The hot new Nikon D3200 is the talk of the town at the moment. And, for good reason! This newly introduced budget model DSLR, with a suggested retail kit price of only $699.00 has photo and video capture specifications that rival high-end cameras. I wrote a review of the Nikon D3200 at petersonlive.com. The photo above shows a sample of the image quality possible from this amazing camera.Truthfully, the specifications of this camera comfortable exceeds the needs of most photographers, including many pros. Read the Nikon D3200 review at PetersonLive.com and buy this camera!

Spring tulips are one of my favorite photographic subjects. Blessed with elegance, beauty and color, they become even more dazzling in the right light. I shot this image at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden during the first week in April. The afternoon sun provides strong back-lighting in this setting, illuminating the main tulip and creating a series of glowing out of focus highlights in the background. The appearance of the bee was an unexpected bonus that occurred just as I was focusing my camera. A happy accident indeed!

I love this image so much that I created a tulip flower web design template featuring this photo. If you want a personal or business web site that reflects your love for tulips, now you can have one tailored to your personal specifications! We can develop this template into a web site that fits your needs to the letter. It offers a striking and beautiful presentation that will make your web site a conversation piece and a reflection of your passions. This web design is applicable to weddings, fashion and beauty sales, personal consultants and other small business and freelance services.

Contact me at newark1.com for more info on this beautiful tulip flower web design template. It is part of my exclusive Floral Web Design Collection. You will not find this beautiful web design anywhere else!

By merging my two passions, web design and the spring season, I’ve created the Floral Web Design Collection, a beautiful collection of pre-made web design templates that can be customized for small business and personal web sites. This exclusive collection of web design templates are not available anywhere else, and are offered exclusively through my web design studio at http://newark1.com. A collection of three web designs (more to come) they feature floral photography by Donald Peterson. If you love nature, you will find much to love in these appealing web designs!

The design shown above is “Tiger Lily.” There are presently two additional web designs available that feature spring cherry blossom photography by Donald Peterson. This is a limited time offer and will used for a very limited number of web sites. So, please hurry if you want to make this web design your very own. All you need to do is provide us your text and other content and we do the rest.  Please visit my Floral Web Design Collection page at newark1.com for more information on these beautiful web designs. -Donald Peterson

These photos show a few scenes from the dramatic red rock country of Sedona, Arizona. A day in Sedona is better than a Broadway show and dinner at a 5-star restaurant. Coming from New York City, I am fully qualified to make that comparison! The soaring beauty of Sedona entertains while clearing the mind and restoring the body in a way that no urbane pleasure can match. For me, a bag of trail mix, a bottle of water, and comfortable shoes were my ticket to some of the grandest pleasures this world offers. These images were shot with a variety of cameras during  numerous visits I have made to this stunning oasis in Arizona.

The top image shows Cathedral Rock, one of Sedona’s most popular iconic red rock formations as seen from a popular hiking trail. The image below shows a bit of the view from the road during my first visit to Sedona.  I was so enthralled by this beautiful red rock that I would pull of the road and shoot what I saw. I was lost half of the time, but in a good way.

The image below was captured on a Sedona hiking trail popular with mountain bikers. Can you feel the gentle breezes and crisp air? -Photos by Don Peterson, Newark1 Web Design Studio, New York City

For most of us, there are certain tasks we do that never feel like work, because we are inspired by the mission, the process, or the subject. This flower gallery web design is one of those tasks. I created it about six years ago, inspired by the beauty of flowers beds in the Rio Grande Botanic Garden in Albuquerque, New Mexico. During the time I spent in the dry high-desert environs of Albuquerque, I felt a tiny bit homesick for the spring tulips and other flora of the gardens in New York City. The Rio Grande Botanic Garden took care of that. It was a true oasis in the middle of the desert. This web site was created as a personal project to promote this under-appreciated jewel in the heart of the high desert. You can see the original flower gallery web site here. -Don Peterson, Newark1 Web Design Studio.

This car will always be special to me. It was the car I drove cross-country (New York to California) when I first saw the wonders of Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. The first time I saw the red rock paradise of Sedona, the glistening White Sands of New Mexico, the historic artistry of Santa Fe, the spectacle of migrating Sandhill Cranes at Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge, it was in this car. I fell in love with the Southwestern United States in this car. When I finally retired it (at 200,000 miles), more than 120,000 exciting miles had been spent exploring every “nook and cranny” I could in the states of New Mexico and Arizona.

This car was made during an era when American cars had a lousy reputation. Yet I never had a single breakdown until after 200,000 miles. I kept the fluids fresh and did all the necessary maintenance on time. It kept on running. Most of my photos of New Mexico and Arizona were made during the time I owned this vehicle.

My old 1999 Mercury Cougar is seen here on The Jemez Mountain Trail, just outside of the Jemez Pueblo in New Mexico at sunset. We had some great times together!

What is clean web design, and why is it desirable? The dictionary defines the word clean as: free from pollution, not ornate or intricate, honest. These definitions can all be applied to clean web design.

Clean web design is free from pollution. In other words, any element that does not have a role in supporting your central message or product is eliminated from the design. It is very easy to fill a web site with visual elements that distract from the purpose served by your business web design. It is wise to make sure that all graphic elements and links to external web sites (including the vast array of social media), serve a beneficial purpose in your web design. If not, they can “muddy up the waters,” making it harder for the central theme of your web site to shine through. If it confuses, distracts or hides your mission, then remove it from the web design.

Clean web design is not ornate or intricate. There are standard protocols or “web etiquette” that must be honored in keeping things simple. Don’t invent new ways to navigate your website. Don’t hide your navigation and links in wittily contrived visual tricks. Don’t force people to spend time trying to figure out how your web site works. Use navigation tools and link structures that are simple, commonly used, and easy to follow. If it’s too complicated, they will simply leave. That’s bad for business.

Finally, clean web design is honest. It does not mislead visitors. Pages are clearly identified with simple titles and honest descriptions. It does not use tricks designed to lure visitors through misleading promises.

At Newark1 Web Design Studio (the creators of this blog) we excel at clean web design. The web design for a chocolate confectioner featured in this article is an example of  our work. It appeals to the senses while keeping functionality simple and understandable.  Please contact us through our web design portfolio if you want to know how our clean web design can help your business.

The Sermon on the Mount, one of Jesus Christ’s most beloved sermons, is the inspiration for this photo / poster. I added this quotation from Matthew 6:28,29 (the lilies of the field) to a photo I shot of a lily at the New York Botanic Garden over the summer. The fancy script is a free font named Scriptina (I get asked alot about that font). This image was shot with a Canon Rebel (1000D) XS and 50-250mm EF-S lens. Photo by Don Peterson.

The title says it all. New Mexico Truck. No where else have I seen a fondness for old pick up trucks quite as ardent as in New Mexico. I routinely see old Chevy and Ford pickups from the early 1960′s still in use as daily vehicles. They are an enduring part of the New Mexico landscape, like this old Ford pick-up truck seen in the Jemez Mountains near Albuquerque, New Mexico. This old truck ages gracefully in an equally ancient barn, covered with a fine film of red clay. From what I can tell, it’s a 1952 Ford F150 with the famous bullet grille. I have captured photos of this truck on a number of occasions in different seasons and light. Here is another photo of my favorite old New Mexico Truck on petersonlive.com. -Photo by Don Peterson, Newark1 Web Design Portfolio

I love simplicity. Take something complex and make it digestible, easy to comprehend. So, in that spirit, I’ve gone back to a simpler time in this redesign of stylepeterson.com. It is not fussy, but it works for me. It draws the eye to the focus of each page, the photography. I hope you like it! I will be adding more new photos in the days ahead so please bookmark us and return. Please stop by my web design portfolio if you need web design for your business or personal web site.