Flash-Free Photo Web Site

With the introduction of the iPad, a mobile, interactive portfolio became a practical reality; but with OS4′s lack of Flash support, I needed to ensure that an iPad or iPod/iPhone user could view my images without problems.

Having used SimpleViewer quite extensively, in the past, I needed to find an on-line gallery solution that did not break the bank, was easy to use, could be customized, and would allow iPxxxx users to view it.

For a website building tool, I have done it all, from building a site from scratch in the early days of HTML (using a product called HotMetalPro – anyone remember that?), to using third party hosting services such as Livebooks and Sitewelder (the former still seems to be overpriced for what it offers; the latter is good value but lacks detailed customization options).  Despite a previous commitment to myself to never waste time building my own web sites again, I since discovered Rapidweaver for the Mac platform.  With a constantly growing number of template web site themes, and a dizzying array of add-ons and plug-ins, I have been using Rapidweaver for more than a year now.  In that time I have created sites for myself, friends, and clients, quickly, with functionally-rich pages, and with a high level of standards compatibility.

With my Rapidweaver site, I needed to replace those SimpleViewer pages with a HTML5 or Java driven photo gallery.  Even with an hour of searching for HTML5 options, none were forthcoming.  So I turned to the Rapidweaver website and quickly found a WeaverPix and SymNivo.  Both products allow you to download a limited use trial version which allowed me to understand how I could incorporate either one in to my site.

WeaverPix allows you to import images from your hard drive, from Ember, and from Flickr.  What was not clear was whether WeaverPix imported the images from Ember and Flickr, or used them as a source for a page feed.  The downloaded trial version did not allow me to figure that out.  WeaverPix also includes a basic image editor which seems to be OK for basic adjustments only.

WeaverPix Photo Import

Both products rely on your images to be a standard size and it pays to stick with landscape-only images.  As a part of the page setup, you are required to input picture width and height measurements.  If your image is smaller than the measurements you provided, the image will be positioned centrally inside the image area.  If the image is larger, then it will be cropped to the size you provided.

If you have a lot of images, it is important to get them sized and compressed to a reasonable file size because everything will be opened and saved while editing your website.  I accidentally chose a folder of original photographs and was shown a warning message that the file size of my Rapidweaver web site was more than 1Gb!!  Because both WeaverPix and SymNivo use Javascript, even large images load quickly.  I am now using a standard picture size of 860 wide by up to 600 high, with file sizes ranging from 40kb to 120kb.

SymNivo Photo Upload

Both WeaverPix and SymNivo allow  you to select different slide transitions, something I usually just ignore in favor of the clean and simple “fade” option.  You can also set the speed of each transition, and how long each slide will be displayed for.

SymNivo Page Configuration

The WeaverPix plug-in costs $21.95 and the SymNivo plug-in costs $8.95.  I am not a cheapskate by any means, but found that SymNivo gave me all the functionality I needed.

I still use a Flash component on my web site, courtesy of CoolIris.  I couldn’t help myself – it’s just so darn cool…  To use CoolIris, I needed to upload the images I wanted to display to a Picasa account (CoolIris supports other photostreams such as Flickr), and copy the embed code from the CoolIris web site to my RapidWeaver Galleries page.  Worked like a charm, out of the box.

Cool Iris Gallery Wall

With even the most very basic HTML knowledge, it is easy to tweak the number of rows displayed, and the overall dimensions of the CoolIris window on the web page.  The fun really comes when you click on the “full screen” button when using a CoolIris-enabled browser (Safari and Firefox are known to work).  This is when you are shown a wall of your images going off in to the horizon, that you can scan through like something out of the Minority Report.  Until a Javascript version of that functionality comes along, I guess my site will not be 100% Flash-free.

My SymNivo-enabled site is now ready for viewing at www.MichaelFoxImages.com.

Street Photography

No matter what form of photography you consider, there is an element of personal opinion and bias that motivates every image. This can apply to documentary photography and filmmaking also.  How can this happen?  If the documentary photographer (for example) has a particular opinion about, say, racism, he/she will photograph that topic from that opinion’s perspective.  And even if they are enlightened, or ethical, enough to maintain complete objectivity, the way in which those photographs are used can also be prone to the bias of a picture researcher or an editor.

Looking for the Parade

It is the basis of some of the greatest work by the likes of Cartier-Bresson, Steiglitz, and Erwitt.  And perhaps this is really the only form of photography that really matters.

The sensationalism attached to many examples of photojournalism force editors to be continually pushing for the next big story. But what about the life that is happening around us all the time? It is not unusual to be blind to something very close to you, in favor of attention being given to the latest conflict, disaster, or scandal.

Street photography is a continuous exploration of everything that is occurring around us all the time, and which offers an authentic glimpse at personalities and environments that are often ignored.

Telling the World That You Exist!

Seems odd but so many individuals, not just photographers, but all types of people from every background, really believe that if they put up a business web site with their contact details listed, then their inbox will fill in no time with messages from others wanting to buy their products or hire them for a new job.

Let me explain something…

There are many millions of web pages that get created and/or updated every day. Some are updated several times a day. With billions of people in the world, how can anyone be certain that a new web page will be seen by anybody but friends and family?

A web site is like a marketing brochure but instead of mailing a brochure out to someone you want to be a customer, you have to motivate the potential customer to take the time to visit your web site, take more time to read the content, and then, maybe, email you, phone you, or place an on-line order if you have that capability. Statistics for direct mail state that 1% of 1% of mailings get a response that converts in to a sale. So let’s say that 100,000 mailers were posted to a target audience. 1% of that is 1000. 1% of 1000 is 10. To get 10 customers you would need to design, print and mail 100,000 mailers. Crazy numbers… Getting people to your web site is harder. You are not sending something to them that they can touch, read and file away. You are trying to get them to visit your web site where they will then be expected to read your sales and marketing content. It is a very difficult process and lots of “experts” make a lot of money helping other companies to achieve success with their internet marketing.

With the internet at your disposal, how can you tip the scales in your favor?

You need to be very focused on BRANDING yourself. We are all faced with brands every day, and many have strong brand “associations” that help make one product more successful than another. For example, “Apple” is associated with cool, leading edge, entertainment-oriented products. The message is, if you want to look and be cool, you must have an iPod or MacBook. Apple does this extremely well. Brands are everywhere – car manufacturers, soda, clothing lines, retail stores, fast food, search engines. Did you know that Google comes from the word googol which is the digit 1 followed by one hundred zeros (in decimal representation). It just took me three minutes to find that definition on-line. Instead of the original definition, I was bombarded with hundreds of definitions of “google” as a search engine. Now THAT is branding!!

To become known as the photographer that you want to be, you need to brand yourself, and the internet is a great place to do that. There are many tools available to help you achieve this, some that come with a price, and many that are completely free. I will touch on some of these in future posts but the one that I came across recently, and totally fell in love with is VisualCV (www.visualCV.com).

Working in a visual medium, I have, for some time, been frustrated at the need to maintain a text-based resume that would be supplemented by a portfolio of photographs and a package of tear sheets whenever I was contacting a prospective client. A typical communication would be made up of four things:

1. A pdf resume attached to an introductory email message.
2. A link to my portfolio web site.
3. A link to tear sheets that the client could review.
4. A list of existing clients and where my work has been published.

Kind of clunky. But with VisualCV that has all changed. I now have all of this information in one place with links to my various web sites just in case the CV recipient wants to explore my work further.  My own ViisualCV is stored on VisualCV’s servers and a simple link and/or badge, which can be found on all my web sites, marketing materials, business cards etc, points everyone to a single web page where they can see my background, skills, experience, contact details, videos, stills photography portfolio, tear sheets and pretty much anything else I might want to add. I can even print the VisualCV as a pdf file and use it as a flyer. Clients can also print it as a pdf file allowing me to save on printing and mailing costs. Setting up my VisualCV was simple but with a little more time spent on it I made it look quite slick. There are plenty of example VisualCV’s to look at for inspiration.

VisualCV, as a company, is constantly working on making an already very slick product more robust and feature-rich. Take a look – it’s pretty awesome, and a great way to support the branding of yourself as a photographer.

Google for Photographers

You’ve got to love Google. Any company that can replace a simple word like “search” with its own verbalized form of brand name (to Google) just has to be worth taking a look at.

With its growing stable of on-line products, I have found myself increasingly using Google services in my day-to-day activities. Here is a summary:

• Google Search - supports my subject research, travel planning, looking for contacts.
• Google News Alerts - I have setup several news alerts which come to me once a day on a wide range of subjects in which I am interested.
• Google Reader – a page that provides me with a single location to find multiple sources of news and information via RSS feeds.
• GMail – although I have my own, private email address, I use several Gmail addresses, all linked together, to segregate the types of email I receive – one for personal mail, one for media distribution lists, one for photojournalism-related matters, one for my foundation. Keep track of the latest developments with GMail by subscribing to the GMail Labs blog.
• Google Documents – I have several word processed documents and spreadsheets that I keep on-line so that I can access them from anywhere I can get an internet connection, and can share them with other Google Docs users. This is especially useful if I need to send out a PR or press pack about my activities, or if I need to share my standard contract with clients. I am not a huge fan of Google Presentations but the other two applications are extremely useful. And Google recently launched new technology which allows you to use these applications off line. Oh, and one other very cool feature. If you want to print a Google Document, the file first gets turned in to a pdf file. Free pdf files!!
• Google Calendar - this allows me to pull together multiple calendars in to a single one, so I can see all personal and professional engagements on one screen. I can even share my calendar with clients so that they can check on my availability remotely.
• Google Picasa - not the most powerful photo-management application in the world but it is useful for low-end tasks and for general sharing and storage of re-usable images. I use mine, in particular, for my blog entries. Talking of blog entries…
• Google Blogger – a free website for all your journaling needs. People make money from writing on their Google Blog. And with Google AdSense and Google’s acquisition of Feedburner, Blogger has become a very user-friendly, fast, efficient, and effective way to communicate.
• Google Feedburner – dress up your blog and provide RSS feeds to whoever wants to subscribe to your content. Counters, slideshows, subscribe buttons, widgets galore. Feedburner is fantastic!
• Grand Central – a number for life. In theory, anyway. There are still some limitations on availability of this since Google acquired Grand Central but my number is working fine and ensures that I can put a single phone number on a business card which gives clients the ability to dial and track me down pretty much wherever I might be.
• Google YouTube – excellent for photographers who want to show off their multimedia capabilities. The resolution may not be all you would want it to be but it is still a very good forum for distributing your multimedia work. I recently had more than 12,000 hits for a 1 minute 15 second production.
• Google Analytics – all those web sites, but how are they really performing? Google Analytics allows you to keep track of who is visiting your sites, where they are from, how frequently your site gets viewed etc etc. And Google Analytics sends out reports to your email address daily, weekly or monthly.
• Google AdSense – I mentioned this earlier. Ads on your site which are automatically tailored to your site content. Everytime someone clicks on one of those ads, you are credited a tiny amount of money. Once that value grows to a pre-determined amount, Google sends you a check.

And best of all – IT’S ALL FREE!!!!

For fun, also take a look at Google Earth - try and track yourself down. It is completely addictive.

Web Site Hosting for Photographers

It doesn’t seem so long ago that I would be spending a considerable amount of time, effort and money on ensuring that my “book” or portfolio, was regularly updated with my strongest images, presented in a compelling way and circulated to agencies and picture desks of my target customers. What used to take several weeks and be an on-going process throughout the year, now takes a fraction of that time and costs considerably less.

Photo District News magazine (PDN), is the only serious pro photo publication and has regularly printed interviews with various industry experts, including photo editors and art directors, who say that reviewing a photographer’s portfolio on-line is making their job so much easier. I am not saying that there is no room for a printed portfolio; there is still demand. But there is a growing tendency to review a photographer’s work via the Internet. it has been about five years since I was asked to send a print portfolio and yet my web site statistics show lengthy visits from interesting domain names all over the world, and my pipeline of work is as full as ever.

A photographer needs a web site – no question. With that decided, what is the next step? Typically, it would be a decision whether to build the website yourself, have a designer build the site for you, or to use the services of a third part, photo web site hosting company. All of these have pro’s and cons. Let’s take a look at them:

Build yourself:

Pro’s:

• The site is unique to you
• It is exactly what you want (at the time)
• It can maintain a consistent look and feel/style with your business stationery and marketing materials.

Cons:

• You will need to have, or to develop, skills required to build the web site, deal with web site graphics, understand how to post a web site to the Internet etc.
• There will be an investment in software required to do the above
• There will be an investment in time required to learn the skills and build the site.

Designer:

Pro’s:

• Gives you more time to take photographs
• The site can be unique to you
• The site can incorporate your business look and feel.

Cons:

• The cost of designing a custom site may be quite high
• How long has the designer been in business? Will they stay in business? Who will manage and maintain the site if they go out of business?
• What will it cost to refresh the look of the site every 12 – 18 months?

Photo Web Site Host:

Pro’s:

• Gives you more time to shoot
• Fast to update/add new photographs
• Reliable service that includes email, FTP and often new features throughout a year of subscription at no extra cost

Cons:

• The cost varies
• The sites are template-driven
• You may find yourself locked in to a year long contract

For many years I built my own site. I would spend approximately six weeks every year getting the site the way I liked it. Within a few days of the new site going live, I would come across some new style or feature that I wanted to include and would have to make the choice whether to continue working on the site or to focus on taking photographs. Although I enjoyed designing and building my site, I also found it time-wasting and frustrating. Eventually, I started to explore my options. Although going to a web site designer was considered, the cons listed above concerned me too much. Instead, I explored photo web site hosting options. There are several choices, all offering various features that can be easy to fall for, and soon add to the price. Some hosting services are very expensive, thousands of dollars per year with no really clear advantage over those that cost less. Some have very awkward interfaces for uploading and managing your on-line galleries. Others give you a price for a basic site and you soon find yourself paying more for even the most fundamental extras (such as Flash slide shows).

After a few months of research, and an abortive experience with one of the more expensive options, I developed a demo site at Sitewelder. What I immediately felt was that Sitewelder wanted my business and was happy to work for it. Not only did I experience an easy to design, fast to upload process, but I also quickly found that Sitewelder’s service was excellent and very approachable. They really put the extra effort in to giving me what I wanted without unnecessary distractions. Their templates all have a good choice of colors, you can use your own logo, and it is easy to format the web pages to mimic the format of your business stationery and marketing materials. Adding a Paypal option to sell images from your Sitewelder site is already integrated and just needs to be configured by the user. There are several informational pages available, to be used for your biography, contact information, client list etc. These pages can have pdf files and Flash files attached, and there is quite a sophisticated word processor/HTML editor built in to each page. Sitewelder is just what I needed. Their very long client list shows that many other happy customers feel the same way.

Sitewelder offers a 30 day free trial of their features. If you have a site and are thinking about updating it, or need a site, I strongly recommend that you take Sitewelder for a test drive!