Creating my own website

After going back to University after a week off, we started on the subject of creating our own websites to really get our name and work out into the big wide world. I have always wanted to create my own website, I just wouldn't know the first thing about how to start one up! So I am really looking forward to getting one going in the next few weeks with the help of our tutor!

This week we started to look at what we wanted our website to look like, the layout and also what the most important aspects of photography web pages are, to consider within our own.

I immediately knew the sort of style I want mine to ultimately look like. I really love photographer Dan Kennedy, a fashion and celebrity photographer from London. He is definitely a photographer I look up to. Working in commercial, advertising and fashion photography, is definitely what I would love to do in the future. Although his images are stunning in their own right, its also his website that stands out from many others in the same business as him. Photography is a very hard and competitive business, and a good website is almost the first impression you can give to potential clients and other growing/amateur photographers wanting to work up the photography ladder. Below is one of my favourite layouts of a website, which is Dan Kennedys website.

Homepage: His homepage is very simple, yet so striking. I think its very brave of a photographer to just have one image on the homepage of their website. Because its not going to be of everyone's taste it is almost a gamble. But it shows that Kennedy is very confident and proud of his work, and so he should be, its a beautiful image to have as a first impression. It is also very clever as there are no captions to click on specific areas of his photography, you have to click on the image to enter his full website, I really like that idea.

 

 

I love the layout of his website, with his specific sets of images separated into different tabs at the top of his website for easy navigation, including, 'portraits', 'fashion', 'commercial', 'news', 'pdf' and 'contact'. The image you are clicked on is the main part of the page, and you can change the image you want to see by clicking on the washed out images below to enlarge them. The colour scheme is very simple and sophisticated, with a grey for the background which compliment his images, without drawing any attention away from them.

 

Above is his 'Contact' page. Including a small 'About' section and Job opportunities. The page also includes celebrities he has photographed and images he has used for publications. This page again is very plain but very neat and tidy, it doesn't need any colour or fancy layout to it.


Another favourite of mine is James Nader's website. A fashion, commercial and editorial photographer, again his work is just amazing and his website is really one of a kind, especially before you enter the full website. I just want to show you his homepage, as I find it very different to anyone else's website. Probably my most favourite homepage, the image used is incredible, with just the simplicity of his last name in capitals underneath with links below that. Set within the centre of the page, the 3 aspects of the model, his name and the little tabs, all link in as almost one image and aspect together. The pure beauty of the white background just completes the homepage and adds a feel of completeness to it.

 

 

I really enjoy looking at other photography websites, as inspiration and also the level and standard to what the top photographers of the genre I want to work in are doing at the moment. I cant wait to create my own website!!

Laura xx