Before creating my website, I looked at other professional photographer's websites for inspiration as i knew I wanted my website to look professional as then I can just use this and keep adding to it as I wanted to create a website that I was proud of and could take forward into my career. I knew there were certain things I wanted to include in my website and I wanted it to reflect me as a person and photographer in the design: I wanted to create a very clean and organised website as I believe I am a very organised person and like my work to be presented that way. I also wanted to use minimal colour in the background and text of the website as I want all the focus to be on my images and I didn't want the viewer getting distracted by colourful backgrounds.
Below are a few examples of websites that inspired me:
Matt Thomas
What I liked about this website was how neat and well organised it is, I think having the images presented in structured lines and the use of simple, clear fonts gives the website a professional appearance. I also like how the page titles are written across the top as oppose to in a drop down menu as you can immediately see the different pages on the websites. I believe it helps in making people look into the website more as they might see a page title that interests which consequently makes them view the page. Another thing i find interesting about this website is the photographers choice of page names which help spark interest and invite the viewer into the website. For example one of his pages is entitled "skip and jump", this is ambiguous as it doesn't immediately explain what is going to be on the page which thus helps to lure the viewer in as it makes them want to know what was on the page.
JS Photography
I also was inspired by this website as I think the use of a single, striking photo that acts as a cover makes the website very memorable and makes the viewer want to discover more.
Similarly to Matt Thomas' website, this one uses a simplistic but effective title and this is definitely something I want to include in my own website. When comparing the two websites i prefer this one as I like the use of a single image as I think it is captivating and I want to include this on the home page of my own website.
Furthermore I like how when you scroll down on the home page of this website (which can be seen in the image below) there were smaller images and chunks of text that had been taken from the other pages of the website. I think this makes the website really interesting as it creates a contrast in the layout and also provides small pieces of information from the pages of the website. This can entice the audience to view the other pages by capturing their interest through the small parts of information on the page. I think this effect helps to make the website interesting and creative so I am going to include this in my own website design.
When creating my website I decided to use WIX as it is free and I wanted my website to be published without having to pay. I also think it is easy to use and navigate meaning that i could create my website exactly how I envisioned at ease. When creating my website, i created a few different designs as I wanted a design I was completely happy and proud of and i didn't achieve this until my third attempt of making a website. However, with each website I created it gave me inspiration and ideas for the following website and eventually I ended up with a design I was happy with. Below are images of my website designs in chronological order which show the development of my final website design.
This was my first design and I chose this template as I liked how the menu bar across the top was very neat and clear, also as i explained above I wanted my home page to feature one image that could act as the cover of my website. However, the reason I didn't stick with this design was I didn't like how my name was positioned across the centre of the photo however there was no room at the top due to the menu being there so I decided to try out another design where I could have my name, which is the title of my website, at the top.
This was the second design for my website and at first I was very happy with it, I like how my name could be in a large font at the top so that it immediately caught people's eyes when they viewed the website. Since I wasn't particularly happy with my first website design, I decided to try out a different layout and drew inspiration from Matthew Thomas' grid layout as I believe this was effective in immediately showcasing a variety of work to the viewer. However, I wanted to show my creative side through my website and therefore I used images of different sizes in order to make my website look more interesting. Whilst I was happy with the way this website turned out and I think it is effective at showcasing my work, I felt that it didn't look very professional any this was an important piece of criteria I set myself when creating my website.
This is my final and current design for my website that was a result of developing my ideas from previous designs. I stuck to keeping my name in a large, clear font at the top of the page as I want the viewers to immediately read it and I included a menu across the top so that my website is easy to navigate. I think the use of a black box for the menu bar makes the page look more professional as it helps to organise the page and subtly communicates the theme of black lines that I use throughout my website. I decided to revert back to having one large image at the top of my home page as I think it helps to make my website more memorable as this is the focus point of the home page and all of the viewer's attention is on this image when they first visit the page. I chose this photograph as I think it is one of my best landscape shots and it has a more unique vantage point of looking down at the lake rather than just across it. I also included some text from the other pages on my website on the home page as i think this was really effective in JS Photography's website and I think it makes my website exciting as there is a range of layouts, photo sizes and text. Another reason for including this was that when selecting my best images for my home page, all of them were landscapes. However, I wanted to make it clear that my page contained more than just landscape photography so I added a few smaller images of portraiture and street photography to encourage the viewers to look at my portfolio pages.
I think the process of creating a website was fun as I could create a page that represented through the design both who I am as a person and who I am as a photographer. I am a creative person so I enjoy creative tasks such as making a website and I was pleased with the final product. I think researching into other photographers' websites helped me to figure out what kind of style and design I wanted to go for, it saved me a lot of time as I knew roughly what look i wanted to create, rather than just putting my photos on a page. It also was a good resource to refer back to as I wanted my website to look professional. Whilst I was originally happy with my earlier designs it was only after I compared them directly to the websites that inspired me that I realised they weren't as professional looking as i'd hoped. By making these comparisons I was able to see where I could improve my website so that it was at the standard I had set out to make it.
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