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Featured Website
Keith Ketchum is travel, lifestyle and action sports photographer. He obtained his degree in Studio Art from University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) where he drew, painted, designed, and focused in photography. He has worked for clients such as Travel + Leisure, ESPN, New York Post, Rolling Stone Italy, Surfline, Free People, Engadget, Freesurf, KaiKini, Jawbreaking, Slide, Kauai Lifestyle Magazine, Indie Swim, and ESM. To see more of his work, visit his liveBooks8 website: www.keithketchum.com.
I got my start in photography through surfing. I traveled most winters to get away from frigid North Carolina, where I’m from, and would bring a cheap film camera, a couple of surf boards and a journal. Eventually disappointed with the quality of work I was producing at such beautiful location led to an investment in better equipment. This in return led to a decent portfolio and my first official staff photography job with a surf, art, music, and fashion magazine. That was a fun job. It was an eclectic group of creatives from different outlets coming together to form a quality publication. What started as a regional magazine eventually went world wide for a couple of issues. This all happened while I was studying studio art (drawing, painting, photography, design, etc) at UNCW. The magazine lasted until shortly after I graduated college before dying, like most print does, but by then I was established shooting fashion, weddings, assignments from other publications, fine art, and had a little studio space. My wife and I moved Kauai for a change, to settle down and start a family. It was always one of those places that felt more like home than home. I always called it my neverneverland. It’s also hard to take a bad photo here. We’ve been here for a few years now and I’m extremely happy with my work and the people I get to work with on the island and from around the world.
Q: How would you describe the aesthetic of your website in three words?
KK: Clean, effective, and quality.
Q: How often do you typically update your website?
KK: I try to keep things fresh on my blog and depending on how busy I am, I skim back over the recent assignments posted there and pick the best few images from my website. Sometimes I update every month and sometimes a few months go by before I’m able to sit down, catch my breath, have a glass of wine and go over recent work with Bimini, my wife, asking which images she likes best.
Q: How do you choose the photos you display on your homepage?
KK: Homepage images are like the teaser trailers of your website. They are very important and extremely difficult to decide on. You want to get the audience interested with composition and color (a.k.a.: eye candy) without giving too much away. You want to show what you do but only slightly. They have to click a few buttons to get the full effect. I also try to pick generic images that people can put themselves in. So, slightly pulled back vs. up close and personal.
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Q: What is your favorite new feature of liveBooks8?
KK: It’s hard to narrow down one favorite new feature about liveBooks8. I love how simple and designs are. They are clean and they let the images do the talking. The Scaler quality is amazing. I also love how easy it is to update, enter metadata, upload, view the mobile version, jeez…like everything.
Q: What’s one piece of advice you’d offer to someone designing their website?
KK: My advice for most anything art related, website included, was given to me when I was young from photographer Aaron Chang. “Less if more”. Many art instructors in college would eventually give the same advice. I think over time and I came to realize the true meaning of it, but those would be the wise words passed down from creatives I look up to. “Less is more”.
Have a website you’d like us to feature? Email us at social@livebooks.com.
Katie Adkins a is a documentary and fine art photographer in Rapid City, South Dakota. She attended Savannah College of Art and Design and has worked extensively as a freelance artist in addition to working with well-known photographers such as Martin Parr and National Geographic Alex Webb. To see more of her work, visit her liveBooks8 website: www.katieadkinsphotography.com.
I started out in this industry through serendipitous events. In 2008 when the housing maker crashed, the large architectural company I was working for let go of the majority of its staff. I was one of those let go. While devastating at the time, in the end it was an opportunity to reevaluate what I really wanted to be doing. I took the opportunity to go back to school and get my Masters in Photography and haven’t looked back since then. I took every opportunity I could to see how other photographers worked by assisting and taking them out for coffee to pick their brains. By immersing myself in the art world, I was able to meet people who have helped me succeed and get to where I am today. Today I am a freelance photographer, shooting for newspapers, magazines, and private clients. I am also lucky enough to have an amazing day job where I am Assistant Curator at the contemporary art gallery. Most importantly, I work as a fine artist. I have had several solo exhibits and been a part of numerous group shows. Being immersed in the creative world has been the most fulfilling and best decision I have ever made.
Q: How would you describe the aesthetic of your website in three words?
KA: Contemporary, relaxed, and unique.
Q: How often do you typically update your website?
KA: I update my website about once a month or more often if I have been shooting a lot. The liveBooks software is so easy to use that it only takes a second to update, rearrange, or remove content. There is no point in having a website with stagnant information. Having an easy-to-use design platform keeps your work relevant and keep visitors coming back.
Q: How do you choose the photos that you display on your homepage?
KA: Your homepage is a crucial part of your website – it is a teaser for what visitors can expect if they delve further into your site. It is important for this to be not only an accurate representation of the rest of your site but you also want it to be exciting, eye-catching, and unique. The thing to keep in mind is you don’t want to “give it all away” on your homepage, you want visitors to want to see more. It is also really important to keep it all clean. Luckily, this is easy to do with the liveBooks8 design options. In my case, I am showing several images from each of the portfolios on my page. This gives visitors an overview of my work and hopefully, makes them want to click on my portfolio pages and view more.
Q: What is your favorite new feature of liveBooks8?
KA: My favorite new feature on the liveBooks website is the design platform. You can make updates on the actual page and see how they look without having to view your page in a separate window. This not only saves times clicking back and forth but it allows you to make changes and adjustments and instantly to see how they look. Once you have made your changes, you simply publish and those changes go live.
Q: What’s one piece of advice you’d offer to someone designing their website?
KA: My best advice for someone who is just starting our designing their website is to choose a website that best represents you and what you do. It is really easy to look at another artist/photographer’s website and think that you should do the same thing because their website looks really cool. However, it is important to think about your own work, you own message and your own goal of having a website. Am I using my website for clients? Am I using my website to sell my work? Or, as in my case, am I using my website as an online gallery space. What works for the commercial photographer will not be the same thing that works for a wedding/portrait photographer. The website design I choose best reflects my documentary approach to photography. The layout of each of my pages helps to tell a story, a quality I also use in my art.
Have a website you’d like us to feature? Email us at social@livebooks.com.
Gaelle Morand is a photographer based out of California. Her work ranges from travel and entertainment portraiture to editorial and fashion. She’s worked with clients such as Universal, Island Def Jam, and Epitaph Records, as well as celebrities such as Olivia Wilde and Dita Von Teese. To see more of Gaelle’s work, visit her liveBooks8 website: www.gaellemorand.com.
My work in photography gives me access to people’s lives in ways that pull beauty out of the ordinary – I’ve done series of images framing close in on faces from cultures so different that the minute details tell an unexpected story. The subject might be a Tibetan nomad, or a musician headlining a rock band – to me these subjects are equally fascinating. I’m as interested in documenting culture as I am in finding what makes one person’s journey unique within that culture. I also have a long history in the motion picture industry, in CGI – mostly in lighting and look development, which I suppose is the common thread with my work in photography. In movies as in photography, I try to bring a cinematic perspective to my work. I enjoy crafting intricate studio lighting setups in service to an impeccable style. (Though I’m quite a fan of natural light, too!) I’ve been fortunate with opportunities to travel, and to meet a wonderful cross section of people and cultures. I’m looking forward to continuing that journey, camera in hand.
Q: How would you describe the aesthetic of your website in three words?
GM: Personal, Crafted, and Vivid.
Q: How often do you typically update your website?
GM: It’s very unpredictable! It could be four times a month or four times a year, depending on where I’ve been and how much shooting I’ve been able to do.
Q: How do you choose the photos that you display on your homepage?
GM: I try to select a set of vibrant and diverse images that somehow work well together. They can be very different as far as the subjects are concerned, but are tied in by a similar or complimentary color palette.
Q: What is your favorite new feature of liveBooks8?
GM: Without a doubt, it’s being able to try it all by visualizing various layouts. The interface is easy to use and you can get great results quickly. Customizing options seem endless and designing becomes very exciting.
Q: What’s one piece of advice you’d offer to someone designing their website?
GM: It’s obvious, but less is more! It’s about showcasing the best work and keeping the layout clean and simple.
Have a website you’d like us to feature? Email us at social@livebooks.com.
Michael Holtby is a Travel and Wildlife Photographer based in Denver, Colorado. His work has been exhibited in the Camera Obscura Gallery in Denver and has published a variety of print portfolios including a coffee table book called One Planet, One People. To see more of his work, visit his liveBooks8 website: www.denverphotography.com
I have been taking photographs seriously since 1968 when I traded a kayak for a Pentax Spotmatic. My mentor was a student of Minor White and inspired me to do more than snapshots. In the early 1980s, I attended the Colorado Institute of Art in Commercial Photography and was initially a Studio Product and Portrait Photographer. At this point, I am retired and can now take assignments only selectively, related to my primary interests: travel, ethnic cultures, and wildlife. I sell my work with gallery showings, but primarily I would describe what I do as “personal work”.
How would you describe the aesthetic of your website in three words?
Colorful, impactful, and joyful.
How often do you typically update your website?
I update my site usually about once every three months, usually following a lot of travel shooting. However, since updating to liveBooks8, I’ve been tweeking it every couple of weeks.
How do you choose the photos that you display on your homepage?
I try to display photos on my homepage that grab your attention, but also represent the various galleries.
What is your favorite new feature of liveBooks8?
My favorite feature of liveBooks8 is the ease with which I can modify my website, add to it, and display galleries. I also love the video gallery that allow viewers to quickly peruse or choose a closer look.
What’s one piece of advice you’d offer to someone designing their website?
The average time people are on a website is likely to be short, so tailor your site to hook viewers with a quick look.
Have a website you’d like us to feature? Email us at social@livebooks.com.
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