Finally got my Online Gallery up!!! What do you think?

[Disaster_Area]

I've been meaning to get a website up for a while now to try and sell some prints. I do some event photography and am always asked for prints buts its a major hassle trying to get individual orders for only one or two prints each for 20 people which usually happens when I cover a local band or something. I also have freinds/coworkers/family who want to buy the odd fine art print off me. So I finally got my but in gear and put one together. I've started it with a pretty broad cross section of my work.. some street.. some birds and critters.. some still life and a selection of my event work as sort of a mobile portfolio as well. Let me know what you think.. I'm especially interested in what you think of the prices I've set... too high? ... to low? I'm really not sure if I'm under or over evaluating myself and the quality of my stuff. Anyways, comments questions.. nice words (fingers crossed) are all appreciated.

Cheers, Jess


OH YEAH!!! the link to the gallery 🙂 http://jbhildebrand.exposuremanager.com

 

[dshugar]

Hi Jess - I thought I recognized some of those landmarks. I'm from Ottawa too (well, originally...live in Vancouver now). Anyway, nice stuff. I especially like the Arsenic photos.

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

Well done.

I like the site and the navigation, although the banner does not appeal to me. Maybe because I'm not your target client.

I especially liked the color street photo at http://jbhildebrand.exposuremanager.com/p/on_the_streets/_mg_4960_lomo50

But your prices seem too low. A mid size photo (16x24) for only $30 Canadian is €20 to me. In my opinion you are underestimating yourself and selling at a loss.

An accountant friend of mine once analyzed my pricing. Non-photo stuff. He showed me how to factor in costs that I'd never thought of. He told me to raise my prices by a lot in order to just break even, and then some more to make a profit.

Find an accountant friend, and tell them how much you're spending on equipment, materials, processing and so on. Be prepared to be surprised by their advice.

 

[Roberto]

Nice Gallery, Nice pictures..
What about making a "Photographers Guild" site and host other photographers?
Rob.

 

[Disaster_Area]

Thanks for the advice! I'm going to do some browsing around at what other people charge today.. a freind of mine at work, who's also a photographer, said about the same thing. I'm actually going to split the prices, different prices for events and for art prints. I'm going to raise the price on the art prints as most likely they'll be selling individually ( thats asssuming they sell 😉 ), while the event pics will most likely be multiple print orders. I know my first order will be three sets of 4X6 of each Arsenic & Old Lace pic for the cast. So I think I'll keep the event prices a little lower to encourage large orders.

BTW - what part of the banner doesnt appeal to you Jon? To be honest I put that together very quickly and have about 5 different prototypes for a new one, some similar, some completely different so I'd love your input.

Cheers, Jess

 

[whitecat]

Excellent gallery!

 

[bsdunek]

Like the site. Easy to navigate and seems like ordering would be easy. As Jon Claremont said, your prices are too low, but you're addressing that. Got to consider all your costs and then add a little profit. I have also found that if prices are too low, people don't value your work. If it's that cheap it can't be very good attitude.
Wishing you success!
Oh ya, I like your photos too!

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

The banner looks a bit 'Dungeons and Dragons' or 'Buffy' to me.

Niche, not mainstream.

 

[marcbanka]

The photos are nice. As has been mentioned, your prices are too low. If you decide to raise them, you need to give potential customers an idea of what they're buying. I couldn't find info on that. Are they silver gelatin prints? Pigment ink on fine art paper, or just on typing paper. It would make a big difference to me.

As to navigation, heading in is good, but then one has to retrace steps to get back to the main menue or home page. Could you add something to make that easier?

You are further than me, so good job!

 

[Disaster_Area]

Are they silver gelatin prints? Pigment ink on fine art paper, or just on typing paper. It would make a big difference to me.

Wow... really good point.. I hadnt thought of that, I'll have to see if I can add a blurb in. The site is hosted by Exposuremanager, which btw, has been ridiculously easy to deal with. It gives preset templates but you can modify them a little or alot, depending on your skill with HTML. They handle all the ordering, printing and shipping. I know they have a section where they explain what everything is printed on so I'll have to figure a way to incorporate that into the site.

As for the "Buffy" style of header.. yeah.. it kinda is 🙂 I"m working on a more main stream style header.

Thanks for all the input!!!

Cheers Jess