First Year in Business

[viridian]

So, I'm a little nervous here. I started my business in 2011 after many encouraging me to take the leap. Quit my day job in January, with my husband's support, and took the plunge. There was so much going on at the time I started my business (very good friend of mine died of cancer and I pretty much was with her until she passed in May). I neglected this new career of mine. My marketing consisted of talking about it randomly to friends and old colleagues and taking jobs as folks heard about me. I didn't take it seriously. Maybe I was just depressed. I did manage to shoot a few weddings and engagement shoots as well as some parties.

I would like to get some critique here. I can take it. If I'm to grow and evolve, I need to know what I need to work on.

Here's some of the work I did in 2011 and if there are details I need to work on or improve, please do not hesitate to share with me.

P.S. I can't seem to figure out how to upload some of my images so I'm including a link to my website. I know, it's a lot to go through. I didn't want to burden you with so much. So selectively peruse through. I'm still trying different styles. Eventually I'll get to what my style is.

My favs are all under Portfolio-- Weddings: Oscar and Michelle, Robert and Meghan and under Engagement/Couples: Vintage Airplane Montage

Viridian Images Photography
Thanking you in advance....

-lissette

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[davisphotos]

You have some very good shots in there, I definitely think your website could use a redesign, it's a little bit messy now. The site at virimages.com without the www looks much better than the one with the www, definitely clean that up.
A few other pointers:
*Quit the selective coloring, it's a very cliched effect, and it makes your work look dated.
*The portfolio link is a mess, it seems to link to every shoot you have done, I would suggest making your portfolio a selection of your absolute best images.

[viridian]

Thank you so much for your review and suggestion to revamp my site. It's something my husband has been telling me to look into. Sometimes you just need to hear it from someone other than significant other. Do you have any suggestion as to where I should go? Possibly a professional Web designer.

[JReichert]

I would change "complementary" to "complimentary" under the 'Investment' heading.

The site is good for a flash site and I like the strong color upon arrival. I've noticed that many of your photos have that stretched-to-fit look to them, perhaps that's something to look into?

I'm very sorry to hear about your friend. When you're in a hole, you can't always tell and sometimes can't furthermore find your way out. I hope spring is rejuvenating for you!

[rexbobcat]

The site's layout isn't really what I noticed. The first thing I noticed was how low-resolution the photos appear to be. It's probably just compression to make the site run faster, but it really ruins some of the images for me when there are artifacts and lost detail.

[chuasam]

Some of the images look kinda stretched and mildly out of focus.
Oh and get rid of the music. Music on websites make them load slower and many potential clients are surfing the net at work and the last thing you want is music.