livebooks blog

Lisa and Mark Staff are a husband and wife team that have dedicated their career to photographing various mediums such as weddings, fashion, and commercial photography. To see more of their work, visit their liveBooks8 website: www.markstaffphotography.com.

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

L&MS: We are a husband and wife team…I know…not very original…that thrive on documenting people and their lifestyles whether for them personally or through advertising campaigns. We have been doing this for twenty years full-time, even though most of our friends and family still wonder when we are going to get a real job. This is as real as it gets. Doing what you love. Having a zest for life and sharing that and working with like-minded people.

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

L&MS: Clean, Elegant, Easy.

Q: How often do you typically update your website?

L&MS: Since it is easy to do – at any time but usually every couple of months.

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

L&MS: If a photograph speaks to me and evokes and emotional response in me besides just being “pretty” it will make it to our site.

Q: What is your favorite new feature of liveBooks8?

L&MS: Fave feature…that it looks great on all platforms and there is an intuitive ease to working with it. You don’t need to be a technical genius or hire a team to do your site and if you do have a question, the customer service is tip top with answers that you can easily find with a click or have a representative respond in a timely manner, which is such a bonus.

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

L&MS: The design of your site is your “first impression” and you can’t disregard or minimize the importance of this. In our business as photographers it has to represent our brand and our vision in all ways. This is our “portfolio” online and the way we can get 99% of our business so it needs to be tip top. You need to choose the company that can help you achieve this. liveBooks make all of this happen easily for us. Anything that we had envisioned, they had a way to deliver and improve on it.

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

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.

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.

Casey Curry is a celebrity, portrait, and fashion/beauty photographer based in Los Angeles, California. Casey has worked with A-list celebrities such as Michael Caine, Kate Winslet, Billy Bob Thornton, and many others. To see more of work, visit his liveBooks8 website: www.caseycurry.com.

I’ve been studying light and taking pictures since I was the was a child although my start in the industry began with an assisting job for David LaChapelle. His creative approach fused with the talented photo crew he surrounds himself with set the bar for the level of production I wanted for my sets. From then, it’s been a slow burn of testing, developing my craft, and shooting commissioned work. As my aesthetic matures, so does my need to push the limits of what I can deliver for my clients – this can only be found through constant testing. I’ll often watch a film or look at a classic painting and think, “Oh that look would be great for this band/upcoming project.” It’s a continual path of discovery. I never stop learning.

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

CC: Clean, minimalistic, modern.

Q: How often do you typically update your website?

CC: Since I started constructing the layout and curating work, it’s been a daily effort. From here on out, I plan on updating my site on a bi-monthly basis.

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

CC: The homepage is intended to give viewers a taste of each section of the website. Additionally, each image is meant to showcase the diverse approaches I’m capable of.

Q: What is your favorite new feature of liveBooks8?

CC: It’s been years since I use the old liveBooks, so I can’t attest to how much it differs. I can, however, say that it is the best self-managed website I’ve user, and I’ve used quite a few of them. The functionality is superior. It is not only user-friendly, but also technically superior with the built-in SEO and design customization capabilities.

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

CC: Although it’s important to stay true to yourself, get feedback from peers in your field – or better yet, from those you draw influence and aspiration from. I always try to surround myself with people who I feel are better than me, and I took the same approach when building my site. Also, you need to strictly limit the content you display (that’s where the help of others can really come in handy). It should only be the best of what you have to showcase and it needs to take your viewers on a cohesive journey. A good portfolio is one that doesn’t feel disjointed and doesn’t ever get boring.

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