All
Advice
Wedding Porn
Vendors
DIY
ArchivesAn open letter to wedding photographers regarding their websites
OMG OBT
Guestpost by
on July 21, 2010
169
Tags: wedding photographer
We're ALL thinking it, but Becca, aka OBT member bmwbzz, finally came out with it. Since looking at photographer's websites is part of our jobs here at Offbeat Bride, we ALL feel Becca's pain.
Dear wedding photographers,
I think you're swell but, as a whole, your websites suck.
First of all, turn the freaking music off. Seriously. I'm probably looking at your site at work and it's hard to find the off button and I probably don't like the music you picked nor do I care since I didn't come to you for music. Don't do it — it's downright annoying!
Secondly, it should not take 100 years for your site or gallery to load. The best way to ensure this is to NOT USE FLASH! And while we're on the subject of the gallery, how to move from one picture to another should be obvious to my grandmother and I should be able to peruse the thumbnails. I should also be able to use the keyboard or the scroller on my mouse to move through the pictures (which is another reason NOT TO USE FLASH!) Also, I'm pretty sure 75% of you all have the exact same Flash site re-branded. Stop it. Want something inexpensive? Try WordPress with a custom template design. [Editor's note: or even just a good pre-made theme.] And do NOT have your gallery or site pop-up! EVER!
Thirdly, don't have your blog header take up the entire screen. I get confused and think there are no posts or something. And if you don't have a blog with most of your current wedding previews, make one.
Fourthly, tell me how much you cost. I don't care if you do "custom" packages, tell me how much your typical package is and what it includes.
Fifth, I'm probably going to post the photos on facebook. If you have a problem with this, the best way to handle it is to give me lo-res versions of all pictures with your watermark. Then everyone is happy.
Lastly, tell me WHERE YOU LIVE. I totally get that you want to travel and stuff but I'm not looking to pay for that so make it really obvious where you live and shoot weddings generally. Don't make me look up your area code on google. Instead how about say "Chicago Wedding Photographer" instead of just "Wedding Photographer."
Seriously I love you guys but weddings are stressful and photography is expensive, so make it a bit easier on us! True I'm already married and had an awesome photographer (with a great website!) but since I have three good friends getting married next year, I now have to look at all the sites again… and it's annoying. It is also true that I develop web sites for a living and am probably more critical than most but really I'm trying to help!
Sincerely,
Becca [and Offbeat Bride]
About Becca:
Becca and her new husband just had a fabulous red and turquoise wedding in Chicago, Illinois and it was amazing.
To get to know Becca better, click here.
Ariel said
Wedding photogs, you KNOW I love you. Seriously. Mad love.
But Becca speaks the truth. :/
That said, OBBs: you know we're not about bashing anyone here. So please keep your comments constructive. Photographers are our friends, and we want to help them make their websites better — not bitch about them.
Kevin Lush said
Absolutely! You have nailed it perfectly. I use flash on my site and have a minimal header on my blog. HOWEVER, my site is very easy to use and navigate.
I list my prices, location etc. I don't use music. I've done market research in my area. Approximately 1/10 of the wedding photographers do not list their prices. I feel that this is meant to deceive / trick brides into meeting with them (inevitably leading to high pressure sales).
Shari Zellers said
*Ahem* I can tell you that my colleagues and I do not keep prices off our sites to deceive or trick. It's merely a way of getting brides to CONTACT us. Most of us want a little information from the brides to see what they might need from us and then we send the list. I usually send the prices within 2 hours of contact and sometimes faster! Again, it's not a bait and switch thing but just a way of making contact. Thanks!
Christina W. said
And I'd be willing to guess that you might actually be losing clients by not posting any prices. When I was looking for a wedding photographer, I automatically dismissed anyone who couldn't bother to give me at least a general idea of pricing. Brides are busy people who don't have time/patience to contact 20 photographers and wait a couple hours for a reply.
Show them your work, and show them your prices. Let them decide if they want to contact to you.
Melissa Hazelton said
You know, when I was looking for a photographer, of the ones I could find that worked in the Toronto area, only ONE gave me prices, and their prices scared me. So I was forced to email photographers. I found out quickly it was actually a good idea. Some of the ones I liked were just WAY out of my league price-wise, but the really telling part was how they communicated with me, or didn't. some never answered my emails, some were very dismissive, and some, well the one I originally chose, was really nice!
As much as a pain as it might seem to contact photographers, you really can quickly get a feel for whether or not they are someone you want to talk to further.
The photographers I've asked as to why they don't have prices on their website said the same thing, that they wanted contact, but also because their prices can vary depending on what the client wants/needs.
My photographer doesn't have prices on her website, but I'm getting pretty darn amazing value for my money in terms of her time and commitment. So it's really worth it to email. Personally, I cut and paste my email for the most part, and just personalized how I'd found them/what I liked about their work, it didn't take long at all. It took much more time figuring out if the photographers I was looking at were actually in/around Toronto or in like Seattle. I really wish more photographers would be really blatent about *where* they are!
Dina E said
Same with me. I don't want to take the time to email someone only to find out that they're wayyyy outside my price range. Then I've wasted everyone's time.
Elisabeth said
I will not contact a photographer that doesn't give at least general pricing information up front. This is very true.
Becky said
Okay, I understand where you're coming from with that, but here's the thing… Whenever I see anything (from services to shoes) without a price tag attached, I assume it is because it's amazingly expensive and I move on. I'm willing to bet that many other people think the same way.
Jillian said
This is absolutely my outlook…and for the few people/places that I've been willing to email even without posted prices…I've found it holds true!
Cristin said
Yes, completely agree! When I see the prices, I know that these are not the set in stone prices, but they do give me an idea of whether or not the photog is even in the world of what I can consider.
channamasala said
I'm with you on that. If it doesn't have a price, I almost always pass it by.
Helena said
I completely agree with what you have said. I need to see the prices of things before i make contact. Im not going to take the time to write emails and wait around when the next website i see might have the prices on there and its easier to navigate and see what is on offer.
Cat said
After contacting two who didn't have prices and finding out they were way too expensive, I think the same thing. After that, if there was no prices anywhere, I didn't bother-no point in getting my heart broken.
Danikat said
I'm another one who feels the same way. If I don't see a price I move on assuming it's too expensive. I don't want to waste everyone's time discussing plans only to realise I can't afford it.
It doesn't have to be an exact price. The best approach might be to say "My prices start at X" with X being the minimum you'd consider for a job.
Alternatively give a few example packages across the range of your services with a note that each couple gets different things and is charged different prices.
Julie said
I completely agree. I'm very frugal so if prices are not listed, I assume the product is too expensive. Also, I'm a soft touch so I feel bad if I contact someone and they're not what I need and then I need to send them a break-up letter. I'm getting married so I never have to break-up again!
apf said
I likewise pass over any vendor (photographers included) who does not post prices online. I don't want to waste my time e-mailing or calling someone who ends up being out of my budget. I'm happy with a price range (and then I'll contact for specifics), but if it doesn't have any hints about price range then I'll keep looking elsewhere.
Taia said
I totally agree with the no price/no buying thing. I like to know what I'm getting up front- most ladies can't afford a wedding coordinator you know…
Melissa said
Same here. Every single photographer that didn't list prices got passed by without exception.
Yes, every photog does custom packages, but even having a price range of your bargain basement vs. all-inclusive packages gives a starting point.
K.K. said
Personally I didn't bother contacting any photographers that don't at least give a minimum price on their website. I'm sure I'm not the only person who skips over photographers that give zero clue as to their pricing.
Anie said
I wrote something very long, but I think it came off a little too ranty. So I'll just summarize and agree with everyone else. When I was getting married, the photographers I got were out of my budget, but their work was amazing enough that I considered them worth negotiating with so I contacted them anyway. But I didn't contact anyone whose prices weren't easily available to me with out contacting them. Because I don't LIKE contacting people, so I'm not going to do it until I know that I'm fully prepared and completely thought out and will only have to do it the ONE time.
Joe Federer said
"I'm not going to do it until I know that I'm fully prepared and completely thought out and will only have to do it the ONE time."
The problem is, you might not be 'fully prepared' until AFTER you talk to them. A good photographer will be honest with you… you might think you need 9 hours, and they might see the schedule of your day and tell you that you really only need 7… or that you really need 11.
You might think you need X minutes for your formal shots at the altar, or Y minutes for your bridal party at a park – and you might be WAY WAY WAY off. (I've had people think it takes 5 minutes… and I've had others think it takes 3 hours…) the photographer can help you get a more accurate timeframe based on what you want and help you plan your day better.
Photographers don't want you to 'shop' them online using faulty information — if you think you need 11 hours, you might think someone is our of your budget… but if after learning the needs and style of that particular photographer, you might really only need 9 to get what is important to you and 9 hours with photographer JoeSchmoe might be within your budget.
K.K. said
This is true, but if my photography budget is $1000 and your 5 hour starting coverage is $3000, it doesn't really matter if I'm wrong about my timeline
Carolyn said
I was LESS likely to contact a vendor if they didn't have their prices listed. Not worth the effort.
Kat said
It's a point of contention, to be sure. You are doing your clients a courtesy by allowing them to at least self-select but probably doing yourself a disservice by laying it all out there. That's why I see a lot of people agree that "starting at…" is a good idea. Your clients know if you're in the $1k, $5k, or $10k bracket, and you go from there.
Shari Zellers said
Sorry about the flash. I think that even my blog is flash. In my defense, my site loads pretty quickly though and I think I know which sites you are talking about. Let's just say that they are not as "fast" as they say they are! ;o) The pricing issue is tough though. It's because we want to hear from brides. Personally, I took my prices down for the first time in 11 years because I wanted to hear from brides that needed help and also wanted to be able to see how I could work with them. If I only put the prices up and they never contacted me, some lovely people would have missed out on getting a good offer from me that they could afford.
I already put about 100 watermarked images up on Facebook for my clients. What's upsetting is when they crop out the watermark. Thanks!
Ariel said
One of the biggest problems with flash these days is that iphones can't deal with it … which means you're missing a slice of your market!
Shari Zellers said
And slowly, the site designers are trying to deal with this. I find it amusing that we are being blamed for the phones not having flash site capability. Which came first? :O)
Ariel said
Oh, absolutely — but you gotta adapt to market shifts. And the iphone is a market game-changer for web designers.
Ivriniel said
Yes, Flash came first, but therein lies the problem. It's old technology that is an absolute resource hog.
Offbeat Megan said
So true! I was recently helping MY best friend find a photographer and she'd text me their web addresses and too many times would I get that sad "?" icon.
Joe Federer said
You really shop for your wedding photographer using the 3" screen on a iPhone? (I'm not trying to be confrontational… it's just that I have completely ignored the mobile phone market because even though I'm a tech geek in my 20's, I'd NEVER consider shopping for a multi-thousand dollar photographer for my wedding via a mobile phone… do I need to reconsider my stance?)
Offbeat Megan said
It wasn't a photographer for ME or my wedding, it was my friend asking my professional opinion on a photographer for HER. I can get a feel pretty fast for whether or not I like a photographer on ANY size screen as 1. Studying wedding photos is part of my job for OBB and 2. I'm also a photographer. But I can't give a yay or nay opinion if I can't see their websites. So I'm only going to vote on the ones that I could access.
It's pretty common practice to check emails on the go from your phone and then click through the links in the emails on your phone.
Joe Federer said
Very interesting — the "emails from friends while on the go" is a great example of when it might actually matter. I've always kept my blog phone-friendly, but my main site (which hasn't been updated in 2 years… grrr…) I've never really thought people might be looking at on their phones. Time to make a alternate HTML version, I guess.
Thank you for the insight.
K.K. said
These days I know people who do ALL of their web browsing on their iPhone. I think they're crazy, but I'm starting to fear I may be slipping into the minority of not having a smartphone D:
Danikat said
Don't worry, there's plenty of us out there still.
My brother uses his iPhone a lot because he's a guitar teacher who spends most of his day travelling. My mum uses one because she's put so much junk (animated wall paper ect.) on her computer it's not worth using unless you have an hour to spare.
Me, I spend almost all day in front of a computer and can't remember the last time I had just one tab or just one program running so an iPhone would be a waste of money.
Keri said
This is what I don't understand.
"I already put about 100 watermarked images up on Facebook for my clients."
Yes you took them for the client, but in all honesty, if I can't put the pictures up on my own Facebook, Flickr etc then I would move on from that photographer. And if they're cropping out the watermark then you could make it opaque and stick it right in the middle of the picture.
I just don't get the entire "I took these photos, they're MINE" concept (not saying you said that, just commenting about it from experience in finding a photographer) some photographers have. Yes, they took the photos, but *I* paid you to take them for me. I'm not going to pay a photographer for photos that isn't going to give me full rights to them. It's our special day, not the photographers.
Tessa Betts said
You make an excellent point (and here is where I get all librarian copyright law), technically the photographers own the rights to the photos of YOUR wedding and you do not. Unless you come to a written agreement with the photographer otherwise. That is how copyright law works. So if you want the rights to post your photos online or Photoshop them, then you need to get it in writing with your photographer. I also suggest reading the article on Offbeat Bride by fellow awesome librarian, Molly. http://offbeatbride.com/2010/0…-copyright
Kristen said
I agree with this 100%. One of my "musts" for my photographer was one who would give me the rights to all of my photos. That honestly eliminated almost every local photographer in my price range, luckily I did find one who we ended up going with.
One of the more annoying policies I came across in my search was the photographer who would release the rights to "a limited number" of the photos for $50 per photo (That's just for the rights, you don't even get a print included with that)! I understand the law, but I can't say I really agree with it!
Kat said
Giving you personal right is one thing. FULL rights is another. As photographers, we make our living off our work. Giving you FULL rights means giving you the right to the copyright of the image and therefore enabling you to sell it commercially to advertisers and on stock photo sites, etc. This is where most photographers won't go, because it is their work, and their copyright.
Usually this is expressed in the photographer's contract. I expect my clients to want to blog/FB their work (it's good publicity!) and I even expect them to want to make their own prints (though not having control of the quality of the prints representing my work is kind of icky sometimes) but, if a client were selling my work and profiting off it, we would have a problem.
Keri said
So I read the other comments, and I think I understand now.
Photographers have the copyright to the photos, that's fine. I just came across five or six photographers that wouldn't give me reproduction rights to print my own photos, or allow me to post them on my facebook/flickr/blog etc. And that irritated the crap out of me.
Now that I understand what you're saying I have a better idea of the whole copyrighting the photos by the photographer concept.
Casey said
OMG yes! The price thing is particularly annoying. Wasting your time and mine because I can't tell from your website that you are like 2K out of my price range is not cool.
Cortney said
AMEN!
Kate Gardiner said
So probably not all of us are going to bow to the request of posting all of our pricing without contacting us first. Is it an acceptable compromise to post price ranges?
101010Becca said
I think so. I need an idea of pricing to know if I should contact a photographer. It would be a total waste of both our time if packages start at say $3500 when my entire wedding budget is less than that.
Dina E said
A range would be completely acceptable to me, too.
Arachna said
I think that's all people want.
I don't want you to share all your secrets or be perfectly consistent or not cut me a break!
I just want to know if you're 4k out of my price range (real experience).
That kind of gap is really not going to get 'worked out'.
Sharon said
A HUGE reason why we booked the photographers we did for our wedding was because their website gave a starting price for full-day coverage (and they listed what that would include) and then added that if clients were getting married on a weekday, in the off season, or were willing to compromise on cobbling together a la carte options, they were really willing to help come up with a price point that would work for everyone. We ended up going for one of their mid-range packages with some substitutions, but it just made my heart glad to see that they were our kind of people in terms of values.
Danikat said
I think that's all most people want.
I think most people understand that photography is a very variable service and the price can depend on a lot of things, they just want to know if it's even worth thinking about it before going in.
Anie said
Or just put packages up and then say that custom packages are available and/or all prices are negotiable. Most packages have tons of stuff I knew I didn't want, but of course I had no idea how much each component cost. So I went in knowing I could negotiate, while the photographer still had the power to determine when and how to drop the price.
Sarah said
The caterer we picked just had a few sample contracts up (with names/details removed but prices all there) up — that was enough for us to know we weren't wasting anyone's time in contacting them.
101010Becca said
Honestly, I won't even contact a photographer if there are no prices on their site. I need some sort of idea of their prices to even consider it. Sure, I know almost everyone does custom price packages, but still. It's uber important for someone with a really tight budget.
Jill said
My photogs website is awesome, awesome, awesome — a big part of why I went with him. First impressions mean a lot.
lilfox said
I agree about the music. I'm usually running hulu while I research (the only way I can sit and waste an hour watching hulu is if I do something productive while watching. In fact, it is playing right now. go Hell's Kitchen!) The music coming on is very annoying to me. If I can't find the button right away I just close out the window and never return. Also, I don't like contacting people about prices, so if they aren't on the website, I usually use that as a tool to narrow it all down. Any excuse to say "no" to a vendor in order to narrow it down is employed.
Taia said
thank you. not mention who wants to listen to re-mixed enya while watching chef ramsey explode on those ppl? it's too contradictory…my head might explode!
Lauren said
OMG. This. I went through so many photography websites. The worst ones were ones that had a terrible layout, flash, sappy music and no price references.
I ended up contacting and meeting with only one photographer that didn't have her prices posted…but that's because her work was PHENOMINAL! Other places that didn't have prices, but still had nice photos…I didn't bother with.
You don't need to list your exact prices, but basic packages, and price ranges would be SO helpful. Then I'm not wasting everyone's time by contacting dozens of photographers, only to find out they're thousands out of my price range.
Chloe (Island Wed) said
Amen!
I agree to all of the above ESPECIALLY the telling me where you live part. That is so important and I can't figure out for the life of me why photographers don't have that clearly stated.
Christine said
I had a photographer friend at one point who switched her page to flash mainly because she was frustrated at seeing people stealing her images using that handy right-click – save feature. Sadly, the thing that frustrates us the most is a result of a few people taking images without permission.
That being said, dear god, I hate flash sites. I've just started browsing for photographers, and when the flash doesn't work sometimes, I don't know enough to try workarounds like I can with HTML.
Dina E said
You can disable right clicking through HTML (I think? It might be Javascript…). People can still get around it, but it does make it much harder!
Becca said
You know, I do understand this issue. I think there are ways to use Flash sparingly so that it isn't super annoying but you can stop the right click issue. (You can do it with HTML but you can also get around it). That being said, someone could always take a screen shot even with an image displayed with Flash.
Also, someone else brought up the iPhone issue (which is annoying in itself – why should we all hurt because of Steve Job's vendetta with Adobe?? but I digress …) so I think it's likely a lot of sites will be moving away from Flash.
Joe Federer said
Flash isn't the culprit. It's poor design that is the issue.
Flash is not inherently slow. People doing dumb things with flash, or programming it poorly, is what makes it slow. All of the complaints about 'Flash' are really just complaints about bad design and user interface. An HTML site can be just as slow and badly designed as a Flash one. (it's just more prevalent with Flash because it's easier to get all 'wiz-bang')
Ariel said
I agree with you to a point, but as a longtime Flash-hater, I gotta say that a Flash site ain't never going to load on an iPhone, and unless you're smart, ain't never gonna allow linking to specific internal pages.
Joe Federer said
Actually, you can internally link. And make the back button work. And even get indexed on google. It takes programming skills, knowledge, and time (of which I only have 1.. hehe) but it can be done.
Yeah, Flash is too powerful for Jobs to allow it on the iPhone. (it would take revenue away from people buying apps if they could get the same functionality for free from Flash/AIR programs) I will give you that…. unless of course, people stop buying a web device that can't see a huge portion of the web.
hehe
Kat said
Flash is still notoriously poor for SEO, despite the majority of problems that stem from bad design. It'll just never be as good as a CSS, HTML or other non-image-embedded site, even with as many meta tags and whatnot as you want to stick in there. There are workarounds, but that's all they are…
Jillian said
I work in the tech industry, and I have to say that, in trying to plan my wedding, it's been frustrating to deal with badly built websites. This is not just limited to photographers though! I've had the same issue with venues, caterers, etc. Maybe I am missing out on things that might be great, but I live and die by the internet and if your website doesn't function well, you don't respond to emails, or your prices aren't listed online, I don't want you to be involved in my wedding.
My own "gripe" to add to the list is "If you ask me what my contact preference is, PLEASE PAY ATTENTION". I am at work 10-11 hours a day and cannot pick up my phone. However, I am plugged into a computer and constantly check my email. If I ask you to email me, I mean it! I hate talking on the phone. I will not have time or energy to return your phone call, so it's your loss if you refuse to email me back!
irisira said
Oooh, yes on the phone thing. I had a few vendors (not photographers, fortunately) who INSISTED on using a phone and not email, and they got narrowed off of my list. I work during regular business hours, plus I volunteer and am involved with a bunch of other stuff, and did most of my wedding contacting either at 7am or at 10pm (it's also when I do my wedding-blog-surfing!). I DON'T HAVE TIME TO CHAT ON THE PHONE.
I can't help but think it's a holdover from the days when women didn't hold full time jobs – being married was their full time job. But … seriously, that was 50 years ago.
Amy said
I couldn't agree more about the contact preference. If you are going to contact me however YOU feel like it, don't ask for my preference! Drive me nuts.
I also couldn't agree more with the comment about poor websites. We planned our wedding from out of town, and if you didn't have a website, or had a website with no information, you were out, because I live on the internet, and if you as a vendor were going to be a good fit for us, you had to be technologically up to date, especially because we couldn't just pop in for a meeting after work one night. Sadly, so many aren't.
Sarah said
Seconded. SO MUCH. And to those who don't ask about my contact preference? Maybe they should start. I'm almost never without email for more than a couple hours, and I'm terrible at phones. I get nervy, forget questions, have to ask people to repeat themselves, etc.
One of the reasons (not the only one by far, but) that I custom ordered my dress without setting foot in a single bridal store? I couldn't get up the nerve to call for an appt, they all required them, and not a single one of the local ones had a contact form/email on their web site. So I started looking at custom options, just for fun and ideas, since I had plenty of time, and found something I loved.
eliza said
YES!!! Thank you for this. When looking for a wedding photographer I was able to find ONE who listed prices. I figure if your price isn't listed, that means I can't afford you (same for apartments, if any are out there reading this). I wasn't blown away by that one photographer's portfolio so I had a good friend take the pictures at our wedding. She did a lovely job and I certainly saved money but I probably WOULD have spent the money on a professional if I could find one with a good website.
lady brett said
ha! this is really wonderful – i think these are the exact thoughts i had (in the exact order, even) when i started looking at wedding photography. i kept *wanting* to be excited and do tons of photo-stalking, but i couldn't bring myself to.
as someone mentioned, lots of folks/vendors have bad websites, which is a shame, but i get it. the thing is that people are automatically going to be more critical of the design when looking at a photographer's site, as it is (fairly or not) a way to see their aesthetic.
Jennifer Cross said
I would like to add "Quit resizing my browser window!" I understand that some websites look better at a certain size, but in these days of tabbed browsing, highjacking my window is annoying.
Dina E said
Yes!
Gayle said
Package price was the first thing I checked when I went onto a photographer's website for the first time, every time. There's no sense in me falling in love with the style of a certain photographer who I will discover after an e-mail conversation is far out of my price range. It won't make me revise my photography budget, it will just make me sad
JB said
"It won't make me revise my photography budget, it will just make me sad
"
Yes, THIS. Exactly. I get the sense that some photographers hope you will "change your mind" and adjust your budget when you see the beauuuutiful pictures…not gonna happen. Even if the pics are super-beautiful. A Ferrari is a super-beautiful car (IMO), but no matter how much you try to sell it to me, it will Never be in my budget so don't waste my time!
Emily Takes Photos said
Great post! I definitely agree with the whole music thing; not only is it annoying, but a lot of the times, it's STEALING!
Regarding listing prices, I currently list my half- and whole-day starting prices, though I've been considering listing my packages on the site. I agree with Shari about wanting couples to contact us, but at the same time when I planned my own wedding, I didn't contact anyone who didn't have any kind of pricing on their websites. I enjoyed having prices listed (photo packages/menus/etc), though in the end I just contacted the people I knew (nice planning a wedding in your small hometown).
Lauren McGlynn said
I hang my head in generic flash based template web site shame. no one spends any time on my website hardly at all, and my blog gets all the traffic. I officially feel so behind the times and am not sure what to do about it as the evil flash based website template providers own my url. I have all this advertising etc. attached to this url, so it's complicated.
This is actually something I've been mulling over for a longtime: how do I change my website so that it's more user friendly.
Any other tips that ya'll wanna give out are most welcome.
Dina E said
Can you transfer the URL registration to another provider? (It might be that you're on a contract for a certain amount – when that contract comes up, you *should* be able to transfer it elsewhere.)
I just had a look at the site itself, and then main annoyance for me is that it loads directly into your wedding portfolio. I think it might be better to have it load into an "about me" kind of page – not necessarily the whole bio that you have on the "information" tab, but may just a "Hi! My name is Lauren! I take wedding and engagement photographs and creative portraits in the *fill in the blank* area!"
Ariel said
Yeah, this is definitely a larger issue. It's part of why the suggestion to go for a Wordpress-based site is so smart — Wordpress is a blogging AND a website content management platform, so you can have your blog and your portfolio in one place. All without flash.
Ashley (and Steph) said
Wahoo!! we just made our site a "blog site" and are super stoked about it! we're still working out the last of the kinks and plan to launch totally on monday. but yeah, these were all things that annoyed us both (steph for OBM and me for Hi-Fi Weddings) when we have to search for content. i's great to hear everyone's thoughts on this! i'll be thrilled when these cookie cutter flash sites are a thing of the past! thanks for sharing such a great article! becca, you know i love your wedding
xoxox
Jillian said
I cannot sing the praises of Wordpress enough. Seriously, even if you don't know much about websites, you can use Wordpress to do pretty much anything. And there's so many photo templates!!!
colleen said
i've been tirelessly building a flash website, only to have it not work (and we're even paying for it!) so this really helped me too! now i will just finish building my non-flash and leave it at that!
Danielle said
OMG!!! Thank you so much! I thought I was totally alone in this!
Sarah Ekateryna Barnes said
THANK YOU!!!
Nothing was worse than trying to find a photographer; I ended up throwing up my hands in frustration at the websites and facebooked an old friend from high school who has a facebook page for her photography business. Guess what– no sappy/crappy music, no flash, and price range listed! I hired her as fast as I could, and I am so pleased with her work!
Meg said
THANK YOU.
Wedding photographers-
Do you know how often your GINOMORMOUS PICTURES and endless pages have crashed my internet? So often that when the internet goes down my husband says, "Are you on a wedding photographers website again?" without looking up.
And if I have to look up you location by googling your area code one more time, I might poke out my eyes. And the times when you move, haven't changed your area code but still don't list your location? Awesome.
I'm not your potential client. But I think you might be pissing your potental clients off. Just sayin'
Best,
Meg
Becca said
Uggg. Yes!
The thing is that a lot of people say they use flash so people don't steal their photos … but if they would just resize their photos and make them lo-res, it would be less of an issue AND make their site less annoying.
Good call.
Adrienne said
This is my photographer's website, and I think it's definitely one of the good ones:
http://www.anneherman.com/
She's also incredible, amazing, and extremely talented! Once I get my photos back (it's only been 2 weeks since the wedding), I'll be posting a full review of her on the forums. She's that good. Seriously.
ken kienow said
when i clicked "next photo" on anne herman's site, it didn't go to the next photo. it goes to an incomplete "other resources" page.
having a site that's easy to navigate is nice unless it's otherwise half-baked.
Rose said
This. Flash is also tripledy bad because it's not accessibility-friendly. Please do not ever use it!
I'd also put in a note to be netbook or small-screen friendly. I was doing a lot of looking at websites on the go with my netbook and did run into problems there.
irishbride said
being a bride trying to organise a wedding from over 6,000 miles away is frustrating enough as literally EVERY descision is based on a vendor's website and reviews of their services… but one of my biggest gripes with photographer websites is the music… thankfully i was able to find a tog who's website was easy to navigate, and had prices readily displayed. i understand that to some togs with varying packages asking how much they charge is like asking how long a piece of string is, but any togs who didn't display prices i just ignored…. their loss, unfortunately…