But it’s only part bogus. The year is correct. The month is the right one.

The day isn’t.

I give away my age, even my astrological sign. I’m fine with that.

But don’t wish me a happy birthday this February 15. Wait till the month is over.

A RETROSPECTIVE

As of today, version 3 presents 11 years of photographic work, 8 years of print and web design, and even 3 years of my early paintings, the earliest dating from 1994.

My web site shows 13 years of research in visual arts, writing and design… and counting!

WHAT’S NEW? WHAT’S UNCHANGED?

Version 3 is a major overhaul. Although I have preserved the essence of my previous web site, the new version brings new design and tons of fresh content. The XHTML / CSS / JavaScript / PHP / SQL code is totally new.

Version 3 is bigger, simpler and user-friendlier. Yet, it remains unconventional, minimal and colorful.

HOME

My web site is still in 3 languages, so the HOME section is the landing page for each language version. Its benefit statement briefly explains what I do and how I can help.

The design remains almost unchanged, so people looking at their 2003 edition of Taschen’s “1000 Favorite Websites” won’t feel lost.

PHOTOGRAPHY

The ex-PICTURES section. I hope old-time visitors will forgive me: the garbage bins had to go. Reason: not enough garbage bins!

So a new photomontage brings 10 permanent galleries, 1 recent gallery and a link to the future archives.

The PHOTOGRAPHY section filters a common pool of photographs by image subject, image use type and image freshness.

I work with different clients. Some ask to see my portraits portfolio. Others request my advertising portfolio. But a portrait shot for an advertising campaign can go into both portfolios. So please expect some overlap if you click through all galleries.

The mixture gallery is a good introduction to my photography: it mixes a bit of everything.

DESIGN

Totally new, the DESIGN section also filters a common pool of projects by media, use and freshness.

I have been designing for web, print and projection media since 1999. Most of my design projects intermingle photography and design. For a historical perspective on how I started in design, please read the history part of my artist statement. For practical information, read about my art direction and design services.

PROSE

A new section that you might label as my blog, although I see it more as a publishing platform for my essays, reviews, interviews and news.

I have been secretly typing away through all these years, publishing my first mass media article in 2001. I will now concentrate these texts here and continue to add new ones. Find out more about the prose section, or read about my press articles’ service.

The previous version’s LINKS section has become a… LINKS post genre in the PROSE section. And its design has moved to the… DESIGN section.

Subscribe to PROSE RSS or visit this section as often as you like to stay up to date on my latest pictures and projects.

CLIENTS

Also new, the CLIENTS section describes my work for a selection of clients. A place to learn about my projects from a more practical, start to finish, goal to result, perspective. It includes representative case studies of my photography only, cross-media and press projects.

SERVICES

New as well, the SERVICES section lists and describes the services I offer to my clients. It also explains my main differences.

I am versatile by nature (my mother), so I like to do a lot of things. But I have also inherited the need for in-depthness and professionalism (my father). Result: I do as many things as I can, as best as I can. In practice, I had to limit myself to creative work only, so I can sustain high quality.

METHODS

A long-requested section, METHODS explain my workflow, pricing and legal terms and conditions. Read through these texts for concrete answers to practical questions.

MYSELF

A relic from the version 2, this section now shows an updated Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde diptych.

Russian culture is about contradictory extremes: minimalism-maximalism, east-west, tranquility-uproar, ying-yang.

Totally new are my artist statement, exhaustive curriculum vitae, interviews and critique, as well as awards and recognition.

The section also includes the much-requested portraits and auto-portraits of myself. Including a rarissime black and white photograph of the author, by the author. Yes, I shot black and white in the past. Hard to believe, eh?

I will scan and add more photographs to this section in the future. If you happen to own a picture with me in it, please do send it in for everyone’s delight.

CONTACT

A well-preserved CONTACT section, augmented with all the recent niceties. E-mail, cell phone, skype phone, LinkedIn, FaceBook, MySpace… Choose your weapon.

Cell phone is the surest.

I spam-sieve, so some well-intentioned e-mails, very occasionally, end up in the spam basket. Please forgive me – I receive over 160 spam e-mails a day, filtered with a 98.5% success rate. The longer the subject and content of your e-mail, the lower the risk of a false negative.

I move around a lot, so if you wish to send me a snail mail, please contact me beforehand for my current postal address.

DIGITAL RETOUCHING

A less apparent section, the new DIGITAL RETOUCHING portfolio showcases my Photoshop work. It contains images by other photographers only, as I seldom retouch my own pictures. But if you need some serious photoshopping, I can do it for you.

PAINTING AND DRAWING

Due to popular demand, my web site now features my early PAINTING AND DRAWING. I have completely switched to photography in 1997, but people like to have a look at my artistic foundations.

FEEDBACK

For general feedback about the new web site, you can add your comments to this post or contact me by any other means.

For typos, errors, abnormalities and bugs, please comment in a dedicated beta feedback post.

I really appreciate your feedback and hope you’ll enjoy the new version of my web site.

I would really appreciate your feedback: it will help to improve my web site and hopefully make it more enjoyable for you.

To learn what’s new or unchanged since version 2, please read my post about the version 3 of anatolyivanov.com.

To express your opinions about features, as well as to report typos, errors, abnormalities and bugs, please add a comment below or contact me by any other means.

GENERAL IMPRESSION

• What is your general impression after visiting my web site?
• How easy and comfortable to you is my web site?
• How easily can you find things you are looking for on my web site?
• How clear to you is what I do and how I do it (example: Anatoly IVANOV is a … and he can help me / us to …)?
• In what ways do you think I am different, if at all, compared to creative professionals / companies you may know or whose web sites you may have visited?

LIKES AND DISLIKES

What do you:

• like about my web site?
• dislike about my web site?

OVERDONE AND MISSING FEATURES

What do you think is:

• too much?
• not covered in enough detail?
• missing?

POSSIBLE FEATURES’ PROBLEMS

I would like to ask specifically about the following features, please:

Photography section

• Do links to previous / next pictures inside a photography gallery fade in / fade out to light grey?
• How easy is it to return to the photography section (home) page from inside a gallery?

Design section

• How clear is the purpose of the   +   sign in the web design gallery?

Prose section

• Do comments work as expected?
• Do pingbacks / trackbacks work as expected?
  Note: the post about the version 3 is open for pingbacks / trackbacks experimentation.
• Does the RSS subscription to posts and posts’s comments work as expected?

Contact section

• Is the contact information clear?
• Do you see my e-mail address?
• Can you click on my e-mail address?
• Does the click on my e-mail address open your e-mail program with the correct address in the message “to” field?
• Can you see my cell phone clearly?
• Do you understand how to dial my cell phone number from outside of France?
• When you click on my Skype name, does Skype add me to your contact list?

Digital retouching section

• How easy and clear is it to show the before / after version of a photograph?

Printing

• Can you print pages from my web site?
• How satisfied are you with the print-outs (example: easy / hard to read, images missing, type too small, etc.)?

LINK PROBLEMS

Please report:

• dead links (example: a “page not found” opens instead of the linked page)
• links leading to unexpected locations (example: the link says “Wikipedia / Article” but opens my photography portfolio instead)

TYPOS AND ERRORS

Please report:

• misspelled words
• bad grammar
• bad style
• factual errors

That includes:

• all texts
• page titles
• window titles
• tooltips appearing when you hover a link with your mouse

BUGS

Please report:

• things that do not work at all
• things that do not work as expected
• any other abnormalities and strange behavior on my web site

If you would like to report a bug, please mention, if possible:

• the link to the page containing the bug (inside the URL field of your web browser)
• the description of the bug, as detailed as you think necessary (what happens, how it looks)
• your operating system, including its version number (example: Windows XP Service Pack 2)
• your web browser, including its version number (example: Internet Explorer 7)
• your screen resolution (example: 1024 x 768 px)
• whether you have Arial Narrow or Helvetica Neue Condensed or Trebuchet MS or Arial or Helvetica font installed, and if not, which sans serif fonts you do have installed

The more detailed your bug report, the easier it is for me to correct the bug. But if you don’t know where to find some of that technical information, please at least include the link to the problematic page and describe the bug.

ANY OTHER FEEDBACK

I welcome any other ideas or comments about my website: things you disagree with, things that you would like to see improved, etc.

THANK YOU!

I really appreciate your feedback.