Online galleries, any good ones to recommend?

[OurManInTangier]

I'm interested in finding a decent online gallery to post my pictures to. I know many use Flickr as I have in the past but I struggled with the feeling that often cliques formed from people 'collecting' contacts and making 'tit-for-tat' comments rather than sharing their joy of photography. Perhaps some Flickr users can express how they make the most of the site and how it does work for them. I'd also be interested in hearing from others what online galleries they use and why they use them, maybe why they left here or Flickr etc. I have heard good things about Zen Folio, possibly having a better presentation set-up than Flickr? I should point out that when I did use Flickr I was not a 'Pro' user which may have affected the options available to me.

I have a website for work and use that as my main online folio for clients and new/potential clients. I have used my RFF gallery; linked from my website, to show the more personal and, if not creative then creatively freer images to clients that have shown an interest in that kind of imagery. I'm now starting to get more commissions from certain clients that allow me that freedom and would like to present this type of work in a well presented gallery.

I realise that the best way would be to incorporate this into my website and this is my longer term intention, however I will need to have my site redesigned (which it needs anyway.) Plus freelancing being what it is, but even more so in the tougher economic climate; time is a constant factor and so I'm looking for a decent short term solution whilst my daily work and website redesign are ongoing. As such any suggestions, advice, experience and help would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[bo_lorentzen]

Zenfolio.com

Easy setup, easy store, easy on the eyes.

.

 

[Keith]

I use Zenfolio for the important stuff and have a semi pro account.

For general hosting for posting here etc I use photobucket which has just had a bit of a makover and looks pretty good now ... it's also very easy to use but of course with a free account you get all the annoying ads etc. That said I still prefer it to flickr which I've never liked ... in fact I recently deleted all my pics there!

 

[Frank Petronio]

From a marketing point of view, you want to maintain several online presences so they feed to each other and get your name "out there" online. So you might have a Flickr portfolio, plus Facebook business and personal pages. And a Blogger weblog and a Tumblr photo posting account. Plus forums like these.

It sounds like a lot of work but it doesn't have to be. If you do it consistently OVER THE LONG HAUL and not just in spurts, then you will be successful in appearing in Google and also building a strong online reputation and personality, which ultimately leads to sales and assignments.

Or so I like to think....

I have multiple websites myself, I don't yet use Blogger or Tumblr or Twitter... but the general theory seems to be working as I now have many ad agency and editor "friends" finding me on their own, without me approaching them. And that's what I wanted all along.

Having an actual website is still important, but you might start to think of it as a business card or portal that directs people to other venues to look at pictures (Flickr), to understand your personality (Blogger), or to learn about your experiences and background (Facebook).

I'm doing a little experiment with wedding and portrait photography using only free social media to establish myself, rather than doing a fancy pants website. Check it out:

http://frankpetronio.us

It is all free except for the inexpensive domain name purchase. I can do Facebook ads targeting local engaged people who make more than $50K, for example, to draw them to the page. So far in two days, 6000 people have seen my ads and two have clicked through. One booked a wedding.

To my thinking, the worse thing is the typical photographer's website with a fixed static Flash portfolio that rarely gets updated. I feel sorry for those guys who spent $10K plus making them... Instead think free and social... with good tagging.

 

[OurManInTangier]

Thanks for the replies. Keith, I use photobucket too but only for posting in threads here i.e Gallery Picks and so on. It's certainly easy to use but the image presentation leaves me a little cold, useful but not what I'm after. The Zenfolio site will be something I look into further.

Frank, thanks for all the information. It's interesting to hear you've had such success with the multiple net presence. I'm aware that today this is an excellent way to self promote your business, more so than simply having a website. I think laziness and an uncertainty about the 'life' of sites such as Facebook has put me off until now. I had a MySpace page for work before that became unhip and never really followed on from that.

If I can link between my website, perhaps a Flickr account ( simply due to it's popularity ) and Facebook whilst keeping all updated then this may work long term as a unified multiple presence. I suppose the key point is, as you have said, to be in it for the long term and to keep it regular. The other point that this brings up would be to leave the OMiT moniker behind and to have my name on all the sites, daft forum names won't help to create a unified face to the various pages or to 'get my name out there.' I'm not sure if I'm able to change my account name here without starting over but I'll look into it.

I'm on my iPhone whilst out and about at the moment but will have a go at finding your various pages and perhaps look at stealing some of your ideas😉 Perhaps I can PM you for a chat about some ideas and to make the most of some of your experiences. I don't know what effect the differing types of photography we deal in may make to the success of what I try and do; I can imagine that portrait/wedding photography and such could be well suited to this type of self marketing whilst the chances of commissions for my type of thing may not be best served by this approach....though it will be interesting to find out and better than what I'm currently doing.