Dave M Photography Portfolio Is Now Online

After several weeks of working on the design and then playing photo editor, trying to narrow down which images make the cut, I finally got my new site up and running this evening. Believe me it wasn't easy. It's difficult to critique and judge your own work and I'm still working on it. I frequently check out other sites and I wanted to make my site stand out from the rest of the photographers.

I've noticed a lot of posting on Craigslist and similar classified sites and most of these photographers are using MySpace, Flickr and Model Mayhem. These sites have their place, primarily for networking, but it's possible to get a couple of jobs from these sites. However when your dealing with individuals outside of the business, it seems unprofessional to have potential clients view a MySpace page. I previously had my portfolio on my graphic design site, but I thought that didn't look like the kind of photographer I would hire. I wouldn't want to dig through 2 separate portfolios to find a photographer or a graphic artist. MySpace is a social networking site, not the kind of platform to attract potential clients and no flexibility in showing off your best work. Your portfolio should be accessible in one or two clicks without having to see a list of all your friends and comments that only if your in on the joke, you'll get. Flickr is a great way of showing off your images and getting feedback, but it shouldn't be used to attract new clients. First of all, you don't get your own domain address, so it's not easy to find you. Second, if they do find you, they'll see all the comments, good and bad. Potential clients should only be viewing your best work. I don't have a Model Mayhem account and maybe I should, I've heard that it's a great way to network, but it's like MySpace & Flickr combined. So it's best to get your own domain and either have someone design your site or pay someone to design it for you.

A lot of my thoughts about the new site came about from reading one of the blogs I follow by Zack Arias. As an editorial music photographer, he's got experience putting together a website and online portfolio. On his blog, he asked other photographers to submit their sites for a critique. He's already done about 10 and they have been extremely informative, especially the part of selecting images for the portfolio. Now that I've got my site done, I'll submit mine and get some feedback on my images as well as the layout and design for the site.

Anyway, now that the site is up, take a look and let me know what you think. I'm also going to have a bit more time work on the blog. So keep an eye out.