# my website is up...



## holga girl (Jun 27, 2008)

okay, so it went live this week. it is not quite finished. hubby put it live before i was done with the images. we still need to do the contact and blog section as well as two of the galleries. my 'about me' still needs a photo and i would like to add some borders around my images to separate them from the background a little.

taking all of that into account, what do you think? be brutal....  well, not brutal, but honest. 

thanks!

jennifer

jennifersmutek.com


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## Renair (Jun 27, 2008)

Hi Jennifer.  Its nicely laid out, simple to navigate.   I like it.


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## scoutwes (Jun 29, 2008)

Very nice site! I love the layout. One day I hope to have a web site that looks as good as that!


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## prairiewindlady (Jun 29, 2008)

Very simple and very professional! Good job!


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## holga girl (Jun 29, 2008)

thanks for all of the kind words! is there anything i should consider changing? anything that seems off or does not sit right with you?


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## cjkriebel (Jul 1, 2008)

I love it!!


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## K_Pugh (Jul 1, 2008)

yup, good stuff. some nice photographs in there, too, which is always good! lol.


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## tinfish (Jul 1, 2008)

Jennifer,
Appears very clean and professional.  Nice job!  I see you are adding a blog.  I am still debating on that myself.  Just don't know if I would be a good "blogger".  Good luck with the bits that are still under construction.


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## holga girl (Jul 1, 2008)

tinfish,

thanks for the kind words. i checked out your site, i love the vertical text. for the blog, i thought it might be nice way to post up some of my 'for fun' stuff for people to see. i also thought it may be a way for perspective clients to learn a bit about me and make some sort of personal connection with me before they ever even meet me.

not sure if it will work like that, but that's my motive anyway. i wouldn't imagine that you would have to keep up with it alot. maybe once every month or so.


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## Tyjax (Jul 1, 2008)

Checked out the site. very clean. Very professional. I likey. 

Do you mind if I ask what code/script you used for the galleries?

To share and share alike you can check out the latest site I have designed and set up for another pro-photographer and any details you want I can give you.  

http://www.catherinewidemire.com

If you are not comfortable telling your script/code I understand. 

JT


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## holga girl (Jul 1, 2008)

tyjax, 

I don't mind sharing at all. that is why we are here, right?
hubby built the site, so i don't know much about its bones. he said that he used slide show pro and slide show director? i think i have that right.

i checked out the site that you posted.... very nice btw. we want to include a customer log in section where clients can log it and order prints from me. i see that you have one there... any suggestions? 

i am glad to hear so many positive things about the site. everyone keeps saying 'clean' which i know is good, but i am beginning to become concerned that it is too simple and people are using the word clean to make it sound positive. hopefully i am just being paranoid.


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## Tyjax (Jul 1, 2008)

In todays web mess with thousands of very cluttered web pages and fairly poorly designs being the run of the mill, simple, clean and the tighter the design the more you will stand out. Its very simple design is a selling point. Trust me... 

(makes note of slideshow notes.) Tell your husband he did good. 

The back end is prepackaged deal from instaproofs.com, i really can not reccomend them too much.  the photographer does fulfillment via mpix.com.  I had a shopping cart/slideshow all coded and then the photog told me she had been using the two so... viola! no need to reinvent the wheel.  We shoot together and she is a dear friend so my ego was spared the inevitable blow. 

Let me know if you want more details.


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## verobooth (Jul 2, 2008)

It's beautiful!


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## rasheemo (Jul 2, 2008)

do you have any control over the flash? if so i have just one suggestion as far as it's function.

during the slideshow there's a little circle count-down thing, and then after that it loads the next image, which seems to add another few seconds.

instead it would be smart to load the next image WHILE the count down is ticking so that it's ready when the circle is complete.

again just a minor suggestion if you can help it. if not that's ok too, not a big deal =]


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## Tyjax (Jul 2, 2008)

For those of you who might like a similar gallery without paying for Slideshow Director. You might want to look at an open source alternative called dfGallery. You can see an example I just spent the last 4 hours getting to work. Marginally. Here http://jwtyler.com


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## kellylindseyphotography (Jul 2, 2008)

I think the site looks nice and professional.  but in MVHO, many of the images are not up to par.


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## Tyjax (Jul 2, 2008)

Lindsey seriously?  Many images not up to par? I would be interested in knowing where par is then.  *chuckle*  Looking at the broad body of work there is a strong grasp of fundementals and a lack of obvious post processing... true I could go to town on the asthetics of any of the pictures as asthetic tends to be subjective. But the same is true for the images on your website and on mine. Technically it looks like a great start to me.

Aw well, to each his own...


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## kellylindseyphotography (Jul 2, 2008)

My name is Kelly.

It has nothing to do with her post processing.. this is only judging from her "portraits" section as I didn't look at the other section.  YOu will not see out of focus images or images with color casts on my site.  And since we are comparing her to me, you will also notice that I *recognize* that I have worlds to go before I start charging money.  

To me, I would weed out the portraits that have obvious bad lighting (black background, 3 subjects 1 is a baby), are out of focus (the little boy on the white background sitting down, the focus fell on his shirt and not his eyes), or are very snapshotty (the grandfather and the 2 kids on the stairs).  I could go on.  You wanted VHO and that's mine.  I imagine you go to a pro site and you will get the same reaction.

ETA this is close to where "par" is.  Just a quick link I grabbed.
http://www.littlemonstersphotography.com/index2.php


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## Tyjax (Jul 2, 2008)

Peace Kelly. Peace. 

As to "when" its ok to charge money. There is an odd "idea" around lately that you must meet a "bar" or "level" to charge for your work. I just disagree. If it makes a customer happy, if you value yourself, and value your time and artistic vision then you are worth compensation. I think in looking at your work if a mother said "ah", "ooh" and " I would like that framed" then your work is professional. Remember "professional" just means you charge for your work. Not that you are good. 

Ok, what is wrong with me? SOoo many quotes in that... just ridiculous.


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## kellylindseyphotography (Jul 2, 2008)

I'm not meaning anything I"m saying to be harsh. I need to go edit with some  in there.  

We can agree to disagree


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## Tyjax (Jul 2, 2008)

Looking around your website it looks like you do charge. Very reasonably. And I think justly so. 

There is always room to get better. You have never "arrived" good photography just isnt a location. Its a process and a journey.  So if you define a professional as "someone who is good enough to charge money" thats a problematic deffinition. Who sets the bar? heh heh  Peace out.

Comparing yourself is a mugs game.  There will always be someone better than you.  Certainly better than me.


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## kellylindseyphotography (Jul 2, 2008)

Granted, I charge for prints but I give massive discounts is what your not seeing while I am portfolio building.  

I do not want the hastle of changing all my prices once I go "pro", so they are there but I do not charge.


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## Tyjax (Jul 2, 2008)

Many of my clients (photog web dev) and students (graphic arts) have used the same technic... it works. The only catch is getting over the "Well, is my art really worth all that money." feeling when it comes time to ramp up to full business model. Don't trap yourself.


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## diannebunch (Jul 2, 2008)

I really enjoyed browsing your website.  I especially like the real/natural emotion you catch in the photographs.  You should be proud of launching a great site!


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## frXnz kafka (Jul 2, 2008)

I don't know if it's my browser or what, but none of the images in the slideshow are loading. Anyone else having this problem?

EDIT: Should have mentioned, I'm using Firefox 3


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## kellylindseyphotography (Jul 2, 2008)

Tyjax said:


> Many of my clients (photog web dev) and students (graphic arts) have used the same technic... it works. The only catch is getting over the "Well, is my art really worth all that money." feeling when it comes time to ramp up to full business model. Don't trap yourself.



Thanks for the advice!!  I have quite a bit going on in my life so I don't plan to jump headfirst into the biz right away.  I'll be graduating (with honors!) with my bachelors in December and I'll want to start my "career" right away.  If photography follows, then that will be great :thumbup:

To the OP, I hope nothing I have said was taken offense to... I would like to see you (everyone) succeed in their ventures.  This was an invaluable read to me *(long, but worth every page)
http://ilovephotography.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=306170


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## Tyjax (Jul 2, 2008)

Congrats on the Grads. Education is paramount.


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## holga girl (Jul 2, 2008)

kelly, thank you for the input. I had not noticed the soft eyes on the little boy. i'll admit, i added that photo as an after thought...   I am not sure which photograph you are speaking of with the black background and 3 subjects... could you specify?

While I have been shooting with film for years, I am still adjusting to the learning curve of digital. ( i just switched gear in sept)  no more exposing for the shadows! exposure is different, noise and the need to post process. I really hate pp!

FRXNZ: we are having some problems with our hosting site. my husband has been with them for years, and we have never had a problem. they assured us that they are working to fix the issue. hopefully it will be resolved soon as we would hate to move our business elsewhere.

Rasheemo: i agree about the load time. i know nothing about the flash (all hubby) but i will make that suggestion. I would like it to have a nice flow.

thanks again for everyone's thoughts on the site and my work. overall i think it is off to a nice start. I am looking forward to refining some of the images and filling the empty pages!

if anyone has any other thoughts, please keep 'em coming. I need all the input i can get!

j


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## RyanMillerPhoto (Jul 6, 2008)

Howdy there,

Not sure if this was addressed, lots of replies already.
I really recommend the use of Sans Serif font like Arial or Helvetica.  The "default" font is running on the browser, looks kinda messy.

A quick fix!
Currently your styles are this:
<style type="text/css">
<!--
body {
    background-color: #36332F;
    margin-top: 0px;
}
-->
</style>

Add this above the "body" so it will look like this:
(The "font-size: 13px;" is optional)
<style type="text/css">
<!--
** {font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px;}*
body {
background-color: #36332F;
margin-top: 0px;
}
-->
</style>


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## mmcduffie1 (Jul 6, 2008)

Easy to move around and the colors don't hurt my eyes. I hate flashy sites. I like it and I saw some of your work. Nice shots


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## PhilGarber (Jul 15, 2008)

Renair said:


> Hi Jennifer.  Its nicely laid out, simple to navigate.   I like it.



I completely agree. Nice work!


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## holga girl (Jul 16, 2008)

thanks! odd though, helvetica (ultra light) is the font i used.


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## andrew99 (Jul 17, 2008)

The website looks good!  My only suggestion is that nowhere does it say what city or even what country your in.. With the internet being global, you might mention what area you are willing to travel too!


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