The pandemic might’ve slowed most everything down, but it did create a good opportunity for photographers to take a fresher look at their overall branding — especially on their website — which often gets neglected when business is booming.
One of the biggest challenges of this process is narrowing an entire archive down to the best images. Such was the case with Santa Clara, California-based architecture and aerial photographer Jeff Peters, also known as Vantage Point Photo. With years of experience, Jeff has an extensive portfolio and was looking for us to take a fresh, objective look at his work.
My initial goals were to get a refresh to my images that I currently have on my website. I wanted someone with a new perspective to look at my work and critique the direction of my web edit, as I have a difficult time critiquing my own work.
In the past, the majority of Jeff’s clients were commercial real estate and brokerage firms who sold high end properties. He wanted to start shifting that clientele to more “creative” types, such as ad agencies, architecture firms, hotels, expanding retail brands, and even beverage brands. With that in mind, I knew that we’d have to center the edit around his projects rather than collections of strong individual images.
At the time, Jeff’s website was sectioned into an assortment of categories: Architecture, Hotels, Housing, Retail, and Aerial. My first thought was to keep the categories (with some retitling), select his strongest projects within each category, and group them within the appropriate galleries.
Essentially, we came out with overviews of each specialty. While the results showed the breadth of his work, they didn’t really speak to the magnitude and scale of his experience and career. Not to mention it would be more laborious to maintain a tight, cohesive edit in these types of galleries.
During the second round of revisions, I decided to create individual project galleries, which would be organized into a “Projects” folder on his website. This way, he could present more fully fleshed out portfolio pieces. It would also be easier for him to update things more frequently.
Since there were some categories where Jeff didn’t have as large of an archive as others, I kept some of the original galleries from the first round of edits.
Having a mix of both types of galleries would allow Jeff to show clients a wide and detailed look at his work, which can also help him expand his clientele to those creative clients. Whereas the overviews help give a sense of Jeff’s technical skills, the projects show how Jeff tells a “story” of that space.
The new web edit and website is like a mini-rebrand for my business — I plan to create some new portfolio books from the edit and also to reach out to my current clients encouraging them to check out my new website. I am thrilled with the new look!
Throughout my time working with Jeff, we also talked about web template options. In his previous WordPress website, he had a gray backdrop and a complicated navigation menu. By switching to A Photo Folio, he was able to modernize the look of his website and simplify his navigation!
Jemma gave me insights into how prospective clients view photography websites and what these clients are looking for. They were patient with me as I let go of some of my preconceived ideas about my work and my website and clearly showed me that they had my best interests in mind.
If you’re ready for a web assessment with any of our consultants, email us.