpaper/show/

I found the film’s soundtrack clever, affecting me enough that I had to wonder why. It opens with accordion music, crowd noise, and market speak. The accordion sets a romantic, communal, timeless mood with old folk melodies. It is the music of the people, fitting Seattle’s great market.

Accordions are used in folk music throughout Europe and North and South America. They are often used by buskers — street performers. Buskers are common at Pike Place Market itself, if not always with accordions.

At first we see an empty market, with some focus on leaking pipes and damaged infrastructure. In 1969, they needed to not only save The Market from development, but rebuild it from decades of structural neglect.

A vendor steps into view. We hear, then see The Market’s business being done, its teeming, happy crowds, some shopping for dinner and others with no apparent agenda. There is a lot of focus on prices, reminding us that without a profiteering middle man, The Market makes basic economic sense for both producers and consumers.

The accordion easily ebbs out of one melody and flows into another, many times over. It is as if you saw someone interesting in the crowd and tried to follow. You would get glimpses, then lose them at times, and get an occasional glance in return that would keep you following.

In the middle of the film we are shown the doors to the Athenian Inn Restaurant, next door to Lowell’s Restaurant & Bar. A 1960s, Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass interlude overtakes the audio track. Their album “Whipped Cream & Other Delights” was all about food, and although it was four years old when this film was produced it was still all the rage. This is a nod to youths who not only made this film but generally contributed much to saving The Market. The instrumental music of Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass did also appeal to many older adults, so it was a diplomatic choice.

We see a ferry and hear its horn while enjoying a view from inside Lowell’s. The interlude ends with a bit of “A Taste of Honey,” instrumentation including a Fender bass, an electric and an acoustic guitar.

It was over coffee at Lowell’s that Steinbrueck and friends hatched plans to save The Market in the 1960s. For nearly 100 years at both Lowell’s and the Athenian, there have been restaurants in this place where you could meet friends or make friends. They have been fertile ground for greatness for nearly all of Pike Place Market and Seattle history.

The accordion reemerges with a few ending scenes and the film credits. Daily business is done, a couple meanders, smiling arm in arm, and a grandfather leads his granddaughter by the hand.

The credits read “A University of Washington Film,” by B. Biggs, G. Coldevin, R. Dong, J. Dunn, D. Macdonald, D. Pratt, and C. Vollan, with Advisors J. Driscoll and T. Kirkman. To these Seattleites of 1969: for my many market adventures since 1992 when my family moved here and met The Market, and from 2008 when now I write: thank you.

Below: Peter and Victor Steinbrueck promoting the rehabilitation of Pike Place Market, also in 1969:

Photo courtesy Peter Steinbrueck and HistoryLink.org.

Article cover art by Brian Glanz, in part using images from the Seattle Municipal Archives.

Read more about Mango Power Girl :)

“By the power of mango!”

This tour de notre jardin links to F00Ds with its edibles, such as her Applemint Gimlet and her Chilled Mint Tea. No doubt she will update it now and then to track its progress.

Note: I am so-happily-married to Mango Power Girl.

Try Noonhat “to take lunch to the next level,” as creator Brian Dorsey has said. The site matches you randomly with people for lunch, on a day and within an area you and they have pre-selected. This is not a dating service; you are encouraged to go to lunch with more than one other person. With its randomness, Noonhat is purely about tossing the social salad. It is what Dorsey calls “an anti-niche technology.”

To Seattle Net Tuesday and all those interested in non-profit technology, Noonhat represents what one person is capable of:

(1) in his or her spare time,

(2) using free, open source tools, and

(3) with a bit of help from the Seattle community.

Dorsey spends $15 per month on hosting, and Noonhat has no other cost except his time. Noonhat is free to its users. Brian Dorsey works full time as a software developer, but not on Noonhat! He spent what he calls “50 software guy hours” to build Noonhat from its beginning to being featured in mainstream media and industry leading conferences, including Seattle’s KING 5 TV News and Gnomedex 2007.

Clearly there are great possibilities for building with free, existing software, and the opportunities for starting something new in Seattle are promising, too. Dorsey’s other essential message for starting a new venture was: be willing to do things before you’re entirely ready. His Noonhat home page went public before there was automation for matching people to lunches. Even though he had to manually perform matches in the early going, by opening the site early on, he proved the concept. Ultimately the Noonhat process was improved through a trial by fire that forced Dorsey to be practical.

Especially let a practical, timely opportunity lead you into taking the next step when the time is right, even if that is before you feel ready. Brian Dorsey and Noonhat were voted from a small Ignite Seattle event into presenting a few days later at Gnomedex, an internationally attended social technology conference. Within that one week, visits to the Noonhat site went from dozens per day to more than 1,000 per day. Dorsey took advantage of the Gnomedex spotlight to launch Noonhat nationally — not that he was ready for that, either!

Dorsey also mentioned that in the span of its first few days of mainstream exposure, large companies had approached him regarding use of Noonhat internally by their employees. Take one opportunity, and look for others to open. Not only KING 5 TV News and other network news, but the Seattle Times, the Seattle P-I, and other print media gave Noonhat increasing attention. If Noonhat had waited to launch until everything was perfect, or if it had missed its opportunity to shine, who can say the spotlight would have come again?

Noonhat is a liberating way to meet new people. To paraphrase Dorsey’s words: in a time of increasing professional specialization, narrowing and shrinking social networks, and pick-your-perspective media sources, this is social networking turned inside out and with no strings attached. If you’d hesitate to meet someone new alone, just bring a friend or two along to guarantee a good time, but with a twist.

Of Noonhat, I say: may it live long, and prosper.

In other words, give it a try at Noonhat.com. Pick your location, date, and cheers!