livebooks blog

Andrea Brizzi was born in 1950 in Firenze, Italy, where he studied Architecture. In 1977, Andrea moved to New York where he since been active as a photographer, specializing in Architectural and Interiors subjects. For the past decade Andrea has been based in both New York and Honolulu, while frequently traveling in the US, as well as Asia, the Near East and Europe. Long passed the million miles marker with one airline alone!

Q&A with Andrea Brizzi

Q1: How would you describe the aesthetic of your website?

AB: Minimalist.

Q2: How often do you typically update your website?

AB: 3-4 times a year – or whenever I send out a newsletter.

Q3: How do you choose the photos that you display on your homepage?

AB: I like to show the variety of projects I shoot, even within a niche photography specialty. I try to present projects my clients can relate to.

Q4: What is your favorite feature of liveBooks?

AB: Ease of use.

Q5: What’s one piece of advice you’d offer to someone designing their website?

AB:. I believe a website aimed at business serves different needs from one directed at art directors or consumers. In the former case, mine, I am comfortable with a template which is not unique to my site and I see no need for bells and whistles. Art directors going through many competing sites might find the predictable format repetitive. Consumers (say, for portrait photography) expect more pizzaz.

See more of Andrea’s work here: www.andreabrizzi.com

Darryl Anderson is a 26-year-old fashion and product stylist from New Orleans, LA. He started out at the age of 16 and has been fortunate enough to consistently work in his field. Darryl originally started off styling local fashion shows, but then moved away and started marketing himself as a stylist. Like any journey, he is constantly looking to grow and level up!

Q1: How would you describe the aesthetic of your website in three words?

DA: My website is 3 words. Precise, Chic,Timeless.

Q2: How often do you typically update your website?

DA: I update my website often, usually as new work is released. You never know who is looking so I like to keep it fresh and inspiring!

Q3: How do you choose the photos that you display on your homepage?

DA: For my homepage I tried to choose a few images that represent the overall feel of my work taking some of my best images from each genre of my styling is usually the route I take. Showcasing all races is very important to me. I am stylist for the people!

Q4: What is your favorite feature of liveBooks?

DA: My favorite features would be just the overall customization the new font options and layouts are super nice definitely has a more professional feel!

Q5: What’s one piece of advice you’d offer to someone designing their website?

DA: Keep it clean. I’ve had a website for about 7 years now and I’ve tried a ton of different varieties from music to loud colors. I would say based it around your business look at other sites that provide the same service you do just to get ideas. Over the years I have found simple is the best, keep it about the work with clear communication for your viewers on how to get in contact with you!

See more of Darryl Anderson’s work here: www.styledbydarryl.com

Jessica Punter is a freelance fashion stylist, grooming journalist, brand consultant and copy writer with over 15 years experience, specializing in the menswear industry. Her first break was in 2001, an internship at a magazine called FHM Collections, which was a spin-off fashion title to FHM, the biggest selling men’s magazine in the UK at the time. From there she worked her way up from Fashion Assistant to Fashion Director. She joined British GQ in 2011 and was there until she went freelance last Autumn.

In addition to styling many celebrities she has also interviewed some of the world’s most famous sporting personalities, actors, musicians and designers including David Beckham, Justin Timberlake and Tom Ford.

James Franco by Nick Wilson

Q&A with Jessica Punter

Q1. How would you describe the aesthetic of your website in three words?

JP: Clean, clear, simple.

Q2: How often do you typically update your website?

JP: Usually once a season when I have fresh editorials to upload.

Josh White House by Brock Elbank

Q3:. How do you choose the photos that you display on your homepage?

JP: I go with my personal favorites plus a selection to show the breadth of my work: that I can do celebrity, sportswear, formal tailoring and that I cast diverse models and work with great set designers.

Ansel Elgort and Dane DeHaan by Christian Oita

Q4: What is your favorite feature of liveBooks?

JP: With my previous website I was limited to just a single image for my home page. Now have a landing/home page that uses multiple images and gives potential clients an instant overview.

Q5: What’s one piece of advice you’d offer to someone designing their website?

JP: It’s so much easier to design it than it looks.

Michael Caine by Greg Williams

Cassandra Plavoukos was born and raised in southern New Jersey. Her interest in photography started in grade school and continued throughout high school, shooting film back then. When she graduated, she moved to New York City to pursue a career in the business side of fashion, as she didn’t think that a career in photography was possible at that time. Cassandra lived and worked in New York City for 16 years.

Cassandra Plavoukos continued taking pictures, and was shooting digitally by this time. She relocated to Los Angeles in 2003 and continued working in the fashion industry, taking pictures on the weekends to fulfill my creative passion.

Then, her first child was born in 2005. Instead of a traditional “baby book”, she self-published a book of poems entitled, When You Grow Up, which expressed her hopes and dreams for his childhood and beyond. She illustrated the book with images that she had taken of his first-year milestones. The images were taken with a point and shoot camera. The book was successful among family and friends and was sold online as well. The book was also accepted into a book fair. To celebrate, her husband bought me my first DSLR, a Nikon D90, and encouraged her to continue shooting. With a new camera, she knew she had to up her game.

Cassandra Plavoukos began to really look at her images with a critical eye. She knew she could do better. Her mentality shifted. She began to focus on “making” pictures instead of “taking” them. She started looking for photography classes to learn more about photography and landed at UCLA extension where an instructor by the name of Josh Sanseri encouraged and inspired her even further.

After completing the Environmental Portraiture class there, she wanted more intense study, and enrolled in the certificate of photography program at Santa Monica College. After completing that program, she started taking classes at Julia Dean, which is now the Los Angeles Center Of Photography. Her daughter was born in 2009 and knew by then that photography was something she wanted to pursue full time. She decided to leave the fashion industry. Then, she incorporated Cassandra Plavoukos Photography, got a liveBooks website, business license, tax registration, and never looked back!

Cassandra Plavoukos now focuses on dance, athletic, fine art fitness and creative portraiture and couldn’t be happier doing what she loves.

Q&A with Cassandra Plavoukos

Q1: How would you describe the aesthetic of your website in three words?

CP: Clean. Modern. Minimalistic.

Q2.How often do you typically update your website?

CP: Once or twice per month.

Q3. How do you choose the photos that you display on your homepage?

CP: I try to showcase the most recently commissioned or self-assigned work to highlight on my homepage. Keeping in mind the overall aesthetics of the site, I consider not only how the images will sit together, but how they will work together to give the best “overview” of the contents within.

Q4. What is your favorite new feature of liveBooks?

CP: Hard to choose! I love the drag and drop design as well as the varied portfolio views, but because I update my site so often, I think I would have to say the site wide styling and page-level styling features.

Q5.What’s one piece of advice you’d offer to someone designing their website?

CP: Let liveBooks do it for you! But know who you are as an artist and what defines your work. This will help you to work with them to create the best website possible.