The new opening tiles for Andrew Jennings' Portfolio

I’m happy to announce that I recently completed a refresh of this humble website. I actually started showcasing my photography on the domain Andrew-Jennings.com back in the summer of 2005. The five year anniversary just passed, and I figured it was a good time to update it with a new look, some added content, and functionality.

The big news is new portfolios. As you can see from the image above, I have doubled the number of portfolios that are now showcased on the site from three to six, now accessed through a mouse-over menu on the top right. The automotive portion has been broken into four subgroups: Transportation, Motorsports, Drifting, and Auto Shows. To make each worth while, new images from some of my most recent work have also been added (some never before seen on the web!). The Entertainment and Travel portfolios are virtually unchanged, for now. I have plans for both of those in the future too, so keep an eye out for them to grow and evolve with my work.

The other news is a revamp to the blog. The old one had a more stand-alone feel. It was an adaptation of a pretty basic WordPress theme to tide me over as I got used to posting. The layout you see before you still uses the underpinnings of that original Plainscape theme, but has been heavily recoded to fit the overall brand feel that I want to convey. Mobile phone users should also be greeted to the new WPTouch app that I installed on here to make the experience simpler for small screens. There are still some things that I intend to clean up, such as the look of the menu on the right, but nothing that should impede your regularly scheduled programming.

If you’ve had a chance to familiarize yourself with the new site, I would be glad to hear any and all feedback in the comments here. For aspiring web designers, if you are interested in how I did it, let me know that too. If I get enough requests that may prompt me to write some detailed posts about my process, from conceptualizing, to coding and testing.

Thanks as always for visiting this site and viewing my work. Here’s to another five years of great fun and photos to come.

Post updated with photos from each press event.

8:47am: I’m up in Chicago today for the first press previrew of the Chicago Auto Show. It should be a fun event, and I’ll try to update this live blog with my thoughts as the day goes on. Stay tuned!

10:20am: Toyota press conference just finished. New 2011 Avalon revealed, and will go on sale this Spring. Focus of the talk was on safety and the pedal fix. Avalon will have the fixed pedal already from the factory. Next up is Honda so we’ll soon see the what the new Odyssey mini-van will be like.

Below: Bob Carter, Toyota’s Group Vice President and General Manager, introduces the new Avalon

11:18am: Honda showed the Odyssey Concept, but pronised the production model would bow before the end of the year (my guess would be the LA Auto Show). Car looks good though with a much more curvy front and side. Photos to be uploaded later on from each press event. Next up is Chevy… not sure what is on for an unveiling this time. More to come.

Below: Vicki Poponi and designer Catalin Matei unveil the Honda Odyssey Concept (which seems to have a faulty fog light)

12:12pm: Time to break for lunch. At Chevy they had a new special edition Suburban and a new Silverado HD pickup. The Silverado looks pretty cool, and will have up to a 20,000lb towing capacity. No idea what you would tow that could be so big, but cool none the less. Later on is Kia and then Suzuki, along with other new stuff around the floor. I walked past the Corvette Gran Sport and it is wearing a very nice shade of blue. Definitely check that out if you come visit the show on a public day.

1:15pm: At the Kia stage waiting for things to get going. They have a cover band called “The Rays” playing stuff like Poker Face and Party in the USA. Guess it’s more hip than Toyota’s elevator music was.

4:28pm: Kia did a great job with their presentation. Suzuki was a bust so not much to say there. I’ll have to devote a whole other post to Kia, but suffice to say their new Ray concept car looks pretty neat. What may actually make production is a whole different story. More thoughts to come.

Below: Kia Ray Concept

5:42pm: A few more live notes before I make my way back to the airport again for my flight out tonight (and before my iPhone’s battery runs out!). In terms of new cars, there are a few others worth mentioning. Nissan and Infiniti made a reappearance at this auto show, after backing out of all but the NY show originally in 2009. They brought along the new 40th Anniversary 370Z and refreshed M sport sedan respectively. Both cars look even better in person than they did in the initial press photos. Mercedes also had the new SLS AMG gullwing on display – a car I’m still not quite sold on, but it is growing on me. Last but certainly not least, Ford unveiled the new Edge crossover in their presentation that occurred before the Toyota conference (I couldn’t see everything live). Sharing a lot with its sister Lincoln MKX, the Edge got a new front grille in line with the Fusion, and the new meters with MyTouch interface. It’s very slick, with almost no buttuns in the traditional sense. They don’t ‘press’, but rather a simple touch will activate the audio, climate, etc.

Nissan 370Z 40th Anniversary:

2011 Infiniti M:

Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG:

2011 Ford Edge:

Thanks for following along with me today. Hit up the comments below to let me know if this type of live post is something you would like to see more of in the future.