Topic: Photography Website Design (now with website)

[stirinthesauce]

Here's a friend's website.  If your into concert photog, you'll recognize his name from any number of magazines.  Very nice site.

http://www.groovetography.com/

his stuff is amazing!

i love his picture of Trey.  wow.  nice stuff.  hopefully i'll get more concert assignments soon so I can keep working at making that better. 

I also recognize his portrait of Les Paul. 

This guy is basically doing what I would love to do full time one day.

thanks for the link.  +T 

backatcha in 12

We were good friends in Highschool.  He went out west to school and I stayed down south.  We kept in touch and would hang out over the holidays but I haven't seen him in about 2 yrs or so and we have lost contact info.  Anyways, finally got his contact info again from a mutual friend.  I'm hoping to get some feedback from him on a portfolio I'm putting together of concert photog.  He does do amazing work, which I used to not appreciate as much as I do now.  Most of what I do and what I have in galleries in the area is landscapes (I'm blessed in where I live with fantastic scenery) and I do some location portrait work through word of mouth, but what I really enjoy and just have fun at is concert photog. 

I'm still rather new at all this and have too many other side jobs going on, but I seem to be having doors open up in pay jobs so I figure it is time for feedback from real pro's who I also personally know.  Hoping to get my own website up in the next 3 months or so. 

You mentioned, Sanjay, of being where Michael is.  Hell, I would like to be where you are   

[Sanjay]

I'd love to do an exhibition of landscapes one day.  My favorite stuff to shoot!  Do you have a link to your portfolio?  i'd love to see it!  Are you in Asheville?  Should be able to pitch quite a bit of your work to the massive tourist crowd.

Most of what I do now for paying jobs is not fun stuff.  My most recent stuff was working with the Salvation Army to document their rehab centers and homeless shelters for marketing pieces.  Stuff like that pays well but doesn't really allow you to be creative.  The other aspect is minimal pay concert photography, minimal is very very minimal. 

If you can work at the types of stuff you like and seriously develop them, you'll be better off for it.

My former boss when I did this for an agency once said, the secret to photography is charging alot for it.  There is a perception of quality which comes with a high price tag.  That and an attitude of professionalism will go a long way towards paying gigs i've found. 

[stirinthesauce]

I'd love to do an exhibition of landscapes one day.  My favorite stuff to shoot!  Do you have a link to your portfolio?  i'd love to see it!  Are you in Asheville?  Should be able to pitch quite a bit of your work to the massive tourist crowd.

Most of what I do now for paying jobs is not fun stuff.  My most recent stuff was working with the Salvation Army to document their rehab centers and homeless shelters for marketing pieces (see attached pdf's).  Stuff like that pays well but doesn't really allow you to be creative.  The other aspect is minimal pay concert photography, minimal is very very minimal. 

If you can work at the types of stuff you like and seriously develop them, you'll be better off for it.

My former boss when I did this for an agency once said, the secret to photography is charging alot for it.  There is a perception of quality which comes with a high price tag.  That and an attitude of professionalism will go a long way towards paying gigs i've found. 

I don't, unfortunately, have an online gallery.  Hopefully in the near future.  I live in Monteagle, TN, which is high atop the cumberland plateau.  It is a small, sleepy resort town.  A destination for Nashville and Huntsville folks wanting a weekend getaway or for people to retire.  A result is lots of people with disposable incomes.  There are also a huge concentration of artists and artisans, so as a result, lots of galleries.  I work as the head chef at a B&B here that also displays and sells art.  We have auctions and are part of an upcoming artist gallery tour.  Anyways, we had a charity auction event this summer and the charity was seeking donations from area artists.  On a whim I submitted a piece.  It actually got great feedback and had quite a few bidders and sold for much more than I thought it would.  That prompted me to put stuff in there.  I now have 5 or 6 pieces in there with quite a few ready to go to some other galleries who are looking for new submissions.  I've sold some but have recieved solicitations for outside work from people seeing my stuff.  Just finished up a shoot for a mother and her 15mo old son in an outside garden setting.  I felt uncomfortable since this was outside of my comfort zone and bypassed the sitting fee for an agreement to purchase my pics at a set price.  She loved them and ordered around 15 prints in various sizes.  From this I've now recieved other solicitations.  Time though is a factor so I'm not actively seeking jobs, they just seem to come and I'm picking and choosing really.

I basically just want to stay freelance, and market my own stuff or services to those I choose.  This I don't see as a primary income for quite sometime and I am heading down another carreer path here shortly.  But I enjoy photograpy, I enjoy the outdoors, and I enjoy concerts.  If I can make some money at doing what I love, EXCELLENT!  So, hopefully I can fully intergrate my passions into a viable carreer.

Good tips on charging a high fee.  I tend to undercut myself in alot of things, especially this.  I had another artist whose work is in one of the galleries suggest I raise my prices.  He basically said I was selling my self short.

[Sanjay]

If you are doing portraits and such it's hard to impose costs upon family and friends, especially when you have to compete with the local wal-mart.     However if you ever get into commercial stuff, basically you have to remember, if they are looking to profit off of your work, you should be able to as well.

I don't know why I thought you were from Asheville, maybe because I met you at christmas jam.  In any case it sounds like you've got a fun, slightly profitable thing going.  You should experiment with photographing the food you prepare.  I'm working with a chef here in creating a food portfolio, and I worked as an assistant to a shoot with Emeril and food and the people who make it is some of the best subject matter you can ask for. 

I eventually would like to have a gallery show, but need to work on printing out my stuff and maybe putting a theme to all of it.

For an online thing I'd highly recommend flickr to start with.  It's free and I love using it and adding stuff to the groups. 

[stirinthesauce]

If you are doing portraits and such it's hard to impose costs upon family and friends, especially when you have to compete with the local wal-mart.     However if you ever get into commercial stuff, basically you have to remember, if they are looking to profit off of your work, you should be able to as well.

I don't know why I thought you were from Asheville, maybe because I met you at christmas jam.  In any case it sounds like you've got a fun, slightly profitable thing going.  You should experiment with photographing the food you prepare.  I'm working with a chef here in creating a food portfolio, and I worked as an assistant to a shoot with Emeril and food and the people who make it is some of the best subject matter you can ask for. 

I eventually would like to have a gallery show, but need to work on printing out my stuff and maybe putting a theme to all of it.

For an online thing I'd highly recommend flickr to start with.  It's free and I love using it and adding stuff to the groups. 

as for portraits, it's the anti wallmart kind of thing.  It's kids in a natural setting at the park, or a playground, doing their thing with me trying to catch the moments and the fun little kid facial expressions.  I usually use both cameras, one for black and white and the other for color.  I've got some on mediafire converted to jpeg from my last shoot.  If you woudn't mind, I would love to get some of your comments/critique/criticisms.  I could pm you the link.  The only other locals doing this charge $150 an hour for a sitting fee.  I've seen some of the work and wasn't impressed.  For friends and family, I don't mind bypassing a sitting fee, but for any others soliciting, I'll have to charge something though I'm not opposed to slightly undercutting the competition. 

I'll check out flickr, thanks for the suggestion 

[Frank in JC]

If you are doing portraits and such it's hard to impose costs upon family and friends, especially when you have to compete with the local wal-mart.     However if you ever get into commercial stuff, basically you have to remember, if they are looking to profit off of your work, you should be able to as well.

I don't know why I thought you were from Asheville, maybe because I met you at christmas jam.  In any case it sounds like you've got a fun, slightly profitable thing going.  You should experiment with photographing the food you prepare.  I'm working with a chef here in creating a food portfolio, and I worked as an assistant to a shoot with Emeril and food and the people who make it is some of the best subject matter you can ask for. 

I eventually would like to have a gallery show, but need to work on printing out my stuff and maybe putting a theme to all of it.

For an online thing I'd highly recommend flickr to start with.  It's free and I love using it and adding stuff to the groups. 

as for portraits, it's the anti wallmart kind of thing.  It's kids in a natural setting at the park, or a playground, doing their thing with me trying to catch the moments and the fun little kid facial expressions.  I usually use both cameras, one for black and white and the other for color.  I've got some on mediafire converted to jpeg from my last shoot.  If you woudn't mind, I would love to get some of your comments/critique/criticisms.  I could pm you the link.  The only other locals doing this charge $150 an hour for a sitting fee.  I've seen some of the work and wasn't impressed.  For friends and family, I don't mind bypassing a sitting fee, but for any others soliciting, I'll have to charge something though I'm not opposed to slightly undercutting the competition. 

I'll check out flickr, thanks for the suggestion 

I plugged this thing in another thread, but when looking for examples of what a very large-apertured telephoto can do, I went to flickr and searched for "85mm f/1.4".  If you follow the link, you'll find a lot of nice portraiture.  I've purposefully avoided photographing people for years, but I recently decided that it's time to get started.  I occurred to me that I've been preoccupied with taking pretty pictures that don't mean anything.  Sure it's rewarding, but...

http://flickr.com/search/?q=85mm+f%2F1.4

[stirinthesauce]

If you are doing portraits and such it's hard to impose costs upon family and friends, especially when you have to compete with the local wal-mart.     However if you ever get into commercial stuff, basically you have to remember, if they are looking to profit off of your work, you should be able to as well.

I don't know why I thought you were from Asheville, maybe because I met you at christmas jam.  In any case it sounds like you've got a fun, slightly profitable thing going.  You should experiment with photographing the food you prepare.  I'm working with a chef here in creating a food portfolio, and I worked as an assistant to a shoot with Emeril and food and the people who make it is some of the best subject matter you can ask for. 

I eventually would like to have a gallery show, but need to work on printing out my stuff and maybe putting a theme to all of it.

For an online thing I'd highly recommend flickr to start with.  It's free and I love using it and adding stuff to the groups. 

as for portraits, it's the anti wallmart kind of thing.  It's kids in a natural setting at the park, or a playground, doing their thing with me trying to catch the moments and the fun little kid facial expressions.  I usually use both cameras, one for black and white and the other for color.  I've got some on mediafire converted to jpeg from my last shoot.  If you woudn't mind, I would love to get some of your comments/critique/criticisms.  I could pm you the link.  The only other locals doing this charge $150 an hour for a sitting fee.  I've seen some of the work and wasn't impressed.  For friends and family, I don't mind bypassing a sitting fee, but for any others soliciting, I'll have to charge something though I'm not opposed to slightly undercutting the competition. 

I'll check out flickr, thanks for the suggestion 

I plugged this thing in another thread, but when looking for examples of what a very large-apertured telephoto can do, I went to flickr and searched for "85mm f/1.4".  If you follow the link, you'll find a lot of nice portraiture.  I've purposefully avoided photographing people for years, but I recently decided that it's time to get started.  I occurred to me that I've been preoccupied with taking pretty pictures that don't mean anything.  Sure it's rewarding, but...

http://flickr.com/search/?q=85mm+f%2F1.4

Thanks for the link, some nice pics there. 

I'm primarily using my 70-200L f2.8.  The contrast, sharpness and bokeh is fantastic.  I bit heavey, and longer than I normally need (i'm usually shooting 70-100mm for people), but the tradeoff is nice.  I use my 24-70 f2.8 a good bit, but it is a little short in some applications.  What I really want at some point in the not so distant future is a 24-105L f4 IS USM.  I gets to be a hassle carrying all my lenses out with me, sometimes, for daytime shooting, I just want a body and lens that will hit on most all applications.  I think this would fit my bill nicely.

[Frank in JC]

If you are doing portraits and such it's hard to impose costs upon family and friends, especially when you have to compete with the local wal-mart.     However if you ever get into commercial stuff, basically you have to remember, if they are looking to profit off of your work, you should be able to as well.

I don't know why I thought you were from Asheville, maybe because I met you at christmas jam.  In any case it sounds like you've got a fun, slightly profitable thing going.  You should experiment with photographing the food you prepare.  I'm working with a chef here in creating a food portfolio, and I worked as an assistant to a shoot with Emeril and food and the people who make it is some of the best subject matter you can ask for. 

I eventually would like to have a gallery show, but need to work on printing out my stuff and maybe putting a theme to all of it.

For an online thing I'd highly recommend flickr to start with.  It's free and I love using it and adding stuff to the groups. 

as for portraits, it's the anti wallmart kind of thing.  It's kids in a natural setting at the park, or a playground, doing their thing with me trying to catch the moments and the fun little kid facial expressions.  I usually use both cameras, one for black and white and the other for color.  I've got some on mediafire converted to jpeg from my last shoot.  If you woudn't mind, I would love to get some of your comments/critique/criticisms.  I could pm you the link.  The only other locals doing this charge $150 an hour for a sitting fee.  I've seen some of the work and wasn't impressed.  For friends and family, I don't mind bypassing a sitting fee, but for any others soliciting, I'll have to charge something though I'm not opposed to slightly undercutting the competition. 

I'll check out flickr, thanks for the suggestion 

I plugged this thing in another thread, but when looking for examples of what a very large-apertured telephoto can do, I went to flickr and searched for "85mm f/1.4".  If you follow the link, you'll find a lot of nice portraiture.  I've purposefully avoided photographing people for years, but I recently decided that it's time to get started.  I occurred to me that I've been preoccupied with taking pretty pictures that don't mean anything.  Sure it's rewarding, but...

http://flickr.com/search/?q=85mm+f%2F1.4

Thanks for the link, some nice pics there. 

I'm primarily using my 70-200L f2.8.  The contrast, sharpness and bokeh is fantastic.  I bit heavey, and longer than I normally need (i'm usually shooting 70-100mm for people), but the tradeoff is nice.  I use my 24-70 f2.8 a good bit, but it is a little short in some applications.  What I really want at some point in the not so distant future is a 24-105L f4 IS USM.  I gets to be a hassle carrying all my lenses out with me, sometimes, for daytime shooting, I just want a body and lens that will hit on most all applications.  I think this would fit my bill nicely.

"Okay, just be yourself.... act naturally... and please, ignore the telescope I'm pointing at you!"   

Lately I've been going out sans camera bag with just two lenses... I put the lens I feel like exploiting that day on the camera and bring my 12-24 in a small accessory bag with a strap.   I feel like a tourist carrying my camera in plain sight, but with an Optech neoprene camera strap, it's way more comfortable than my bag's canvas one.  I don't know how many times I've come home from a day-long photo walk exhausted from carrying a bunch of crap I didn't even use.  That can't be helping the creative process!

Enjoy the weekend and happy shooting!

[BJ]

john..what camera are you shooting with?  I am asking b/c i was wondering about the lens length you said you like (70-100).  So is this length with 1.6x crop or do you have a 5d or bigger camera?

[stirinthesauce]

john..what camera are you shooting with?  I am asking b/c i was wondering about the lens length you said you like (70-100).  So is this length with 1.6x crop or do you have a 5d or bigger camera?

I shoot a 20d currently.  So yes, it is a 1.6x crop.  I generally don't want to be to close for baby/kid pics, because they get self concious and don't act like little people do.  I want smiles, interractions with family members, playful behavior.  So I tend to hang back and walk around to get the angles I want.  Has worked so far 

As for the 5d, I was lusting for awhile, but now I think I'm going to jump up to a 40d in the new year.  Prices are starting to drop on bodies and the crop sensors work with the focal lengths I currently own.  I would want to change up if I went to a full frame sensor.

"Okay, just be yourself.... act naturally... and please, ignore the telescope I'm pointing at you!"  

 

[BJ]

john..what camera are you shooting with?  I am asking b/c i was wondering about the lens length you said you like (70-100).  So is this length with 1.6x crop or do you have a 5d or bigger camera?

I shoot a 20d currently.  So yes, it is a 1.6x crop.  I generally don't want to be to close for baby/kid pics, because they get self concious and don't act like little people do.  I want smiles, interractions with family members, playful behavior.  So I tend to hang back and walk around to get the angles I want.  Has worked so far 

As for the 5d, I was lusting for awhile, but now I think I'm going to jump up to a 40d in the new year.  Prices are starting to drop on bodies and the crop sensors work with the focal lengths I currently own.  I would want to change up if I went to a full frame sensor.

"Okay, just be yourself.... act naturally... and please, ignore the telescope I'm pointing at you!"   

 

yes..they are falling...i grabbed a 40d on fm a few months ago for <$1k  came with warranty card box, everything...only 1500 clicks when i bought it...some of those guys have too much money!  if you can watch, and be quick enough...you can get some great deals on there...

thanx...I see now..i guess i  didn't follow enough...i was picturing the standard portriots  - mono y mono shooting....

i really think my next toy (if i can save some money after these med bills) will be the 50mm f1.4  with 1.6x its like an 85mm  we will see...

[stirinthesauce]

nice score on the 40d!

Yes, not typical portraits.  Outdoors, in fun surroundings (park, playground, etc).  Apparently, this is getting to be popular for toddler/kid pics.  My sister who lives in Atlanta, just paid big money for the same concept shoot with her kids.  Talked with a close friend in Birmingham, he is looking for a photographer to do the same thing with his 2yr old daughter.  I'm hoping to pick up his biz.  Picking up another client tonight for the exact same concept (she approached me), hopefully go do this on Sunday.  I am definitly not an expert in market trends, but from my perception in this area of the country, folks seem to shy away from traditional studio stuff for more fun artsy type of shooting.  Fine by me, I don't have a studio 

Anyone else have thoughts on this?

[BJ]

nice score on the 40d!

Yes, not typical portraits.  Outdoors, in fun surroundings (park, playground, etc).  Apparently, this is getting to be popular for toddler/kid pics.  My sister who lives in Atlanta, just paid big money for the same concept shoot with her kids.  Talked with a close friend in Birmingham, he is looking for a photographer to do the same thing with his 2yr old daughter.  I'm hoping to pick up his biz.  Picking up another client tonight for the exact same concept (she approached me), hopefully go do this on Sunday.  I am definitly not an expert in market trends, but from my perception in this area of the country, folks seem to shy away from traditional studio stuff for more fun artsy type of shooting.  Fine by me, I don't have a studio 

Anyone else have thoughts on this?

i think its awesome...And nice to see you are getting biz by word of mouth!!  congrats on that.  I am not so sure I could pull this type of work off...style workign on my portrait stuff.  i have a weird problem with framing and capturing small things i wish i could remove..just look at my avatar..   bad shadows, and 1/10th of his mom.

I have a similar idea going here.  I am doing sports shots for the youngins.  All these rich kids (think walmart money here!) are in these leagues year round..the only shots they get are the typical portraits/team in their uniforms.  I am going to shoot 1-2 kids ONLY per game on a contract basis.  With the leagues playing 3-4 games per day in same place...you know.  I have already got one lined up for this month...and hopefuly more to follow.  The only problem with the first one, its freaking volleyball, one of the hardest to shoot, very fast motion in short burst and typical HS gym lighting is the worst!  you can't use flash for volleyball b/c it could disrupt the players hittng the ball...and you can't be as close as you can for bball etc...UGH!  I hope it turns our decent.  I am really ready for spring...lots of soccor and baseball here! Little Billy swinging the bat with a look of bewilderment on his face will be failry easy to capture from a dougout.

[stirinthesauce]

nice score on the 40d!

Yes, not typical portraits.  Outdoors, in fun surroundings (park, playground, etc).  Apparently, this is getting to be popular for toddler/kid pics.  My sister who lives in Atlanta, just paid big money for the same concept shoot with her kids.  Talked with a close friend in Birmingham, he is looking for a photographer to do the same thing with his 2yr old daughter.  I'm hoping to pick up his biz.  Picking up another client tonight for the exact same concept (she approached me), hopefully go do this on Sunday.  I am definitly not an expert in market trends, but from my perception in this area of the country, folks seem to shy away from traditional studio stuff for more fun artsy type of shooting.  Fine by me, I don't have a studio 

Anyone else have thoughts on this?

i think its awesome...And nice to see you are getting biz by word of mouth!!  congrats on that.  I am not so sure I could pull this type of work off...style workign on my portrait stuff.  i have a weird problem with framing and capturing small things i wish i could remove..just look at my avatar..   bad shadows, and 1/10th of his mom.

I have a similar idea going here.  I am doing sports shots for the youngins.  All these rich kids (think walmart money here!) are in these leagues year round..the only shots they get are the typical portraits/team in their uniforms.  I am going to shoot 1-2 kids ONLY per game on a contract basis.  With the leagues playing 3-4 games per day in same place...you know.  I have already got one lined up for this month...and hopefuly more to follow.  The only problem with the first one, its freaking volleyball, one of the hardest to shoot, very fast motion in short burst and typical HS gym lighting is the worst!  you can't use flash for volleyball b/c it could disrupt the players hittng the ball...and you can't be as close as you can for bball etc...UGH!  I hope it turns our decent.  I am really ready for spring...lots of soccor and baseball here! Little Billy swinging the bat with a look of bewilderment on his face will be failry easy to capture from a dougout.

Now that is a killer idea for the youngins.  When the other Moms see what your doing for little Johnny, they will be so jealous that they will feel compelled to hire you  for the next game

now you got wheels spinning in my head    Repeat business from the parents of the little kids I shoot.  Hit em up in 2-5yrs when little Billy is playing t-ball and then again when he is playing highschool ball 

Sanjay, we are hijacking your thread.  Sorry about that.  We can start a new thread if you prefer.

[Sanjay]

Carry on with the hijack!  I'm learning alot.