Finally got a site up with my photos

[onefastvr6]

Just looking for some constructive critisim. I am trying to figure out what to do with my shots as stock photography seems saturated and my shots are not very commercial.

http://www.vr6.org/msp/

[jimtfoto]

Like the clean look of your site ... was it your design??

cheers,
jim

[onefastvr6]

Thanks! Yup, and I have gone through many not so clean ones to get to it. It is actually completely editable through XML so I may be making it available for public use ;-)

[jimtfoto]

Mike:
My wife has been bugging me for some time to get a web site for our pix ... when I find the time, I tussle with MS Frontpage 2003, but since I an old fart and am used to designing with Quark XPress (that's my day job), the concept is still eluding me. I've been searching the Web for free templates that suit the look I'm after, but so far, no luck. Your design actually looks a lot like what I had designed for a home page in Quark (the one I still can't quite translate into Frontpage).

cheers,
jim

[onefastvr6]

Well, if I get the time to convert it to general use I will make you the first to know! It would require proficient knowledge of notepad ;-)

I was a programmer for a long time so that helps.

[jimtfoto]

Thanks Mike ... I appreciate it ...

cheers,
jim

[stopbath]

Nice looking site with some nice photos.

Are you planning a non-flash version?
So far this is just a collection of photos. What about "About us/me" data?
What about using the title or alt attributes? None showed up as links became "active" (if they ever do)
Not a fan of the blurring motion. Click on a photo already displayed and it fuzzes out and becomes sharp again.
The blurring of the icons is distracting too. I would rather the buttons just highlight. Also noticed that icons can not be clicked until the little fancy stuff is finished...

Did you test this on a non-high speed connection? Often one photo is downloaded without a thumbnail being clicked upon. For slow connections, this might not be desired (especially if the icons wait for the photo to download.)

Your programming looks good. Nice and clean, no extra un-needed stuff. Check into the meta tags when you look at getting the site listed with some search engines. You might want to look into CSS too, though not all browsers handle it equally (just like regular HTML)

[onefastvr6]

Thank you for your comments!

I don't think that i will be making a non-flash version as I am a hobbyist and not a pro.

About Me Section <slaps forhead>! It never occured to me which seems really stupid in retrospect.

I will be adding titles and shot information (if available) to every shot in the site. In fact there are descriptions in my XML files but they are not displayed because I have not decided how to do it yet.

I will have to see what it is like on a slow connection but it should be about 10 seconds per image (which is high) as it stands right now. I might ask for high or low at the start and adjust that auto load for low. That is a good idea!

I am particularly partial to the blur even though I know that it probably is not the best system.

But the main thing that I am strugling is what if any money generating purpose could my style of shots be used for? I want to be able to have the hobby support itself. And I am out of ideas. Stock shops don't want landscapes or flight... I am at a loss...

[Molydood]

fantastic site, I really like the blurring in and out, it's artistic, and provokes anticipation. Your pictures are easily good enough to keep people waiting, well done for getting it up eventually, I know how hard it is to find time with this sort of stuff! :D

[onefastvr6]

Thank you! I have never really put them out on display before so it is nice to know that others like them as well!

[zeiss]

great photos and excellent site design. add me to the signup sheet :).

[blinking8s]

not half bad, im a fan...

[onefastvr6]

Thanks and I will! Do you guys mind if the final release has a link back to my photos so that I can have even more people look at them? Or maybe we could make it something that everybody who uses it gets listed in an other photographers section? You are not pros right? Just doing it for a hobby?

[BOBinsane]

I really like your photographs. I especially like how they're in anamorphic (?) dimensions. I was thinking something the same for my personal website with photography on it but 16x9. Since then I've been taking a lot of my more favorable images with widescreen cropping in mind. 8)

[onefastvr6]

Yeah, forcing myself to crop the photos in that way made the shots more interesting but let me tell you it was a major pain in the butt on some of the full frame shots and notice the lack of vertical shots... I am wokring on a way to display them too. Any ideas out there?

[Jonny]

Beautiful site, beautiful pics.

[rick barclay]

Very nice. I really like working in Flash. And there's a lot of free
templates available on Flashkit, too.

[onefastvr6]

Thanks again! Does anybody have any idea on how to market these types of photographs. As far as I can tell there is no market for them unless you have a big name. I'm not looking to become a pro or anywhere close to pro but I wonder if my photos could pay for new camera goodies ;-)

[CDickinson]

Nice site....some really decent photos also---your travel shots, for me, are the most interesting.
Word of mouth works well for selling. Local mags or newspapers, local community groups, etc....

C