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Editorial Photography
My earliest long-term photography project was a 3 year documentary photoessay on Cambodian refugees and street gangs in the U.S., something I worked on while doing my masters in Photography at Columbia College in Chicago. As an undergraduate student, I’d studied Southeast Asian studies and Thai language to it was only natural to start my professional career based in Bangkok, Thailand covering Southeast Asia. Clients included The New York Times, Time Magazine, Newsweek, and several European and Asian-based publications. I worked on assignment as well as my own documentary projects throughout the region. I continued this kind of work later based in Tokyo and then Paris, France.
Nowadays I do less editorial work and more corporate and commercial work and have been living and working out of Seattle for the better part of a decade although I continue to travel and work in Asia. To see more of Stuart’s work, visit his liveBooks8 website: www.isett.com.
Q: How would you describe the aesthetic of your website in three words?
SI: Big and bold. As a lot of my older work was shot on slide film or b/w negative, I worked hard making sure the colors and quality of those images matches more recent digital work. Too many photojournalists don’t do that with older slide work and I think it’s important that images on my website, whether editorial or commercial, look their best.
Q: How often do you typically update your website?
SI: Every few weeks I’ll add photos, then pull older ones. My portfolio is always a work in progress, always evolving. Like most photographers, I’m on my own worst editor. I’ll tweak the design a few times a year.
Q: How do you choose the photos that you display on your homepage?
SI: My roots are as a photojournalist so even though most of my work these days is corporate and commercial, I try to balance what I do today with my roots as a documentarian and show that on the homepage.
Q: What is your favorite new feature of liveBooks8?
SI: Well I sues the old system for close to a decade so plenty to like about liveBooks8, but the ability to edit, modify, and add images is key for me.
Q: What’s one piece of advice you’d offer to someone designing their website?
SI: Make sure your images are technically consistent across the website. This is more true for photojournalists who need to learn the design skills for some of their commercial brethren and not simply throw images up. Design is important, even if you are a documentary photographer.
Have a website you’d like us to feature? Email us at social@livebooks.com.
Nicole Sanchez is a visual artist, photographer, and videographer. Her publications, documentaries, and solo exhibits have received countless awards. To see more of her work, visit her liveBooks8 website: www.nicolesanchez.com.
I am a Dominican-German photographer. I started studying Photography in Germany at a very young age. After I finished my education, I moved to the Dominican Republish where I worked on commercial photography. Eventually, I started making personal projects which resulted in 8 books, 7 solo exhibitions, documentaries, and countless pieces; some of which have been recognized by experts in the field, the media and museums like the Museum of Modern Art in Santo Domingo. My work is part of a personal evolution. It changes as I change. Every day I feel more identified with social issues, human reality, drama, and beauty.
Q: How would you describe the aesthetic of your website in three words?
NS: Personal, clean, modern.
Q: How often do you typically update your website?
NS: It varies a lot. I can upload a series of images at once and/or take down a whole portfolio. Whenever I feel I have an image I want to share, I do it.
Q: How do you choose the photos that you display on your homepage?
NS: I try to vary my homepage often; sometimes it is the newest image I have created, sometimes it is just a certain feeling or mood that I have and want to share.
Q: What is your favorite new feature of liveBooks8?
NS: My favorite new feature of liveBooks8 is being able to display all the images of each portfolio in one page.
Q: What’s one piece of advice you’d offer to someone designing their website?
NS: Choose the images that best represent your work; it is better to show the right pieces rather than just publishing a lot of them.
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.
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