I registered my first domain name for my photography portfolio on July 27th, 1998. That's coming up on nineteen years ago. Impossible. My website is older than my son, who is in college now.
I started with moreephoto.com, then switched to williammoree.com when names became the norm. But the only times that I have ever been called "William" was at the DMV, on the first day of school each year, and when was in trouble with my mother. So I decided to simplify to for everything online: billmoree.com, instagram, facebook, linkedin, even google+ and youtube. Everything except pinterest. There, I am stuck with "williammoree". I don't use Pinterest.
Over those years, the website has evolved. My first was with Microsoft FrontPage, which is dead now. For good reason. So I taught myself Adobe GoLive and enough html to put together a simple but pretty website. But it was awkward to do and I updated that site too infrequently. At some point I realized that web design had gotten complicated enough that I had to decide whether I wanted to be a photographer or a web designer.
I am a photographer.
I needed something with a backend database so updating the site with new photographs and projects would be relatively painless. Livebooks came on the scene was a great solution for a long time. But Flash died and Livebooks had their own problems and it was time to change again. I tried every single platform that I could find. None were a perfect solution. Analysis Paralysis set in. With some, the backend was unsustainable or the front-facing designs were ugly. Some are far more expensive than the value they offer.
Meanwhile, I helped artist friends with getting their domain names and getting started with their websites. Squarespace usually worked because it was easy, fast and pretty.
Then it occurred to me that I hadn't really given squarespace a fair go for myself. I logged in, started from scratch, and only two days later I have a website that works quite nicely. That was two days of work squeezed in with also getting ready for a dinner party, helping my better half prep for a trip to St. Thomas, and generally keeping dogs and kids from starving. That's the fastest I've ever gotten one of these things going.
A photographer's portfolio website should be simple. Based on all of my conversations with art buyers and creative directors, they want to get in, see the photographs, and figure out who you are and what you will return with if they hire you. That's it. And that's what this site is.
There are a few little bells and whistles:
A calendar that you can check while you are talking with your client to see what dates the subject and I are both available. schedule.billmoree.com
Drop me a line and let me know your thoughts. What do you like? Or hate? Things that I've overlooked? Meanwhile, I'll keep adding new photos, client case studies and personal projects as time goes on.
-Bill