Opinions on new site?

[Joel.W]

Hi everyone,

I have like, many others in this section, decided to set up a website to showcase some of my photographs. I am a keen photographer with hopes of one day making my living from this (Highly unlikely I know, but I can dream...) I was wondering if people could pay my site a visit and let me know what you think, both of the photographs and the site itself. I'm pretty new to this, and would very much like to have a professional looking site with professional looking photographs. Any advice/critiques etc would be very much appreciated. The link is Joel Walley's website. Many thanks,

Joel

[Paul mabbott]

Nice and fast loading - there are so many sites that I've never looked at because they were taking an hour and a day to appear! Nice pictures - I'd certainly get back to it. One weakness (for me) is that there's little/no explanatory or descriptive text - I'm not suggesting you should fill the pages with writing but a sentence or two hovering or linked to an image would be good. Random example - the excellent shot of wood ants co-operatively carrying prey would be better if there were a few words saying what the species were, where/when they were photographed etc..
Good site - keep up the great work.

[Joel.W]

Hi Paul,

thanks very much for taking the time to look and comment! It's very much appreciated. I completely agree with you on the descriptions, and I will get onto that ASAP. Out of interest, did you think the portfolios were set up into good categories. I couldn't decide between splitting them that way or between groups of animals, birds, mammals, reptiles etc? Many thanks,

Joel

[artdemole]

more photos required as some sections do not have a lot.

[Deb London]

Love the cuddling stoats.

I'm impressed by the look of the site. That smart dark green colour sets of the images beautifully.

Not sure about the best way to categorise, but I didn't find it a problem the way you had it.

Keep up the good work.

[Joel.W]

Thanks guys, the lack of photos in one or two of the categories was one of the things that made me question them. I have some other photos that would probably fill the gap but they aren't my best and thats really what I wanted to show online! I think I will keep it as it is for now if you didnt find it a problem to navigate. Cheers,

Joel

[Lacerta]

Great start to your site, as a fellow photium user, you can't go to far wrong, everything easy to find and easy to navigate, colour scheme works very well. Not sure if the search function is working properly yet, last time I looked it didn't seem to be so I ditched it.

You may want to consider adding the latest images to the menu bar, this is a relatively new feature they have added which I added to mine.

I also found adding pictures into all your news items helps to improve the overall feel, something you may want to consider on future updates.

Anyway the fun is just beginning, I'll bookmark to catch up on progress.

[nursiebernard]

Great photos, easy to navigate, and the site loaded quickley. Will be going back for another look!

[htcdude]

Agree with all the above comments on speed/navigation etc, look forward to seeing more!

Nige

[Joel.W]

Thanks for the input guys! Lacerta, thanks for the advice, its good to hear from another photium user. It took me ages to decide which site to go with but i think it was the right choice! I havent had much time to go and take any new photos or do much with the site but I will definitely add the features you suggested. I particularly like the idea of photographs in the news, that's something which looks great but I hadnt considered at all! Cheers,

Joel