Tell me like it is

I'm sorry for being a jerk right now. i shouldn't be venting on here.

you will not make it if you do not to learn to treat people right. It took me a while too, and man did I step on some toes, but eventually I got a tip from someone who had made it - forget what you heard, this business moves on people. People. Be nice to people. Treat them right. Make friends. Learn to socialize, learn to lead. Leaders. Don't crush people, they lead them. You need to learn to treat people right. Or forget it.

I can't speak to the actual setting up/running of a business...because *I* haven't figured that part out either; but there are few things that jump out at me from browsing through your site:

1. Title of the page, as mentioned earlier; default, non-related text on your site comes off as sloppy and amateur-ish. Also true on your Proofing and Calendar pages; both of these have default, boiler plate text on there that makes it look like you don't know what content is on your own site.

2. If you're going to use that as your professional, public facing site, get rid of your Flickr link on there. You want potential customers to only see your very best work; not your "good, but..." or "just trying this out" type shots.

3. A LOT of your people shots involve the person looking away, walking away, from the back, arms/objects blocking them up, etc. While this can be a strong mechanic in a shot, most of these just look like you got there late and missed the real shot rather than intentional.

4. Sports shots are too wide, not in tight enough on the players doing the action. Number 6 being a prime example...the shooter's got some great height and extension going on there, but you're so far away and the shot is so wide that there's all sorts of background distraction and dead space around him. These distract from the impact and excitement of the shot.

5. Contact/Info sections - This one may just be me, but having an entire page on your site, as well as a menu item (in an already crowded nav bar) for "pricing", that does nothing more than present a statement of "please use the contact form..." seems like a waste of space. It's also somewhat irritating; if nothing else, provide a mirror copy of the form on that page just so customers aren't going on a "goose chase" around your site to get the info they're looking for. I'd really suggest finding a good way to condense both Contact and Info into one nav menu item.


That is somewhat of a wall there, but I hope it doesn't come off as saying don't do it. You have some good work and what looks like good skills. Some more work on your shooting/composition, as well as some better gear (longer lenses for getting in tighter, etc) and you could probably produce more saleable works. Then the tricky part is, as everyone else has said, actually running the business and being a businessman. The unfortunate side effect of that, is of course, that you can only be the photographer a smaller percentage of the time.

I'd say good luck and hope to hear that things take off for you!