WELCOME TO THE ALL-NEW MIKECOLON.COM!
9/30/10
It’s been five years since our last website makeover and although it was hard to let go of the old familiar… I’m completely stoked to introduce to you the all new mikecolon.com!
I thought simplifying the site and bringing everything – portfolio, blog, workshops into one place would be.. um… simple? I found out it’s kind of like trying to organize 35 pieces of camera gear into a small messenger bag for carry-on. It’s not exactly simple. Actually, it takes MAD SKILLS; that of which I do not possess in web design. However, thanks to a collaborate effort of blood sweat and tears between my graphic designer Zoe Ink and my web team at Omatik, it all came together quite nicely. We actually succeeded at producing a website that is quite simple, yet functions as a hub for everything I need.
Much of what this site does is actually behind the scenes. Public and private portfolio management, passwords, calendars, video management, newsletters, inquiry management, workshop signups, dvd sales, digital downloads, shipping labels, receipts, site analytics, and much more.. all accessible through my custom admin panel.
There is a cool feature hidden in the portfolio section for those of you who love photography! Just click on an image to reveal my camera settings and sharing options for Twitter and Facebook.
Please browse the site and leave me some feedback in the comment section below. It would mean the world to me! And check back often as I will be adding more portfolio sections very soon!
P.S. I want to give a special shout out to my assistant Kat who gently but relentlessly pushed me to get this done. Thank you Kat! Julie and I are taking you out to dinner. Oh wait.. who’s going to watch the kids? Ok… maybe we will just have to cook dinner for you.
Mike, I love the new look. The ease and the fact that everything is in one place. Awesome! Change is good, change is good! Keep inspiring. Tasha
I LOVE, LOVE LOVE the new site!!! It’s simply beautiful and a total one stop shop gem! I love that you can access everything in an organized way while still getting plenty of eye-candy in the form of your awesome images along the way! FABULOUS job!
Love your new site; looks good and is easy to navigate.
Congrats on the new site! It looks AWESOME!!! It does so much more to highlight your beautiful work than your previous site! Love it!
This looks fab!! Clean,functional and beautiful!! Congrats!!
Congrats on the new site, love the camera info feature. How about embedding how you get such drop dead gorgeous people all the time! Peace!
Its great to see your website updated. I first learned about you in my wedding photography class at Cypress College, CA and have been an avid fan since. I’ve pretty much tried to mimic your style as it is a great inspiration. I love the images you capture and the story it tells. My favorite thing was that video/photoshoot at Newport for Grace Ormande’s article. Hopefully I can meet you soon and attend a workshop sometime. Photography is a great break from Nursing. Thanks for the inspiration!
Sincerely,
Neil Puzon
I like the new change and the simplicity of the new site!!! Your images have always inspired me to be and do more in the world of photography! Amazing new site!
Congrats on the new site Mike. Good to have you up in Calgary last year.
Very nice Mike. Love the new look and layout.
Congrats on the new site Mike! It screams Clean, Fresh and Simplicity! Images are gorgeous as ever, and browsing around is like finding having a lucky bag, where each link is full of surprises. Love it.
Looks terrific Mike. A lot of great ideas; I am sure folks are going to really appreciate your transparency in the portfolio section (sharing your settings and lens choice). I for one look very much forward to future blog posts. Your work has inspired both my wife and myself for years. Congrats on the blog launch.
God bless,
Lucas, Winding Violets
Wow!!! Beyond amazing!!!
simply elegant!
Mike, It’s gorgeous! You nailed the “K.I.S.S.” factor. I’m sure that soon anyone with half a brain will now follow your lead in web design arena as they already have in their shooting styles, work flow, and inspirations. It’s a rare thing to find a Godly man leading the way in a cut throat industry such as you, but you’re an inspiration to myself and many others! Keep up the great work and may God bless you and yours.
Mike, just like your photography and your spirit, this site is simply beautiful. Thank you for following the path God led you down so that you would become a positive voice to so many of us in an industry that desperately needs it.
Mike,
Great site. I always enjoy browsing through your work. Your blessed! I enjoy how you can scroll through all the pics and not have to click on them to see them. Great pics as always. My daughter is 13, when she’s is 25 years to get married, I’ll ask her to call you. You took her first pictures in a Christmas stocking after she was born. It;ll be great!
Well done!
Mike, the look is very simple. Just like you had stated you wanted simple. It has a great user interface, easy to navigate, and great that the user can view images in full size. Love the simplicity of it. Nice updated photography as always. I’m very excited you got a new blog. Very excited. The blog you had was outdated. Sorry man, I’m speaking to you in truth and love.
Enjoyed the thirst relief section as well in published love section.
Great work done by the designers and great look for you Mike. Keep doing what you love doing and enspiring tons of photographers. God Bless!
I loved the style and look of your old website, but I must say I love the new one just as much.
Mike, the new site looks awesome! It was your work that inspired me to get into this business a few years ago. It was a pleasure meeting you in nyc for your seven workshop.. thanks for being so open and sharing so much with us. Krish
Awesome site Mike… It has given me the kick start into finishing mine once and for all! Cheers for the inspiration!
Am just in awe yet again, you are a true inspiration and I just love love love it all. Thanks for always sharing come do a camp in London soon.
i love the new site, most of all I really love your work so beautiful!
Have been following you forever….and I can offically say this new website and blog fits your style, I love it, it has such a great fresh feeling, and it captures emotion like your pictures do. This is a good change, your have inspired me!
Wow! I already thought the old website already looked cool. You’ve outdone yourself yet again! Has it really been 5 years since you’ve changed it? It sure hasn’t felt that long!!! Keep it up and keep the posts coming! I live vicariously through you!!!
beautiful site Mike!
Beautifully executed!
Very nice site Mike! I definitely like the all-in-oneness of it (and yes that is now a word). Oh and my favorite part is the secret camera settings that come up when you click the photo. So sneaky and crafty. Have you ever considered doing a workshop in Savannah? Went there a month ago and really explored for the first time and fell in love with it. Would make a great setting for a shoot. A girl’s gotta ask since it is a 5 hr drive from me:).
love it…. I need to do mine too!
Gorgeous, simply gorgeous. Your site looks so clean and fresh, and is so perfectly functional. I love the way your portfolio galleries are set up, and the side scrolling function, then, of course, there is your gorgeous work!
Beautiful new site! You have a winner.
simple, clean and my favorite part is that you let your images do all the talking. way to go mike colon!
Mike,
Finally the new site is up..and it’s looking great! Minimalistic in design, the colors scheme goes well, easily navigable, and loving the new pictures. Can’t wait to see more posts and updates from you!
Mike, Congrats!! Love the new site!! And you’re right the hidden feature in the portfolio section is WAY cool.
It’s absolutely stunning! I have followed you for years and love your work. Congratulations!
beautiful! all of it! the colors, the font, the simplicity! LOVE it!!!
Love the new website Mike! Great job and keep taking some awesome photos!
Love the site Mike!
I love the site! I think its awesome that you went away from flash! Its very clean and polished plus the updated photos are great! Is the photo information going to be put on the photographs? Great work.
Hey Bro! I love the new look and feel. Simplicity is key and goes so well with your style and brand. Everything loads so smoothly and is snappy.
All I have to say is… “Uh yeah… Uh yeah….” :-)
Love ya bro!
DB
GORGEOUS site!
Love the new site Mike. I’m so glad that Kat pushed you to get this done, it looks amazing. I love the clean feel to it. Much easier to navigate around. Can’t wait to keep in touch and stay updated. Congrats again…
LOVE the new look, Mike! PLUS, because of your workshop in May, my new favorite LENs since then is the 70-200mm! Thanks for inspiring!
Love the new horizontal format mike! It’s quite a change from the last site, but suits you well. Love seeing some new weddings up also.
The new design is nice. I like the fact that the gallery images scroll to the side. Thanks for keeping the photo metadata, I always loved that about the other site.
FANTABULOUS! Simple, clean, yet it has everything! and Kat definately deserves a night out…so I’ll watch the kids ;-)
Three thumbs up for the new face website (the other thumb/hand is holding my camera :D ). Very clear and and nice to the eyes.
Mike, CONGRATULATIONS! Everything about it looks sleek and fresh! Makes me want to get married all over again… even to the same guy!
– Maria
Mike,
As a pastor and passionate Christ follower I I appreciate your shout out to Jesus and your wife. Very impressed and grateful to know they are your priority over everything. Spoil your assistant. I always love seeing your work. Great job on the site. It is simple and clean. Very appealing.
Only His,
Neil
omatik rules! thanks for turning me onto them! congrats on the new site.
Nice and clean Mike! Getting close to re-launching a major rebrand / design of our own site as well, it is definitely alot of work to get all the elements to work together!
– Joel
I love the simplicity of it. Simple, clean, and to the point. Great job, Mike!
Awesome website & blog Mike!!!! Love watching the workshop video, we had a blast and it was a great informative workshop.
Great site Mike, love the integration with your blog, workshops, etc. I have been following your work since 2005. you were my inspiration to become a wedding photographer, tks! Great work Kat!
Nice! :D it was a happy discovery that you redone it.. :D
Congratulations on your website makeover! simple but it rocks! your such an inspiration!
Mike,
MAJOR CONGRATS!! The site looks great! Simple is definitely the way to go! Looking forward to your updates. Take care dude.
Beautiful!
Mike, I really like the design. Simple, clever and puts the emphasis on the photos. -Tony
looks good brother! clean!
Loving the new site!!
Mike, the website looks great… congrats on the new look!! Your photography is a true inspiration.
WOW! This is amazing!! Clear structure, easy to navigate – just SIMPLE!! I learn a lot from You!! THX and go forward!!
Love the new website Mike. I wanna be like Mike! Lol. Looking forward to seeing some real weddings on your new blog. Keep up the great work!
I LOVE this new site! Very clean, easy to navigate, and refreshing!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!
Amazing new site, Mike! I love it. I am very glad to be able to see all your work in such an easy to navigate site. Its really beautiful!
Wow, Mike, this is amazing, and it’s perfect for your style!
I love how this side is not completely different then the one u had before, but i just enhanced.
Incredible Mike! Dig your style a lot! Hows the jits coming? you get that purple yet?
Cheers to your new site!
Dmitri
I really love that your willing to share teach by providing information about your shots. New site looks great. Aloha.
Love the new site Mike – beautiful job. And these input sections – *very* cool…. five years since the last one, wow, but what a beautiful site you have now.
Love the portfolio section with tech data.
Great look Mike… Thanks for keeping us waiting. Most def worth it.
Beautifully done. Love the new look.
wow, I love the new site.
I LOVE your new site!
Mike, I LOVE the new site. You are an amazing photographer and my goal is to one day take one of your workshops! I might as learn from the best, right? YOU ROCK!!!
You are such an inspiration to me and your new blog only highslights your images more!
very lovely website!
Nice redesign Mike. Clean and simple, nothing to detract from the photos.
Completely beautiful and inspiring!
Love the new site. A much needed facelift. I don’t think any website can do your work justice, but this one is closer! Congrats.
Love your new site. 3 questions.
1. One of your images says 180mm. Is this the fixed or 70-200?
2. If zoom, is this the new VRII or VRI?
3. Did you upgrade the 200 f2.0 to the VRII?
Thanks for posting the Exif.
Looks great! Congrats, hope all is well.
Alex
WOW looks gorgeous Mike!!!!
Love the new look! Simple is good! =}
Mike,
Your site is, in a word, “FUN”!! Love the energy from the video!
Peace,
Riz
A stylish website and blog, truthful to your beautiful art. Keep up the good work!
Love the simplisitic feel of the new design. Very easy to move around and navigate. Can’t wait to see more portfolio sections added.
always respected what you’ve done in the industry man and what you stand for! stoked to see your new site up and going!!!!
Hi Mike, found out about the possibility to get the technical data by incidence when clicking on one of the pictures and am so impressed. Thank you so much for sharing this information which, together with your amazing pics, is very valuable for me who just got into wedding photography a year ago.
Also, I’m pretty much impressed by your site. Easy to find what your are seaking for and, at the same time, beautiful.
Great new work on a great new site!!!!
Wow, great looking site!
I really love the simplicity; it lets your photos shine. <3
The ability to scroll through the photo gallery is amazing; I love it!
New to the your site. Can’t wait to dive in and have a look around.
Nice images Mike, you do good work.
Best,
Nice site – very well done.
Yeah, my blog/website creation has been in the works for years. I like how the emotion and your vision (what strikes you as powerful, in a gaze or moment) really come across in the work you chose to display. It always feels good to have a fresh start and for others to know what you’ve up to. Love the ‘Love/War’ section!
Hi,
Really like the new design! Much simpler and cleaner right now!
Take care
I have so much love & respect for a clean design. This is a great new look! Nice stuff, Mike.
Hello! I love the simplicity of your site. Well done!
I LOVE it! Its simple and stylish and I love all of the new work. Congrats, Mike! Can’t wait to see more of your AWESOME work. :)
Great job, Mike! Love the clean, uncluttered look. One minor suggestion would be to add small direction arrows at either end of the slider bar under the portfolio images. It wasn’t immediately obvious to me that there was a slider there.
God bless you, man.
Great work getting it out Mike! Wonderful image selections and work as always. Hope to see you again!
Site looks fantastic, so inspiring for a wanna be like me!
Hey, Mike! Been a fan for awhile now! The new site is excellent! A big improvement! Thumbs up, man!
looks wonderful Mike!!!
Hello Mike,
Great new site, love the color and layout. However, I find the navigation at the portfolio page a bit confusing. When clicked on one of the pictures, the view will expand and show the shooting info which is great. However, at the same time, if the pictures I clicked is either the left or right one, that pic will goes to the middle. If I click on the side picture again, it will come to the middle and the shoot info will be gone. I was doing that for like half a hour and totally didn’t notice there is scroll bar at the bottom. Maybe it will be easier to navigate when there is a dedicate button for showing and hiding the shooting info, and people can use either click or the bottom scroll bar to navigate through the pictures. Just my 2 cents.
nice!
Mike, thank you for the gift of inspiration. I look forward to learning from you one on one someday in the future. Clean & Classy!
Cheers,
Terrence
Love the look and feel of the new site… BEAUTIFUL!
It’s a beautiful site. Nice, clean, and elegant; very much like your wedding pictures in your portfolio. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with the rest of us.
Mike your skills are way over the top. However I discovered that you have a true love for people. What a blessing man. That quality was very encouraging and very inspiring. I too want to communicate to people that I care deeply about their memories and would love to make the very best images I can for them. I look at the opportunities to capture moments as a sacred trust man. Well you have it in abundance and so then my prayers are always with you in your work. I also appreciated the way you stated that to give away is to be blessed. I agree with you so very much man… Thank you for the workshops and for the life lessons. Please tell Julie that I appreciated my “jesus freak” days too.
I would love to continue learning from you Mike. Your website is so user friendly and so very today and futuristic. You, Kat, and Julie are wonderful together..
Thanks
Ronald Pollard
Mike-
Bill and I LOVE the new site! Congrats to you on the mission accomplished :)
We enjoyed meeting you this summer in Destin. Best wishes to you and your family. We’ll be photographing two weddings in the San Diego area in the next couple of months, we’d love to take you guys to dinner :)
Blessings!
The new look is VERY NICE! Clean and easy to explore. I’m looking forward to being inspired by your work.
Great Work Mike! Pics are outstanding!
Hope to see you back at WatersMill Soon!
I am absolutely in love with your photographs and the kind of passion you bring to them! I love that you value your family so much! I am hoping one day (hopefully in the near future) of making it to your workshop!!! Thank you for inspiring all of us!
Mike
I must say I was very supprised by the design. Expected a totally different style. Hope it works for you. I will be keeping an eye on it to see how it progresses.
Joe
Great job on the new website! I hope you will be updating your blog more often! :)
Mike, thank you for continuing to inspire us! You are truly a blessing and a treasure to this industry. Cheers’nBlessings – {h}
Um…seriously this is the coolest website I’ve ever seen. TOTALLY RADICAL dude!!!! Simple & clean…love it!
Spectacular new website, love your work and love the images you took at my wedding!
Thank you everyone for such amazing comments! I’ve been buzzing on these comments ever since the launch. It’s so great to hear after all of the hard work put into the site. I’m humbled, inspired, and on fire to put more content up. Thanks for lifting me up!!!
Mike, love this new site, stellar!
Love the new look site. I have a few of your DVDs including the 4 day workshop one and I can listen to them over and over again. My hubby is a surfer too and I know that the Hawaii workshop would an ultimate for us to attend one day.
I love the new site! Awesome job.
Wow, this is an awesome change! Congratulations!
HEY! That’s ME! haha. I feel honored. Mike, you are amazing. You are absolutely wonderful to work with. I hope we get the opportunity to work together again in the future. xo
Yay! I haven’t been to your site in months and I’m so excited to see the new work up. The site design is clean and gorgeous.