# Aspiring wedding photographer needs website critiqued



## rfernando (Mar 7, 2012)

I'm an aspiring wedding photographer and I would like you all to review my website. I'm hoping to land some gigs whether they be for a second shooter position or the main photographer position. I'm really shooting for being the main photographer. I've been a second shooter for three weddings. The images you see on my site are from those gigs. Please let me know what I'm missing or what I should remove. Your comments would be greatly appreciated!

Here's the link to my site: Clean & Crisp Photography |


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## cgipson1 (Mar 7, 2012)

Very slow.. even after caching.... and I am on a fast network...


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## MReid (Mar 7, 2012)

yeah.....really slow...no potential client is going to wait.
The photos I did see were all underexposed by quite a bit. Does not look like you are ready to be the main. Shoot a few more as second and work on your post processing and exposures.


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## johnhophotography (Mar 8, 2012)

Agreed.. Very slow to load, & what images I did see we're underexposed. Bit of work on exposure won't go a miss.... Good luck.


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## o hey tyler (Mar 8, 2012)

rfernando said:


> I'm an aspiring wedding photographer and I would like you all to review my website. I'm hoping to land some gigs whether they be for a second shooter position or the main photographer position. I'm really shooting for being the main photographer. I've been a second shooter for three weddings. The images you see on my site are from those gigs. Please let me know what I'm missing or what I should remove. Your comments would be greatly appreciated!
> 
> Here's the link to my site: Clean & Crisp Photography |



Pingdom Tools

"Your website is *slower than 76%* of all tested websites."

You can see the breakdown of what's holding your site up. 

This is a pretty large image: http://www.cleanandcrispphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/galleries/post-34/full/IMG_6520-2.jpg

As well as this: http://www.cleanandcrispphotography...ages/uploads/Dark-brown-fine-wood-texture.jpg

The fact that you're using a poor host and a wordpress site is working against you. This is my girlfriend's wordpress on a good host: Kelsey Raymond 

She uses Webfaction hosting.


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## MLeeK (Mar 8, 2012)

I am on a mediocre verizon network and it's now taken more than 3 minutes. Not fully loaded yet. Sorry, I am done waiting. So is any potential customer.


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## MLeeK (Mar 8, 2012)

Finally came up and said "image gallery could not load"


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## The_Traveler (Mar 8, 2012)

Brown paneling look and white space around pictures make it look home-made and 'vacant'.
Just like a mix tape, you have to hit the viewer big first picture.


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## PapaMatt (Mar 8, 2012)

Well, I am on a FAST network also and yest it was slow, The photographs I will not remark on because you did not ask for what we think about your work. It speaks for its self I guess.

GHood luck to you


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## jwbryson1 (Mar 8, 2012)

o hey tyler said:


> Pingdom Tools
> 
> "Your website is *slower than 76%* of all tested websites."
> 
> ...



Tyler has ALL the cool links.


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## paigew (Mar 8, 2012)

yep too slow, gave up waiting.


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## rfernando (Mar 8, 2012)

Thanks guys for all your input! I'll think about going with another host and maybe do without wordpress.  Any recommendations? Zenfolio, Livebooks, Showit, etc?

As far as the images, I've read that some of them were underexposed.  What other things can you suggest that I continue to work on to strengthen my photos?


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## cgipson1 (Mar 8, 2012)

Why don't you post some photos here... in the proper forum! You will get critique and advice that way....


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## MLeeK (Mar 8, 2012)

I REALLY love portfoliositez and their pricing (I believe) is excellent. If you want to purchase your website Blu is one of the favorites of photographers. 
When you upload images make sure you are resizing them for web use and that will help a lot even with a faster site.


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## emberleo (Mar 9, 2012)

MLeeK said:
			
		

> I REALLY love portfoliositez and their pricing (I believe) is excellent. If you want to purchase your website Blu is one of the favorites of photographers.
> When you upload images make sure you are resizing them for web use and that will help a lot even with a faster site.



I don't know that I'd recommend bludomain since flash sites don't show up in google searches.


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## Bossy (Mar 9, 2012)

Wordpress is actually really good for SEO. You're not there yet though. You need work on focus, exposure, color balancing, composition, how to use off camera flash...​


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## Balmiesgirl (Mar 12, 2012)

I had the site load fairly fast so u must have updated it.... Also no brown paneling on my iPhone so that may have been updated too. 
The site looks okay. I agree with the others on the photos being under exposed. Best bit of advice i have received " only show your best work"!


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## TimGilbertson (Mar 12, 2012)

emberleo said:


> MLeeK said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Not true. You're at a disadvantage because most flash sites are very minimalist (read, no text to parse) but google finds them just fine. My company has an entirely flash site and is usually on the 1st page (depending on how many places listings Google shows) in a very competitive market.

I would stay away from companies that force you to use their website building system, but give you no access to your code. That's what hurts your SEO. Anytime someone needs SEO for a Wix site I just tell them no. The only thing you can do is build links, but Google won't find it because there are no keywords on your site.


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## booruguru (Mar 12, 2012)

I guess you must have implemented the changes suggested in this thread because your site appears to be very clean and professional. I totally dig minimalist design so I appreciate the look you are going for. There are just some minor tweaks I think you need to make.

1. Your logo seems just a tad to big...making the whole heading take up a fifth of my screen. I want to look at your pictures, not your header.

2. The centered text on your about page is weird and difficult to read. Increase the font size and make the text aligned left... and while you're at it, try having your headshot aligned to the right of the text. We read from left-to-right, the focus of the about page should be the text, not your headshot.

3. Try adding testimonials from satisfied customers across all of your pages.

Otherwise, you have a very presentable web site and a nice portfolio.


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