Photographer Websites-The New Art Gallery
Do You Have a Photography Website?
I’m a student of photography as well as an instructor. Always have been. I was an early adopter of the Internet, at that time I was in I.T., and the Internet was my business. I always thought the killer-app on the Internet was education, still think I’m right, but in a more narrow view for us photographers, it is a means to publish our galleries for all the world to admire.
An early version of my personal photography website
My first photography website was developed in plain HTML back in the mid-90’s. I still maintain the site, but its about 5 years out of date. That is the biggest problems with photographer websites, they do take some work to maintain. Even though the site (http://kevinmossphotography.com) is about 5 years old, it is actually in it’s 4th version. Yes, if you view the site, it does suck somewhat. Hey, I’ve published 7 books since I last updated that thing, and other priorities have ruled. Right now, I’m in the process of re-launching. I’ll write a post when it debuts. My website is important as it’s viewed continually by my prospective digital photography students. When photographers take you’re courses, they want to know where you’re at photographically. I have a site for my students that I’m using temporarily until the main site is finished, http://thekevinmossgallery.com.
The purpose of this article is to highlight just a little of the past, and what more progressive photographers are doing out there on the Web. Be careful here, you may come down with the case of the “Envies”. I’m going to start with some of the best websites I’ve seen from pro’s that we know, or if you’re serious, should know.
The first is one of my favorite artists, Michael Kenna. You can view his website at http://michaelkenna.com. I’ve been a longtime fan of Michael’s work, and I’m super impressed with the simplicity and quality of his website. Note to self: remember these best practices.
As stated earlier, I was first impressed with the simplicity of the site. Michael Kenna is known for his extraordinary black and white portfolio. He offers many views of his work divided by 20 of these portfolios. If you’re into taking cue’s on well designed websites and you’re a fan of world-class black and white photography, you owe yourself some time on his website.
The second website I want to bring to your attention is by one of my fellow instructors at http://betterphoto.com, William Neill. Neill is known as one of today’s Master’s of Photography. His photographic work is well known in the art landscape circles internationally. He is one of the top photographers of our time. William also happens to have one of the most rockin’ photographer websites I’ve seen.
In addition to showing premier portfolios for viewing, Neill offers a variety of products, including a complete stock photography section. Photography books, eBooks, posters, prints and cards are all available on the site. Each section takes design cues from the previous. Of course, the site is filled with Neill’s wonderful photography of nature.
Professional or semi-professional photographers need to be Internet savey. Neill is one of those. He even has social networking links to his sites on Facebook and Twitter, right on his home page. His site also includes his blog, as well as his extensive information on workshops he teaches (which are VERY popular by the way).
Of all the photographer websites I’ve seen on the Internet over the past 15 years, I rate Neill’s as best in class. If you’re serious about building your own site, I encourage you to take notice of the websites by the top photographers in the world. This one is a good example. Visit http://williamneill.com
Options for Photography Websites
In the past few years, many companies have set up shop on the Internet to host photography websites. There are many, and sifting through all the options and then making a decision can be a laborious chore. In an effort to combat that, I’m providing a list of a couple of the top photography website companies out there. What these all have in common is you don’t have to be a whiz at website development or HTML, most of the “building” is by web based wizards, which we’re all used to by now.
In my current website development, I’m developing my “shell” in WordPress, however, for my back-end, I’m strongly considering SmugMug. I have a couple of reasons, first, I can sell my stock photography and have those pages seemlessly integrated into my WordPress site. Secondly, you can’t beat the price of SmugMug’s service. Their plans range from $39.95 USD to $149.95 USD per year for their Pro Plan, where you can actually sell your work online. From my experience, their support is very good too. Answers to my questions were answered very quickly. You can sign up on SmugMug for a FREE Trial .
Zenfolio also offers a free trial. Their prices range from $25 USD to $100 USD per year to host your photography website. The $100 Premium plan gives you e commerce capability if you’re going to be selling your work on the Internet. I’ve heard a lot of positive feedback from photographers about Zenfolio as well. You should check them out.
Zenfolio combines the best in online photo viewing experience with a flexible shopping cart. This means your photos can be easily ordered as prints or a variety of products from a selection of vendors. The service is easy to use, and offers many powerful features.
A third option is http://betterphoto.com. BetterPhoto has been around for 14 years and has evolved into a photography community/training site, that just happens to host photographer websites as well, which is how they started. Similar to both Zenfolio and Smugmug, BetterPhoto offers a range of website offerings you can choose from.
Of course I have to mention that I teach 2 workshops every month on BetterPhoto, Photoshop For Nature Photographers, and Elements For Nature Photographers.
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I would love to be able to do something like that!
Hi, i must say fantastic site you have, i stumbled across it in AOL. I bought myself the lumix tz7 digital camera. Its just a pleasure to use.
Wow very good post indeed. I found your blog on google and will bookmark it now. Keep up the nice work.
Thanks Riccardo!