livebooks blog

Lifestyle and Wedding photographer Karen Hill (based in New York City) fills a unique niche by bringing an angle of fine art to portraiture and event photography. Her photos are absolutely stunning, elegant, and classic – much like her website design. We thought her site would be perfect to showcase this week and we can’t wait for you to see it!

Read on to hear what she had to say about her site’s creation and the great advice she has for people getting started on creating their websites. Don’t forget to see more of her gorgeous site and photos at www.karenhill.com!

Q: How would you describe the aesthetic of your website in three words?

KH: Classic, Elegant, Timeless, and Modern (I came up with four.)

Q: How do you choose the photos that you display on your homepage?

KH: I chose a recent image that I think best represents my work overall. For the portfolio page, I chose to do a grid to highlight each portfolio. I love how this page turned out. Hopefully it will intrigue prospective clients, wedding planners, and editors to click to see more!

Q: How often do you update your website?

KH: I update my website a few times a year as I have new work I want to share. I find keeping my website fresh is very important to me, as well as to my potential clients as my work is ever evolving. We often spend time looking at my site together and talking about their wedding and their favorite images. This gives me a lovely window into their sensibilities and helps me to plan the photography timeline with them.

Since I use a bunch of different cameras, both digital and traditional film, I like to hear which images speak to them the most so that I can talk about the different cameras I use to prepare our shoot. For instance, two very distinctive cameras I use are the Holga and the Widelux. These are very specialized cameras that do one thing. The Holga is a plastic camera and has a square, very ethereal look to it while the Widelux is an extra wide panoramic. The Widelux is great for overviews and dramatic shots, but it’s not a formal portrait camera. So for instance if a client doesn’t love the Holga’s ethereal, somewhat blurry look, I know to focus on a different camera like the Rollei or the Hasselblad, which are also square format cameras. But the Widelux is one of those cameras that everybody seems to love.

I also point out that the Holga and the Widelux are not my main cameras but that I shoot a roll or two throughout the day. My main cameras are the Contax 645 and the Canon 5D Mark III. Clients often want to distinguish between digital and traditional film images, so it’s helpful for this. In the end they are engaging me to make beautiful photographs that reflect their day but I do love having a conversation with them as well, I think it gets couples excited about the photography. I truly love to think that the photography just “happens.” That feels so romantic to me and to some degree it’s true; but weddings and portrait sessions take on a personality and energy all their own. It’s important to key into this essential element but to also keep in mind the images your client has engaged you to capture. I spend a good amount of time planning each shoot to develop the photography timeline and make sure all of the requested images are in the timeline. This collaboration is key for me and my website really helps get the conversation going. In January, when the studio is a little slower, I usually refresh the whole site to reflect what’s new and what’s relevant now. This year, that meant a whole new look for us. Prospective clients, wedding planners, and editors seem to love how it turned out!

Q: What is your favorite feature that liveBooks offers?

KH: My favorite feature is the editSuite. It allows me behind-the-scenes access, so to speak, and be in charge of image placement and image updates. I love this feature so much! Secondly, working with one of liveBooks’ web designers, Ryan. He gets it. This was our second redesign that we’ve worked on together and he’s awesome. And finally, SEO, keywording, and stats.

Q: What’s one piece of advice you’d offer to someone designing their website?

KH: Just do it, the rest will follow. It’s definitely a labor of love that is your most important business tool and should feature your very best and brightest work at all times.

Have a website you’d like us to feature? Email us at social@livebooks.com!

Photographer Michel Porro takes absolutely stunning portraits that span a wide variety of genres. From musicians to actors to corporate professionals, the imagery is crisp, clean, and beautiful. We found that his website design also evokes these same elements – and couldn’t wait to feature it this week.

Read on to see what he had to say about his website’s creation, and don’t forget to check out all his photos at www.michelporro.com.

Q: How would you describe the aesthetic of your website in three words?

MP: Light (bright and not “heavy”), Modern, Clean.

Q: How do you choose the photos that you display on your homepage?

MP: We like to display a mix of different portrait situations in the homepage slideshow. The competition for attention is intense. Millions of visuals speak to our imagination – a good picture becomes the message. We remember only the most engaging and remarkable images. The homepage is the prime chance to deliver an “elevator pitch” in just a few seconds. It is the portal and “switch” to invite the visitor into the realm of the photographer’s creative vision. liveBooks stands out because its technical and creative developers really understand the power and value of this initial impact.

Q: How often do you update your website?

MP: Not often to be honest. Four times per year and then only slight additions. I believe in stability. There is no use to constantly change. It really is about the display of a constant quality of the body of work and once the train is rolling, no need to adapt too often.

Q: What is your favorite feature that liveBooks offers?

MP: The full screen view. This is awesome.

Q: What’s one piece of advice you’d offer to someone designing their website?

MP: This really is the most important question. The website is an invitation inside the heart of the business of the entrepreneur. The site is often a one-off chance to introduce the business. The presentation has to be convincing and inspiring at the same time. There have to be two winners; the business owner and the customer. Only then will there be a fruitful cooperation between the two.

Therefore, the design and the construction of the website have to be fully in line with the philosophy of the business. The business owner has to be well aware of his/her strengths and his/her medium to long term goals and purpose in professional and personal life. This really is key. A photographer, for example, needs to be able to define his/her goals and pinpoint why it is that he/she has chosen this profession (other than paying the bills and being creative, etc.)

The design and the look and feel of a website is the result from this internal investigation and discussion. It will be much easier to work with a designer of the website if the photographer has a more clear vision and knows why he/she has actually chosen this profession. They will then be able to more specifically choose a targeted client base and the style that supports reaching out to this market segment.

Usually a younger photographer hasn’t really worked this all out. Some experienced pro’s neither, for that matter. Still, I encourage both photographers and the designers of their websites to really think and talk about the underlying purpose in an early stage of their career. I believe the involvement in this process by designers can be upped a bit. Designers are trained to design and not so much to have a serious discussion about the purpose of their client’s life. I understand that. Still, these discussions will help both the designer and the client to create the best possible product that will help the client reach their goals.

It can be easily implemented in the web design process by simply asking a few questions. Where would you like to be in 18 months from now? Name three clients that you’d love to have in your portfolio in six month’s time. What kind of photography would you like to do if money was not an issue? Or, do you love photography so much that you would still do it even if you weren’t getting paid for it? These questions make the client ponder about their real purpose in professional and personal life. I believe the designer has a shared responsibility to start these discussions in order to be able to best help the client.

Have a website you’d like us to feature? Email us at social@livebooks.com!

Photographer Jason Paige Smith has some of the most interesting and unique images that we’ve ever seen – and we absolutely love the way he has designed his website in a clean-cut and simple way.

We couldn’t wait to feature his website this week – read on to see what he has to say about his site and head on over to www.jasonpsmithphotography.com to check out more photos.

Q: How would you describe the aesthetic of your website in three words?

JS: Clean, Simple, Modern.

Q: How do you choose the photos that you display on your homepage?

JS: That’s always a tough question. I usually look for images I think have impact visually and maybe a little bit of intrigue to them. People see photos everywhere today, so if you can put up an image that causes a viewer to pause and reflect on what’s going on in the image, whether it’s lighting or composition or both, you have a better chance of getting them to dig deeper into your site and your work. I also seek out advice from trusted friends to help keep an objective view on things.

Q: How often do you update your website?

JS: I try to update my site with current work as often as I can. It’s important to keep putting up fresh and recent work to keep your site relevant and give people a reason to come back to it to see what you’ve been doing.

Q: What is your favorite feature that liveBooks offers?

JS: I like how easy it is to change and add new content to my site, and I like the various templates and options available when putting the site together.

Q: What’s one piece of advice you’d offer to someone designing their website?

JS: Do your homework! Look at a lot of other sites, and be sure to take note of what you like and what you don’t like on different sites you visit. And remember your site is never actually finished – it’s always a work in progress and will evolve and change just as your work does.

Have a website you’d like us to feature? Email us at social@livebooks.com!

Norway-based freelance photographer Trond Teigen specializes in news, sports, and adventure – with a passion for the outdoors and the extreme. His website clearly showcases this passion and the imagery is absolutely stunning.

We think you’ll love our featured website this week – and don’t forget to head on over to www.trondteigen.com to see even more amazing photos!

Q: How would you describe the aesthetic of your website in three words?

TT: Simplistic, Stylish, Clean.

Q: How do you choose the photos that you display on your homepage?

TT: The hardest thing about having a portfolio is choosing what to put in it! But I tend to go for photos that have a lot of contrast and a lot of things happening in them. But still, it’s always hard to pick which ones go up and which ones don’t.

Q: How often do you update your website?

TT: Not often enough! But every other month or so.

Q: What is your favorite feature that liveBooks offers?

TT: I love the fact that nothing is local, it’s all cloud-based. And I can access and edit my liveBooks site from anywhere in the world. The editSuite is nice and simple and easy to understand and the pre-designs are great!

Q: What’s one piece of advice you’d offer to someone designing their website?

TT: If I were to give any advice to future liveBooks users, it would be to consider the fact that most people who will be viewing your site, that are potential clients, will be viewing it on nice, big monitors, so I would opt for a Scaler site. I would aim for the simplistic and easy-on-the-eye designs (less is more). You have to capture people’s attention, and the more stuff you have on your page, and the more cluttered it is, the less likely people are to spend a lot of time on it.

Have a website you’d like us to feature? Email us at social@livebooks.com!