Presenting my work - Portfolio websites

I have been thinking about ways in which i will display my work, one way in particular that interests me is portfolio websites. The internet is the most common way for photographers to display their work and it is easily accessible to most people. I have been looking at a range of photographers websites in order to see what makes a good portfolio website.

David LaChapelle

These screen shots are taken from David LaChapelles website, like his work the opening page of his website is quite extravagant, however it does get a bit simpler as you navigate through the website. His menu is along the top and when you click on a section the images from that section appear. when the images from a particular campaign or project come up there is a group of the thumb nails to the right, when you click on one of those images they appear larger. I think that this is an effective website but the menu could perhaps be simpler.

Tim Walker

These screen shots are from Tim Walkers website, on opening the website you click on his name and you enter the site. The layout is very simple and easy to navigate, the menu is displayed clearly on the left and the white background allows the images to be seen clearly, and the small tiles below the images allow you to select other images. I think that this is a really effective website.

Mario Testino

These screen shots are taken from Mario Testino's website, his site open with a video of one of his most recent projects. There is a menu at the top of the page and you can navigate easily using this. His website includes projects, books, films and advertisements, when you click on a section all of the images/films from that section are clearly displayed and you can click on them to see them larger and see more images/films from that section. This website is effective and relatively easy to navigate, again the images are clearly displayed on a white background.

Rankin

These are screen shot of Rankin's website, he has a huge range of work on his website and its quite interesting to look at. The opening page has a kind of collage of images each representing a category when you hold the cursor over the picture it tells you which category it is, if you click on to that picture it then takes you to that category directly.

One in that category the first picture is displayed, it looks like it s piled on top of other images and of you click on one of those it takes you to that image, there is also a scroll bar along the bottom, or you can just click the right arrow to go to the next photograph.

There is also a standard menu that you can use to navigate the website.

After looking at a variety of portfolio websites i have got more of an idea of what makes an effective website.

• Simple background is essential so that images can be seen clearly.

• Simple/easy to use menu located either at the top or to one side.

• The website shouldn't be cluttered, viewers might get bored or confused by the site.

• The website should be updated on a regular basis to keep people interested in the website and your work, they should want to see what new work you are going to come up with next.

• Your name should be clearly stated on the site along with your correct contact details.

Overall out of the websites i looked at i thought that Tim Walker's was the most effective, because it was simple but displayed his work clearly.

I will be looking at creating a portfolio website over christmas ready to start displaying some of my work.