Shameless Website Plug - please c&c

[dubaiphil]

Well I've just updated my website to include some client access. Basically what originated as a completely amateur hobby has now progressed to the point where I'm doing some occasional freelance work for local Real Estate companies, taking stills for brochures and the internet as well as 360 degree virtual tours. It's a bit of a niche, but it starting to pay for new equipment which is an excellent bonus.

So I originally started off with a Zenfolio account, which I used for sharing travel and Dubai photographs with friends and family across the world, and now I've updated the format to still offer that level of accessibility plus to enable clients to log in and see/select stills.

Zenfolio doesn't support video so I am unable to support the upload of 360 degree tours - I am therefore creating a second website at the moment which will showcase a few of my better stills shots as well as sample 360 panos to tour around - this will eventually be more of the professional interface.

It's therefore a difficult mix and balance, trying to make a site look 'professional' and still having recent personal photographs accessible to friends and family, which I've been mulling over for some time.

I'd be very greatful if you could have a look and give some feedback - don't be gentle!

Thanks guys

www.philpage.zenfolio.com

[kimchi]

People on this forum are familiar with your excellent architecture shots, so I'll focus on your website.

-I'd keep personal shots separate from your professional shots. Flickr? Your personal shots don't look especially personal though (ie - no family shots) and many are relevant to your professional ones.... so they work well together

-I like the clean, uncluttered navigation.

-Pronouns in 'about' sections are always a tricky one. Should you use 'I' or 'we'?? You've gone for 3rd person here which gets a little clumsy:

On a personal level, living in the Middle East has allowed Phil to travel widely

It's obviously written by "Phil" so either change it to "him" or just go with the honest "I". If you have a partner, go with "we", but to have "Phil" repeated half a dozen times sounds awkward.

-Your seem to have only 1 client on the clients' page. Although this may be true, I'd pad out your professional experience a bit more by creating a few untraceable fake client portfolios.

[dubaiphil]

Thanks for the feedback, Kimchi.

And here's the flash site - I haven't built the 360 panorama portfolio yet, but it's coming...

www.philpagephotography.com

[lowliferider]

Great news Phil... getting jobs that pay off your equipment.
I prefer the flash site BTW.

Take care