What visual image do you think of when you think of Murphy, NC?

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Permalink Reply by John Dilbeck on September 5, 2010 at 2:11pm

Or, do you think photos of people beat photos of things?

Or what?

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Permalink Reply by Jim & Debbie Burch on September 6, 2010 at 7:41am

I`m not sure if it opened on Facebook, but I posted the photo called "Blue Ridge 1", that was taken somewhere between downtown, and the John Campbell folk school. This is the first thing that pops in our mind when we think of Murphy.
We like the looks of the mountains overlapping in the background swimming in that blueish haze. Not necessarily this particular picture, but something like it maybe?

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Permalink Reply by John Dilbeck on September 6, 2010 at 8:54am

Good morning.

The link on Facebook didn't work, but I was able to copy the entire URL and paste it into my browser and see the photo.

I agree with you. I think of mountains, with green mountains fading into bluer mountains in the background. I love the mix of colors with the vibrant greens in the foreground and then ridge after ridge of mountains farther back.

I'm also a big fan of Lake Hiwassee and the rivers around here. I don't think I'd be living here if it weren't for the lake and Hanging Dog Campground. That was my escape from Atlanta 35 years ago. Canoeing, hiking, fishing, meeting great people, going to the Folk School, and just loving the area is what convinced me that I wanted to live here.

Back in July, when we spent an afternoon flying around the lake, Dena took a great shot, and I've been thinking about using it for the header.

You can see it at:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1035248&id=1655971889

She has the original with about 8 megapixels or more, so I'm sure she can size it to fit whatever size graphic I need for the original.

I got to thinking about it and I always think more of the beauty of nature around here than I do of the town itself. I don't think I'd really want to live in town. This helped me realize that I love living in the country near Murphy.

So, what do you think of Dena's photo? Do you like it?

All the best,

JD

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Permalink Reply by John Dilbeck on September 6, 2010 at 9:00am

You know, I just got to thinking (ouch!) and realized that it's not all that hard to change the header graphics.

Maybe it would be good to change it several times a year to reflect the current season.

Since Murphy has four great seasons, that might be an interesting thing to do.

Maybe we could even have a contest and let members submit photos.

Whatcha think?

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Permalink Reply by Jim & Debbie Burch on September 6, 2010 at 9:53am

We love the idea of changing the header with the seasons, and it is a BIG reason we love the area so much. We miss the changing of the seasons down here. A shot of the fall colors, and the ones you & Dena posted with the fence in the snow was a GREAT picture, and are very good candidates. There was also an arieal shot of one of the lakes posted too that may work.
I`m not a graphic designer, but I`d think a simple picture with a few colors would portray the idea without being over-powering.

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Permalink Reply by John Dilbeck on September 6, 2010 at 6:28pm

I agree with you. This could be really easy to do.

I'm planning on chartering a plane later this week or early next week and spend about an hour with Dena getting a bunch of aerial photos and videos of the area.

I'm planning on doing it again when the leaves are at their peak.

As I get stronger, I'm going to put more effort in going to places and taking photos and videos.

I'll start updating MurphyGold.com again this week and will try to do it regularly from now on. I'm not nearly back up to full speed, but I'm doing better than I was when you visited.

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Permalink Reply by Dena Howard on September 6, 2010 at 10:17pm

The mountains and the Henn :)

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Permalink Reply by John Dilbeck on September 9, 2010 at 11:06am

Good morning,

I know a lot more about changing the header image for this community than I knew two hours ago.

First, in order to make a good header image, the photo needs to be a fairly wide shot, from which I can pull out a narrow strip.

Header images must be 955 pixels wide by 150 to 200 pixels high.

Images from which I can't pull this size strip will not work. That makes it a bit harder to make the background image.

If it isn't possible to pull this size image, then the recourse would be to make one that is a collage of several images roughly 200x200 pixels, side by side. I could put three or four such images in a new header graphic.

When I changed the image, it didn't look good on such a dark theme.

So, I changed the theme. That messed everything up for about a half-hour.

I wasn't planning to do a complete makeover of the appearance of the community, but I did. It's done now, so it should not pose future problems.

You'll see that I went for a mostly white theme. I think that gives it a cleaner look.

What do you think?

I wasn't planning to mess with the CSS, either, but the theme I chose was doing things I didn't want, like showing discussion subjects in all uppercase, so I spent another half-hour editing and testing the CSS for the site. I think I have it where everything is working, again, and readable.

If you run into problems anywhere, please let me know.

So, the next thing is to open this up for you to submit your photos for consideration for a header on the community.

For now, I'm not sure what would be acceptable and what won't be. So, we'll play it by ear and discuss it as we go.

I'm not sure how long an image will be used as the header, either. I want to change it at least four times a year, as the seasons change, but I may be interested in changing it for major holidays and local events, too.

Now that all the grunt work is done, making a new header and uploading it is fairly easy.

The first header image is from Dena Howard, ImagesByCourtnie.com, and was taken on Lake Hiwassee, just north of Murphy, NC during July, 2010.

(Click the photo to see a larger version.)

Thanks for letting us use your photo, Dena!

I'll upload the original photo and link it to this discussion.

I'm open for suggestions and critiques.

Do you have any photos of autumn in and around Murphy? Please restrict them to within Cherokee County.

All the best,

JD

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