Portfolio?

tevo · Oct 15, 2012

(I'm not sure this is the right board to post in, please redirect me if this is so)

I have been shooting 'professionally' (100% of my income) for almost 2 years now, and I am looking to put together a (web) portfolio consisting of all my work, something I can present to a school or potential employer. It would consist of my photography, as well as graphic design and other media related works. I have heard of 500px which I am in the process of looking at, I am also aware of tumblr (which I'd like to avoid) and blogspot. My vision is having a dedicated website or page on a website, and it may be more beneficial for me to just buy a domain name and design it myself - I am open to suggestion. Are there any other portfolio services TPF recommends? I am also looking for a (n online) venue through which I can market myself, but that is not as big of a priority at this point.

Tl;dnr: What web portfolio service would TPF recommend?

jwbryson1 · Oct 15, 2012

TEVO!!! We were just talking about you earlier today! Where have you been, son? :mrgreen:

tevo · Oct 15, 2012

jwbryson1 said:
TEVO!!! We were just talking about you earlier today! Where have you been, son? :mrgreen:

Hi

I have been busy with life... finally found time to shoot for myself again! I missed TPF <3

Also where were you talking about me.......

Big Mike · Oct 15, 2012

I can't believe you have been shooting professionally for two years and don't have a web site. Well, I guess it depends what you do and who your boss/clients are.

There are certainly a lot of people (including many pros) who use other sites to show their work. I'd suggest that having your own website is quite important, and part of the reason for using those other sites, is to increase the SEO of your own site and your 'brand'.

If it's a matter of effort and cost, it's very easy and relatively cheap to set up your own site on your own domain etc. If it's mainly for hosting your portfolio, a place to direct people to, that is no problem. But if you want/need that site to generate new business for you...that's a whole different ball game and it's a very competitive and constantly changing world. I don't really understand it at all...and that's probably why my site doesn't get many visitors... :lol:

pixmedic · Oct 15, 2012

depending on whether you want a place just to showcase pictures, or a whole business website, Wix, Smugmug, and zenfolio are often mentioned here. they all have different levels of service where you can do just a portfolio, or a business site. im sure there are plenty other sites too. you'll just have to look around and compare to see which one is right for you.

MLeeK · Oct 15, 2012

Welcome back!
I absolutely love PortfolioSitez which is where my website is hosted. I bought the domain through 1 and 1 I think. My sports site is GoDaddy and that's where I bought it. PITA. Love the ease of PortfolioSitez much more.
Doesn't matter where you buy the domain. I bought where it was cheapest at the time!

tevo · Oct 15, 2012

Big Mike said:
I can't believe you have been shooting professionally for two years and don't have a web site. Well, I guess it depends what you do and who your boss/clients are.

There are certainly a lot of people (including many pros) who use other sites to show their work. I'd suggest that having your own website is quite important, and part of the reason for using those other sites, is to increase the SEO of your own site and your 'brand'.

If it's a matter of effort and cost, it's very easy and relatively cheap to set up your own site on your own domain etc. If it's mainly for hosting your portfolio, a place to direct people to, that is no problem. But if you want/need that site to generate new business for you...that's a whole different ball game and it's a very competitive and constantly changing world. I don't really understand it at all...and that's probably why my site doesn't get many visitors...

Well when I say professional I mean that's where my income is coming from. I shoot freelance for a company, and they pay me. My name isn't on the pictures I take, the company's name is. But I am trying to focus a bit more on my work outside of freelancing, and ultimately marketing myself.

Derrel · Oct 15, 2012

Tevo!! My man!!!! Glad to see you back!!! BTW...have you SEEN how awesome images look on the new Apple Retina display devices??? of course this is for person-to-person display, not web-based. But still...

Anyway, glad to see ya!

T.V.Photography · Oct 15, 2012

i've started using zenfolio recently, and thus far i like it. lots of options and very simple

tevo · Oct 15, 2012

Derrel said:
Tevo!! My man!!!! Glad to see you back!!! BTW...have you SEEN how awesome images look on the new Apple Retina display devices??? of course this is for person-to-person display, not web-based. But still...

Anyway, glad to see ya!

Hey there Derrel, I missed you

And yeah I was at an Apple store the other day... I kick myself because I got my shiny new MacBook Pro the year before the retina comes out :madass:

But I work with what I have ^_^

Tee · Oct 15, 2012

I like Portfoliositez as well and have almost convinced myself to switch over (love Qufoto but their mobile version sucks balllllz). Just make sure whatever site you choose has a mirror site for mobile/ tablet devices.

tevo · Oct 15, 2012

Tee said:
I like Portfoliositez as well and have almost convinced myself to switch over (love Qufoto but their mobile version sucks balllllz). Just make sure whatever site you choose has a mirror site for mobile/ tablet devices.

I hadn't even thought of that. I'll keep that in mind

tevo · Oct 18, 2012

So I had a photographer recommend SmugMug.com to me, and it looks very nice. It also looks like I can use it as a marketing venue later on. Anyone used it before?

janineh · Oct 18, 2012

tevo said:
So I had a photographer recommend SmugMug.com to me, and it looks very nice. It also looks like I can use it as a marketing venue later on. Anyone used it before?

I use it for private online galleries for my clients. My website is linking to it.