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Here's the good part: Links to all of the fortresses; the stories, the stats, the photographs. They are listed in the reverse order that they were created so the most recent fortresses are listed first. The fortresses, as well as the photography, have improved over time, but it's all good.

-Shut up and get to the menu of fortresses-

Unfortunately, there have been times when I didn't have a camera, had a camera malfunction, or for some other reason just wasn't able to get photographs. In these cases, the stats and stories are still there with a nice photo of an empty, sandy, Hawaiian beach.

Photography

I have used disposable cameras with 35mm film for a majority of the photographs on this site. My friend Meiko has also taken several photos with her 35mm camera. When my brothers were visiting, they brought their digital camera and I used that for the photographs taken while they were here.

Generally, I've been pleased with the quality of the photographs taken with the disposable cameras, and it's been nice not to have to worry about getting my expensive camera full of sand and salt water and rain and jelly fish and crabs--because I don't have an expensive camera. But since there is no focusing lens, there are limitations on what I can do.

Photographs

The method I use to name photographs has carried over into the web site itself. For each photograph, there is a number, usually followed by a few characters. The number represents the 360° coordinates radiating out from the center of the fortress, with 0° defining the area in front of the fortress, closest to the water, and 180° being directly behind it. The characters act as a simple description of the scene. For example: a picture called "90 Drain" is a photo taken from the right side of the fortress and displays a good shot of the drainage system; "180 Sea" is a shot from behind with a nice view of the ocean.

Sometimes I think I take too many photographs of a particular fortress, usually because I forget what angles I've already shot, and then take redundant pictures. I've tried to select only the best shots for this site, and exclude all redundancies, making each image worth the download.

One of the major concerns with web site design is quality of images vs. their download time; the better the quality, the bigger the file size and the longer the download time. I have strived to pump all images on this site through a scanning and filtering process that produces the best quality and the shortest download times. It is rare that an image is larger than about 50k (under a minute at 28.8) and there is only one image per page, so even at the relatively slow speed of 28.8, you should never have to wait for more than 45 seconds. I don't use thumbnails because then I'd have to make two version of each picture. Besides, if you want to see the pictures, you should look at the pictures, not teeny little versions of them.

Navigating the Photographs

There are several ways to navigate the photographs of the sand fortresses. Links to photos of each individual fortress are listed both chronologically, and on a representational grid of where each photo was taken in relation to the fortress. This grid is the "Placement Map." The blue area on top represents the water, with the tan area below representing the beach.

Once you've selected an image, at the bottom-right corner of each photograph page are two navigation bars, each traversing the photos differently. One uses the placement order, and the other uses the chronological order. The result is: if you'd like to see the photographs chronologically, use the "Previous" and "Next" buttons next to the link back to the chronological index area (Chrono); if you'd like to traverse the photographs in order of the location where they were taken--in effect, taking a virtual walk around the fortress--use the "Left" and "Right" buttons next to the link back to the placement map (Map). If you chose to take the virtual walk around the fortress, the chronological order is disrupted. You'll usually be viewing it at different stages of completion. But that's cool--you'll not only be taking a virtual walk around a sand fortress, you'll be passing randomly through time as well. See Navigating Photographs on the Help page for examples.

Photo Hyper Paths

There will also be "custom hyper paths" that will take you through multiple fortresses, displaying pictures that fit into a certain category. For example, if you'd only like to see pictures of the drainage systems, you can use the "Drainage Hyper Path." If you'd like to see nothing but arches, traverse through the photos with the "Arches Hyper Path," and so on.

 Note:  These hyper paths currently do not exist because the web site is still in it's early stages, and as of this writing, there are only a few fortresses included. But there are hundreds of photographs of 20 - 30 different fortresses (I've lost count) that are being uploaded as fast as possible.

The Fortresses

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Note: This web site is currently in development. Fortresses are being added regularly, but it takes approximately 4 hours to publish each fortress with its complete spread of photographs. Many fortress stories and stats are being published first, with the photos to follow soon after.

Last updated Wednesday, January 02, 2002.

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