The original website was launched on 2 Mar 2003. At the time, it was designed to demonstrate 40-50 of our best photographs. At the time, neither of us could foresee that in less then 4 years our photographic portfolio will exceed 3,000 photographs, our photographs will be featured in magazines and calendars, we will participate in multiple exhibitions every year or that our photographs are going to be pirated on an industrial scale.

The time came for a major revamp. What it means:

• New look-and-feel: cleaner presentation, better navigation and consistent layout
• Better image browsing and searching facilities
• More photographs from our portfolio
• Reqular and quick site updates

Technical highlights:

• Four separate websites (PhotoCat.co.uk, 2photographers.co.uk, breed library and contact sheet repository) are merged into a single unified system. While they will maintain the logical separation, under the hood the same engine will be re-used.
• All metadata are consolidated into a single object database engine with sophisticated search and selection facilities.
• Clear separation of data, business and presentation tiers.
• Website content generation is automated and data-driven (XSLT 2.0)
• Fully automated image workflow
• Complete automated website build, validation and deployment from scratch (Ant)