Dedicated sites

[anonymous]

Hi

I’m curious

[John Bennett]

I’m curious about this as well Will. Been giving it alot of thought lately.
If I could write a lick I might incorporate some blogging but I’m a truly horribe writer.

My mentor/sponsor in the OWC is recomending it in so much as it gives me a way to separate what I do for fun and what I want to do professionally. He’s really pushing me and I’m on board to view my work/efforts as a second business. Basically if I want to grow and succeed beyond what I’e done this far, I need to treat it as a busniess and not a hobby. So with regards to the site I currently host my stuff on, while theres alot of good marketable images, there are also alot that would not be up to snuff. I know it, but those are “fun” images that I upload for friends, family, and for posting to forums etc.

In his words, if prospective buyers start seeing to many of those before seeing the “good tuff”, they exit the site.

So his recomendation is
1) host for “fun stuff”
2) a site professionaly designed which contains carefully selected images that highlight what im capable of doing

So long winded way of saying for me it’s worth it and I’ll probably be doing it at some point this year

[Zach Matthews]

Will –

I think you’re asking a different question than John answered.

[anonymous]

Thanks John and Zach

You both answered a badly asked question

[John Bennett]

If I could write half decently and make a tale interesting I’d like to “blog” about outings. Where I’ve been, what I was fishing for/trying to shoot etc,etc. This would be in addition to a professionally designed site, that’s dedicated to marketable images. So Id actually have 3 sites. One that host everything (much like what I have now), my “blog”, and a site (domain) my own url  thats strictly my best stuff, thats carefully selected.

I’ll always send a CD with anyone I’m just starting with. It’s  personal touch and most likely what they want. Web images while convenient are not truly indicative of the photos themselves. Both I guess might work, but to me a CD in hand with full res files is something tangible vs a link to downsized images. Not so different as a consumer from shopping online. Im the type of guy that I want to feel something in my hand before buying it.

J

[anonymous]

Hi

Makes sense John

[anonymous]

Hi

Having looked at the sites of a number of photographers

[Don Thompson]

Hi

Having looked at the sites of a number of photographers  whose work I enjoy- that  a common  componant seems to be a section/list of the equipment they use/favour. Will

I don’t think it truly matters, but I like knowing what equipment was used. That way when the equipment is better than mine, I can blame my bad photos on “cheap” equipment. 🙂

Seriously, I do like it when the equipment is listed.

[anonymous]

THanks for that Don- I’m in the midst of designing/laying out a new site

[David Anderson]

While the net is a good way of showing off shots, it’s not always the best way to sell yourself or work to real clients – I say ‘real’ meaning people who value photography and are willing to pay what it’s worth.

I say this because from where I’m sitting, it appears that 1 in 3 people on the planet is a part time photographer that aspires to sell photos online and has a flashy website with 3 dozen shots. 😮
Most of those people only have a good automated DSLR and no talent, so if your shots are great you can stand out a bit, but it’s still a crowded place.
I think the poeple with real talent (Hi John & WIll amongst others here ;)) will need to work outside that square to get noticed and get hired.

We use our website as an online portfolio and have been hired off of it alone, but it’s rare, more often it’s just part of the sales process, but the hard sell is still face to face or over the phone.

The BEST way I’ve found of selling myself and work is with a printed portfolio in a face to face meeting and the BEST way to get that meeting is to be published where people see your work.

The old catch 22..

So if I were new again, I would target a printed publication in the field of photography I was into and once published go after others on a face to face basis.
I would also look at the advertisers in those publications and target them as well – they tend to have more money than the magazine for photos.

Zach, I know what you’re saying about kids and agree to a small degree, but everyone I work for with few exceptions have kids and having a couple photos of my own has been a great ice-breaker at meetings or during the pitching process.

I’ve also met some of my biggest clients through kids sport.

(yes, I did feel a bit singled out –

www.dsaphoto.com

A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.

[Neal Osborn]

I have enjoyed this thread very much.  Lot’s of good experience-based information here.  Recently, I started a secondary business in medical macro photography and that has been a steep learning curve in itself.  Luckily I was able to work on a robust project for a startup device company from the start.  However, it doesn’t take long before the real world sets in and you realize that making images for others is a tough and thankless business.  All that stuff about dealing with marketing and advertising representatives hits pretty hard when the project gets going and you realize everyone has an opinion and revision requests.  

With that in mind, I quickly found it necessary to have a webpage for the clients to view the markups and videos.  It was necessary to get a SmugMug account and learn CSS and Java.  However, I learned through feedback that my original site design was too decorative and full of unnecessary galleries like fly fishing and “my interests” instead of the medical images that were the real money so to speak.  Like my Grandad always said, “focus on what you’re good at.” Furthermore, the content of my images are fairly sensitive material to the casual observer, so I had to learn how to password protect the links and also copy-right/watermark images.  It is now a very boring but functional webpage which is focused at the moment on medical anatomy and product images.  

During the process of building the site I looked at hundreds of SmugMug community sites and learned that indeed most are nothing more than personal or semi-professional blog-and-family sites similar to what iWeb does anyway.  Yet, there are some amazing Pro sites out there with images for sale.  Having a personal site is invaluable to direct the clients for focused viewing but they can be distracting if not done properly.  

I agree with David that nothing beats face-to-face contact!

[anonymous]

David – many thanks for that …

[Author]

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