caribrob
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 p.2 #2 · New Website- Would Love Feedback | |
I rarely feel qualified to give feedback on FM so remain a lurker mainly - this is a post I feel I can contribute to as I have been looking for a wedding photographer for the last few weeks for my own wedding
needless to say I have browsed many websites along with my fiance lately, and although my comments are personal, I offer them under the assumption they are somewhat universal - mostly they are obvious
nevertheless:
1. it is about the photos first and foremost
I dont care about branding (unless it sucks), I do care about easy navigation of the site; I closed so many sites because I just couldn't be bothered to deal with non-intuitive navigation or long load times
the first thing I actually did was contact my buddy evan baines because of his timeless, classic style of photography - truth is, I don't like the style of his website that much (sorry evan) but who cares, his images are fantastic and he is a great guy, too bad he is now retired, he was our first choice
that brings me to:
2. personality match
with regards to the other photographers we looked at (and we considered photographers from the continental USA, not restricted to one state) the first thing my girlfriend would say is, "let me see his/ her photo" - the 'about' section is important as well as the photo accompanying it
personal comment: we found that 'about' sections are riddled with cliches. it seems that many photographers writing their copy start with "what do I think they want to hear" and then try to articulate that, as opposed to saying what they really are about
as much as the words need to be your own, I highly recommend having your copy edited by a pro, someone like:
http://allday.cc/
once again, your copy should reflect your personality so you should write it, but there are simple things like passive and active verbs/ sentences that just make for good business sense, if writing is not your forte, consider an editor, or buy the classic:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Elements-Style-4th-Edition/dp/0205313426/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337178008&sr=8-1
I refer to the formal elements of your site here, your blog posts should be messy, personal, ad-hoc and very personal, full of mistakes, here I don't care
we felt that good photographers dont need to sell themselves so much with artistic statements and stuff about 'your day' etc etc - if the photos are great, we just want to read about what kind of a person you are and do our personalities match somewhat - this is not internet dating, but having a click (sorry for the pun) is crucial
so for us in order of priority:
1. quality of photos
2. about section
3. easy of navigation
4. branding should be professional
With regards to the OP's site/ post specifically:
I love the full screen - on my mbp 13", the images really stand out, I never understood why photographers choose to use small images when you want to show them in their full glory
There should be many, many more images to navigate through on the main page
The About section changes from 3rd person to 1st person - 3rd person about sections make me cringe unless it was certifiably written up by the editor of the NYT or any other reputable source
Other than that, love the site and what it conveys, very nice!
Lastly, although we have not decided 100% we will probably go with Sergio Mottola, because:
we love his photography
we spoke on Skype and there was chemistry
his siteis another example where there is not many bells and whistles to "oversell" a la Jasmin Star - it all just speaks for itself: simply a great photographer
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