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petemc

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Name
Pete
Edit My Images
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I've finally finished redesigning my two sites. I have my daily photoblog. I need to load up some content for that but I've been busy finishing my other site. Don't forget to subscribe to the RSS feed for my blog :) Its got the usual fancy things like a search engine, CSS switcher and things. There is one bug to work out. I can either manually edit all 450 entries or find a quick way to. I still haven't found the quick way yet. Its not 100% W3C valid yet or even tested for accessability. I'm sure it will fail but I've not had time to finalise those issues yet.

My second site is my professional portfolio. I knocked up a quick site a few months back but I recently decided to redo it with bigger images. I scrapped the 800x600 limitation of the previous site as I wanted nice big images. I doubt any prospective client would be using 800x600 anyway. Most of the sites I looked at for research ignore it too. You'll notice it is using Flash. Now I know what you're going to say. "Ew Flash!" Before you do I would like to point out that I get around most of the major issues with it. You can directly link to any image on my site. The slideshow will play smoothly or you can quickly browse the thumbnails at the bottom and skip to any image. The content also degrades nicely and warns people if they don't have Flash installed. File sizes are low. It preloads each image and shows you that too. Its a brilliant script and well worth the $20 it cost from SlideShowPro.net. The advantage of Flash is that my content is quickly protected from any random person trying to hotlink. If they do get passed that the content is still watermarked. Tested on IE6, FF, Opera and Safari. I haven't yet tested it on IE7 but I'm assuming it will be ok. Both built using XHTML + CSS.
 
Well done mate - I particularly like the pro site.:thumb:

regards
 
Only had 5 mins this morning over a cup of coffee but the pro site is bloody amazing, as are the photographs...or should I say works of art?

I'll be having a more detailed look tonight.

Excellent work Pete :thumb:
 
Like Bachs, just had a quick look at the pro site, really very impressive :)
 
Fantastic.
 
good stuff Pete, look at the comments you get from people here before going to your next business meeting mate, and remember what we all say about your work. dont ever undersell it
 
Cheers guys. Phew I was kind of worried that people wouldn't like it :) You put a couple of weeks into a project, you kinda worry about showing anyone :) Now to start showing random companies. *scared*
 
pete thats a lovely simple site (pro one) and you're right about the plugin, it's very nice. imight have to buy it myself when i next get some spare cash.

matty hit the nail on the head, you have a great collection of images, nice and vaired and technically all very good too :thumb:
 
Good work Pete, particularly the professional site. and the photos aren't bad too;)
...me..envious :D
 
Hi Pete, I've only look at the pro site as yet but I think it's stunning. Some great photos on there, very inspiring.:thumb:
 
This site http://petecarr.net/ is excellent :)

As everyone has been telling you for ages, nothing wrong with your work, you just need to get the business side a bit more sorted :thumb: :thumb:

Good luck !

Mark.
 
Keltic Ice Man said:
Amazing pro website Pete. How much flash knowledge do you need to use the plugin?

Thanks
Allan
Click to expand...

Not *that* much. It comes with a nice guide. Its basically drag n drop then edit options. The tricky bit for PC users is creating the xml file. Its easy enough once you get the hang of it but for OSX users there is an iPhoto plugin that speeds things up.

Thanks for the comments guys :) Photography and site sorted, onto business :)
 
Pete,
This is an excellent professional looking site with some fantastic photos. I think you just need to ensure you target the right audience with the commentary included on the pages i.e. those willing to pay you the going rate for your services. I have suggested a few changes on some of the pages below but these are obviously just my thoughts and with the assumption that you are looking towards a professional/corporate audience. I expect you can easily improve on these by putting yourself into the shoes of your potential customers and thinking about what they will want to know before they even think about contacting you.

Hope you take this in the spirit its meant. I'm sure like me, there are many on here that have been following your trials and tribulations with interest and we sincerely hope you get the breaks, that your undoubted skills deserve, to make a decent living out of full-time photography.

Mark


About
Peter Carr is a young but experienced professional photographer from Merseyside. A university graduate and former professional web developer. Most customers wont really care you are 27, got frustrated as a web developer and just want to know that you can do the work they are looking for.

His main passion is in capturing real life, be it on the street or at a gig. Capturing the atmosphere of a gig, the sound, the energy, and the passion behind the artists music is a key part of his photography. When he is not shooting gigs he continues to push his creative skills and experiment in various other areas of photography from aircraft to landscapes. This sets a primary focus on gig photography which could put off customers interested in more corporate commissions but that maybe your intention.

He has recently been featured on the BBC Northwest News, published in calendars, magazines including one in Mexico, the BBC Merseyside site, and has won numerous regional and national photography competitions.

Recent commissions have included xyz .... Add a couple of examples like that bar job etc, dont be afraid to 'big-up' the jobs you have done even if they have been freebies.

Desktops
Need some statement on copyright/permission to use.

Portfolio
The left and right menu areas sort of run into each other - maybe use a different colour or something for the gallery sections? There may also be a few too many sections. The site identity (Pete Carr Photography) seems to get a little bit lost because of the number of menu items on this page

Recent
Black to white change for blog is offputting. Do you really want potential customers reading a blog which may contain comments added by others that you have no control over? Having a recent section which is regularly added to is important but it should look part of the main site.

Contacts
If you would like to discuss hiring me for a photography commission or requesting prints from my expanding portfolio then please contact me via the following; Change in emphasis to commissions before prints.

Need a bit of indent or something on contact details to make it more readable. Email address should be clickable and could be a little more specific - something like photo@petecarr.net , sales@petecarr.net or similar.
 
Cheers for the tips. Yer the recent content bit is a bit annoying. I might change it so I can load content into Flickr and that it auto updates on my site. I was using it on the old design because I'd be giving out cards to bands. I'll have a play with Flickr tomorrow and see what I can do. It should integrate nicely using the same code.

About page, ta much improved. I'm not great at writing those things and I was hoping someone would offer some tips.

Portfolio. Again something I'm not 100% happy with but the way the design came about left me with little choice. I'm not 100% sure theres another colour I can easily use. I'll play though. Its designed for 1024x768 and just fits in. Few too many sections? I thought that there was one too many :) I didn't want to have loads so I wouldn't over load people with images. I wanted just enough to make people go "oooh" :) Theres at least 130 images on the site. I'm sure thats plenty.

Contact page, doh. I could have sworn I made the email addy clickable. I was up till 4am trying to fix the Javascript so people can link directly to certain images. Always the small things you miss.

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated and I'll get on it tomorrow.

Edit: Just to point out that I have plenty of control over the comments on my blog :) Its my blog afterall. I approve each comment and for obvious reasons don't publish stupid ones. Only ever had 2 I think :)
 
Ok updated now with Flickr integration into the recent page. I can tag a photo in flickr with "portfolio" and it will display on my site. That way I can continue to dump anything onto flickr and only show the shots I want. Definetly works better.
 
petemc said:
Ok updated now with Flickr integration into the recent page. I can tag a photo in flickr with "portfolio" and it will display on my site. That way I can continue to dump anything onto flickr and only show the shots I want. Definetly works better.
Click to expand...
Excellent and sounds like a really good way to provide regular updates :thumb:
 
petemc said:
Ok updated now with Flickr integration into the recent page. I can tag a photo in flickr with "portfolio" and it will display on my site. That way I can continue to dump anything onto flickr and only show the shots I want. Definetly works better.
Click to expand...


That is a sterling idea.....I may just adopt that idea if you don't mind.

Don't know how I didn't reply to this thread at the time...sorry :confused:

Pete, I don't think I've said it before, but I've always been in awe of your work. Not just your photography, but your web design skills. Your sites always look professional, clean cut, quick, impressive and thoroughly enjoyable to navigate. Coupled with your photography skill and design (Photo presentation) etc, makes for a very nice looking online presence (y)
 
Cheers :) If it wasn't for web design I wouldn't have half the Photoshop knowledge I have now. The two have helped each other. Thanks to web design I have the skills to make a nice portfolio for myself thus saving on the cash and thanks to photography I actually have a reason to have a half decent site ;)
 
Stunning Pete, absolutely stunning. The website looks very professional and is an excellent showcase for your outstanding talents. Good luck with it all.
 
Hey Pete, love the Photoblog site especially your Toronto trip. I've been here over 2 years and not seen half the stuff you got photos of, and you make the city look even more vibrant than it already is. I'm inspired to wander more around the city now. Also nice to see some shots of my home, The Wirral. You do the place a justice. Wonderful (y)
 
mindcrime said:
Hey Pete, love the Photoblog site especially your Toronto trip. I've been here over 2 years and not seen half the stuff you got photos of, and you make the city look even more vibrant than it already is. I'm inspired to wander more around the city now. Also nice to see some shots of my home, The Wirral. You do the place a justice. Wonderful (y)
Click to expand...

Ha what are the odds :)
 
petemc said:
Ha what are the odds :)
Click to expand...

Of doing the Wirral justice? Very low ;)

It's amazing how complacent about a place you become until you see it from another persons persepective, and then the whole place opens up for you. If it wasn't raining today I'd be off looking for those cows in Toronto and wandering the streets. Thanks for opening up 'my' city for me.
 
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