AD5804 - Websites research

The key point for a photographer's website (actually for any website) is to make it clear and simple to navigate and visually compelling. Nowadays, the personal website is the main platform for a photographer to sell itself to a potential client or employer so it is crucial not to underestimate the impact it may have on our business. Over the last few months I selected some photographers' website that I like and I may as a reference for mine.

Chris de Bode

Home page:

After you click on the welcome button you are brought to his projects page, each of them is introduced with the title and a picture.

I particularly like the layout he uses in this section, you immediately have a rough idea of his work and you easily understand what his projects are about before actually opening them.

His menu is very essential, the only thing I don't like is that he includes two projects (No Way Home, Faits Divers) in the menu list, instead under the stories section with the rest of the series.

Michael Wolf

Homepage:

In his homepage there are pictures from all his projects without any information. Once you click on a picture you are brought to that series.

I really like the visual concept of his website, especially the homepage, but in general it is quite confusing to navigate and no information are provided about any of his projects. Furthermore, the menu is way too long and appear even more lists when you click on some series.

Amy Vitale

Ami Vitale is a pillar of contemporary documentary photography, she is a Nikon Ambassador and her website is clearly managed by professionals and updated on a daily basis.

Scrolling down her homepage there is a lot going on, from news to events to stories and infos, but everything is impeccably well designed and organised.

However, the menu is very essential:

I particularly like the design of her projects page, which is very similar to the Bode's ones:

The only difference is that you see the title of the series only when you are passing on the specific picture.

My website

I currently have a Wix website that I started last year. I am quite happy with the design, but it is in my plans to switch to a more professional host in the future and make some changes.

Homepage:

This is my current homepage, the images change automatically or you can click on the arrows. I think that in the future version of my website I would like to create a welcome page similar to the Bode's ones.

By clicking on projects, another menu pops up:

This is something I am definitely changing, I prefer to make a grid with all the projects including titles and covers.

The design of the project's page works quite well and I won't make great changes.

There is the series' introduction (essential in my opinion) and a gallery with all the pictures, which they open full screen by clicking on them.

In the next version of my website I will absolutely add a new section dedicated to videos.

Hosts

I did some researches concerning the choice of my future website host. In particular, I looked at: Squarespace, Format, and Portfoliobox. They all offer good personalised designs possibilities, so I had a closer look at their plans.

Both Squarespace and Format are wide established hosts and I have seen many websites made by them. Portfoliobox is less popular but offers a very cheap alternative (even cheaper for students of our University) and since it is free until my dissertation, I will try to built my new website with this host.