New Site Template http://www.BryantSwanstrom.com

[swanny338]

Will have a domain soon enough. Wondering if you guys like this setup or if I should go with something a little more custom. Also, tell me what you think of the photos in my Portfolios.

http://BryantSwanstrom.com

Updated some colors, added some images... I have some new stuff I want to put into the People section, just haven't had time to do it.

[PIC]

If you are planning on setting the world ablaze with your photos ...

Wake up and smell the coffee !!

There is SuperSaturation of photogs with decreased demand on a down economy.
16000 US Staff photos and millions more trying to do what u are doing.
Your photos mean little with the current biz condition.
Many try to selll their skills as teachers and mentors even tho they have no formal training and no acceptable accredition beacuse they can't make it as real photographers.
Even those that have done such for 10 - 20 years are bailing.
The web setup is what you like and its fine as is but don't expect others to
call you a photo icon cause photo icons are gone with the wind.

Just have fun doing what millions / billions of others do and drink some cafe.
Any further web work or cost is ill advised and only continue
if it makes you and yourself happy.
Try a market study first if u plan a business.

EL




EL

[wondershots]

Bryant,

I like the site and layout. Looks professional enough. One thing I would change if you have the control is have the slide shows start automatically. The pics are cool. I'd like to see more of them on your website though.

[swanny338]

Originally Posted by PIC

If you are planning on setting the world ablaze with your photos ...

Wake up and smell the coffee !!

There is SuperSaturation of photogs with decreased demand on a down economy.
16000 US Staff photos and millions more trying to do what u are doing.
Your photos mean little with the current biz condition.
Many try to selll their skills as teachers and mentors even tho they have no formal training and no acceptable accredition beacuse they can't make it as real photographers.
Even those that have done such for 10 - 20 years are bailing.
The web setup is what you like and its fine as is but don't expect others to
call you a photo icon cause photo icons are gone with the wind.

Just have fun doing what millions / billions of others do and drink some cafe.
Any further web work or cost is ill advised and only continue
if it makes you and yourself happy.
Try a market study first if u plan a business.

EL




EL

While interesting, I have absolutely no idea what that has to do with the web site.

And thanks Jim.

[Angelo]

Bryant, I like the website - it's clean and easy to get around. However, can the buttons be made more easy to find? They sort of blend in with the border of the frame. Nice images... They portray a happy youthful lifestyle.

[abril1127]

I agree about the buttons, I almost didn't see them. I liked the clean cut of the template although a color change might be worth considering. (I think you have a fresh style and a boring color but that's totally my opinion) I also thought the pictures were nice, you kept "your style" through out.

[ShaneKislack]

Bryant,

Livebooks is one of the best and most recommended web utilities out there. Sure you could design something a little more custom on the front end, but could not come close to touching the backend for less than $50,000.

I'd have livebooks too if I were a student. Still saving my money for the pro version.

And what the hell is "El" talking about?

Those that can't want to tell you that you can't either.

[ShaneKislack]

Your work is really outstanding. The lifestyle and product especially. The model section needs work.

Also, try and narrow down what you want your specialty to be.

[swanny338]

Updated some of the colors and such..

http://www.BryantSwanstrom.com

[Daniel Bates]

About the website

I like it. I think it's an elegant design. But, I want to see more photos. A lot more photos. Having seven in the "Commercial" gallery and six in "People" just left me wanting to see more of your work. Also, the content of the Contact page is rather spartan - maybe you could put something else on that, or combine it with the "about me" section?

About the individual photos

I. California Lifestyle
01 - Excellent. It's a great opener and a very good representation of your skill.
02 - Nice. Not quite as "wow" as the first, but good.
03 - Just about perfect. It could be an opener. (Well, it kind of is, being on your homepage.)
04 - Busy. I don't think it measures up to the standard set by the first three. It's peak action, but I have trouble seeing the peak action at first and it really looks like a picture of some plants along a street in the thumbnail, and at first glance.
05 - What is it? Who are they? What are they doing? I like the atmosphere and palette, but the subject is evading me.
06 - Clever. It's a good capture, but still isn't quite up to the quality of the first three.
07 - Okay, we're getting closer. This fits your theme quite well. It is also the first time we get to see a personality portrait.
08 - Jackpot. If you are going to feature motorcycles in your portfolio, this is the one. It doesn't look like a snapshot (moment aside, 06 does), and fits with your style insofar as I can determine it.
09 - Another good one. Much better than the first skateboard shot - so much better that I am left wondering whether the intent of 04 was to show how much you have advanced as a photographer. (Not exactly a mainstream goal for a website portfolio.)
10 - Another excellent motorcycle picture. I take back what I said about 08 being the only bike picture suitable for your portfolio - throw this one in too.
11 - This skateboarding diptych works far better than either one would, alone. It also matches the other content in this gallery better than 09 does (if you're going for stylistic consistency).
12 - That's a cool snapshot. I'm not digging the very distorted female in the upper left corner, though she might not be very easy to crop out, given your target aspect ratio.
13 - The one on the left is very good. The one on the right is not bad, but not compelling either (it's a competent likeness of a pretty girl). I don't see anything at all that ties them together, so I'm forced to assume you paired them for the sake of maximising your screen real estate. It's workable, but I think the impact of the left-side image is rendered weaker by displaying it together with the other.
14 - Meh. The panning is cool, the colours are bold, and the wideangle + vignette is stylistically consistent - but this one doesn't work for me. The composition is off, the bike is soft, and it looks like a overprocessed 'save' from an overcast day. (Also, you have better examples of your motorcycle photography already displayed, so I'm not cutting you any slack.)

II. People
01 - Probably the best portraits I've seen from you yet. Again, what I said about 13 from California Lifestyle - displaying them together reduces each photo's individual impact.
02 - Initial reaction: is this the same photographer? In all seriousness, I don't think this belongs in here. It's a self portrait, and it's not very good technically (lighting, wb).
03 - Bingo. This diptych is excellent, with impact greater than the sum of its parts. I find myself thinking about the feelings of the subject and the situation depicted, and coming up with plots and subplots and little snippets of dialogue. If I wasn't so ADD right now, I'd probably start writing a short story about her or something - it's just that kind of picture.
04 - Another self portrait. This one is technically superior to 02, but the subject isn't nearly as engaging. It's not a bad picture, just nowhere near the quality of 01 or 03.
05 - I think this is the same person (right?), so it works. It's not as powerful as 03, but then it wasn't meant to be - this is a very good personality set.
06 - More of her already? It's good, but I like the previous set better, and having two nearly-identical sets adjacent to each other gives me ample motivation to compare them against one another. It's not really a good thing.


II. Product
01 - Same product, radically different styles. I like it - more of a "compare and contrast" type of set. Variety is good.
02 - Technically proficient, but lacking something. I can't quite put my finger on what.
03 - This is the first B&W conversion I've seen from you (I think), and it's not exactly blowing me away. There are blacks and whites, but an awful lot of middle greys here. There's also no defined subject. If you were going for symmetry, it's spoiled a bit by the tilt (note the presence of partial bottle caps in the upper left and lower right, and the absence of same in the upper right and lower left).
04 - After staring at this for about 20 seconds, I think I know what it is. It's a creatively lit figure study of a motorcycle, in the longstanding tradition of the classic fine art nude. Bravo.
05 - Water droplet. Okay, but what product is this advertising? Water? The execution is middling-good, but the concept is not up there with other work you've done.
06 - I see you can mix visual metaphors with the best of us. Peanut M&Ms mixed with iPods in a goblet, with an unidentifiable (presumably water) poured somewhere in the vicinity. Is that liquid in the bottom bit of the cup, or just a refractive illusion? It's a creative concept (I like how the multicoloured candy sets off the iPods, even there's too many reddish / yellowish tones and no blues), but my dominant reaction is wondering how the iPods are going to stand up to getting submerged.
07 - Cool. What is it? Rainbow fractal ice cracks?