Zenfolio or WordPress.. my first question

Hi guys, so after reading all of the plethera of posts about Zenfolio, Smugmug and WordPress I have a couple questions becuase im stuck..

I’ve tried the trials for both SM and Zen and liked them both. If I were to go with either I would say Zen just due to price. Unfortunately I just found out you need the middle package with Zen at least, to host your own domain.

I have been trying for two days now to get the “programming” down with WP. It looks nice and I’ve found a bunch of themes, sure they cost, but look nice in the end. One for example is called “Tripod” I like themes that aren’t so static and do have a bit of eye candy. So after tinkering with WP for a day I can see that I need more days to really put something together.. So should I still be looking at WP after I figure it out or go back to Zen since it almost too easy, but I’ll have to go to the $60 plan just for my domain. Thoughts?

It all depends on what you plan on doing with your site. If you're doing portraits/weddings, you may need a site like Zen/Smugmug.

I only do nature photography, so I really don't need a site like Zen/SM. My main website is a Wordpress site. That said, I was given a SM site, so I use it too, but don't really promote it.

Mike, good point and thanks for reminding me about that. Ive seen other posts of yours about the same thing So, ill just be doing portrait (mostly fmaily and children) eventually weddings and maternity, newborn. I just like the more polished look of some of the Word Press thems ive seen..

The bad thing about the Zen/SM sites is they basically look the same, IMO.

Plus I have to pay extra just to use my own domain, which is really unfortunate. Taking a look at the "tripod Wordpress theme" Mike, I like that style better. Would it be wiser just to stick to word press and just figure it out? Especially since I don't need to be any ecommerce etc right now might be easier.

I prefer the "Fixed" version over the "Colored" version. The only issue I would have is if this theme is "developer" dependent. If you decided to switch to a different theme/developer, do you have to start over? I helped another photographer with customizing his theme, and any changes we did was only for this theme/developer. If he switched themes, he had to start over again. I using Zen now.