Website Critique

Fingtam · Jul 25, 2012

I just created a very simple website to advertise my photography services as a hobby. I'm planning on linking to this site on Craigslist and Facebook and some local websites just to get my name out.

Eventually I'll spend the cash on a more professional website, but I'm not making any money off my photography yet and can't justify the expense, so as of right now it's very plain and rather boring.
Really, it's not a huge deal, because I'm not dependent on it for income or anything, but I thought I'd post it to see what people had to say.

I'd appreciate some suggestions/criticisms to help it lose some of it's blandness.

www.WallacePhoto.yolasite.com

roentarre · Jul 25, 2012

It looks very nice. I dont think I am in position to comment your work but your photography are good to view

I do wonder if you like to categorise your port folio ?

slackercruster · Jul 25, 2012

V. Nice.

I am trying to do the same free thing. But I am very choosy with the type of people I shoot. (see my sig line for examples) I have no interest in shooting for free...unless the subject interests me. BTW, I've never got anyone as yet to shoot from my ads....but I keep trying.

Until I moved out of L.A. in '89, visually interesting people were easy to find. But I didn't stop there. I wanted to get in their homes and shoot them. That is what is hard about this type of work nowadays. People are very cautious and paranoid. Hard to meet a stranger and get them to let you into their home to shoot them.

Yet, that was how I worked 40 years ago....

I met this guy on the street, asked if I could shoot him in his room and he said yes. An interesting guy. Old merchant marine. Complete with shrunken head hanging in his window! Only light was the window and a bare light bulb on the ceiling.

I did have a cop write me from Craigslist. Tried to entrap me into some homosexual shots or sex with a young boy. That is about it. And some guy that wanted to be a model. Didn't interest me at all...ZERO!

I also put up flyers for free shoots and people take them down, even though they have the rip off contact tabs.

You may also try 'Model Mayhem'. It is free and you can find models local to shoot for free.

Also try getting into street shooting. I kinda gave it up as I liked the in home shots better. But I am getting back into street shooting since I can't find any in home subjects to shoot.

Recently I shot a fantastic set of photos 'undercover' in a rest home. But in a poll, the Pentaxians voted it down as something I should not post (or even shoot) since it was undercover. So I accepted their poll and did not use them.

Here is a sample of the pix from the undercover shoot I used in the poll, so I will share it here. Have about 15 - 18 'strong' shots...but have no use for them. Best work I've done in ages!

Oly M4/3 shot from the hip..sideways!

Anyway, as a documentary tog...that is the kinda stuff I like to shoot.

Photo #6. The little girl. Is the bokeh natural or did you fool with it? Beautiful!

amolitor · Jul 25, 2012

It looks slightly amateurish, but since you're clearly marking yourself as a hobbyist that's not really a problem. You don't exactly need to entice clients with your awesome font choices!

I would make the text a bit smaller and less bolded, and maybe choose a more attractive font, though. Use something with serifs for the text, keep the sans serif font for the About Me heading.

Not sure I'm in love with the photo beside the text -- it's clearly the WORST photo on the page! It does capture that 'hey, I am me, and I love taking pictures' vibe, but it would probably be worth your while to fool around and find a better way to shoot this. The mirror with the photographer in it is good, but the truck with a bunch of crap in the back is less good

The gallery looks very nice. There's some fine work in there, and I like that it's regular people. That will make potential "clients" (paying or not) happy, I think. You might consider serving up slightly larger images if the web site software will allow.

EXCELLENT work on the 'I am here, this is my phone number, if you want someone in to take pictures HERE, call me'. It's bizarrely common for photographers to lovingly assembly some giant beautiful web site that fails to mention even what continent they are on. You can guess 'they much be American' since nobody else is as clueless about how there's a big world out there, but America is still a pretty big place.

Fingtam · Jul 25, 2012

Thanks, everyone for the input.
Slackercruster, I love the pic of the man in his room.

I will try out some of your suggestions.

amolitor,
I agree, it looks amateurish, but I am an amateur so that's okay with me.

I agree that the truck and the dead tree in the picture don't help the site at all. I just don't have any other pictures right now that say, "Hey, I'm into photography". I'll keep that in mind though, and try to get myself a better about me section picture.

I did change the main text body to a serif font. I'm not sure I'm crazy about it though. It just feels more rigid and serious, when my personality is definitely more fun loving and easy going. I understand what you're saying though. The sans serif font kind of gave it an unprofessional feel. So I'll play around with it a little more and see what I like best in the end.