PHOTOGRAPHERS’ WEBSITES FOR INSPO

Martin Parr’s website is a great example of how the use of design on a photography website can perfectly reflect the style of work which is presented. Martin Parr’s style is renowned for its quirkiness as well as many other characteristics such as making fun of the situations which he is capturing. His official site reflects his love for satire by keeping the aesthetic light-hearted through the use of menu headers, as well as the large images which has chosen to be presented on the home page, which is the first thing the viewer sees, instantly portraying Parr’s infamous style. The selected images on the home page are a range of Parr’s lifetime work but all reflect his signature comedic style, whether that is a sunbather sleeping/leaning upright on a concrete wall or a LGBTQ activist protesting behind a judge/barrister/lawyer etc. The menu for the website is playful, using mini illustrations to represent the pages they represent, such as a drawing of Parr for the Intro page, a camera for the Recent page, a stack of Martin Parr photo books for the Book page, an old style box TV for the Film page, a double page spread of a travel journal for the Blog page, filling cabinet for the Archive page, a vintage cash register for the Shop page, a stack of paper for the CV page, a standard question mark for the Frequently Asked Questions page and a world globe for the Contact page. The choice of menu instantly makes the website refreshing compared to other photography websites which I have researched in the past, making the viewer want to browse the options and therefor the other pages. The ‘Martin Parr’ title at the top left of each page also shares a similar style of design as the menu, appearing as if it was drawn onto the page with a red marker or crayon

I researched Parr’s website as I wanted some inspiration for my info page but unsurprisingly, he has a lot more information which he can present on the page (awards, exhibitions, magazines etc) than what I would be able to put it was still beneficial to see how the page was laid out and how I can keep it interesting while still displaying the important details. I personally want to my info page to be of a similar style but obviously I’ll have less to display due to just beginning recently as a photographer. Although I like how Parr’s page places the text on the left with a light, simple typeface and then a singular image to the right which still makes the page interesting.

Website Inspiration for Portfolio Page

While browsing through the Eggleston website, one thing that I particularly liked was the use of layout for the images. The website uses a tile-style design to show a select few photos from the photographer’s work. I think this looks really good especially when trying to create a minimal look to a website. When it comes to creating my portfolio page, I think I will use a similar design as seen here – using a select few images, shot throughout my work so far, and lay them out in a aesthetically clean and simple way. I like the aspect of using multiple photo ratios on the page (square and 2:3) which makes the page more visually exciting which I will probably include on my portfolio page as I have used various ratios in my work, such as 1:1, 2:3, and 4:3 which I want to display on my website. Looking at Eggleston’s site has resolved any questions/reservations which I had about my portfolio page.

PHOTOGRAPHERS’ WEBSITES FOR INSPO

The Richard Avedon Foundation website is the official website for the notorious American fashion photographer, Richard Avedon. Like the rest of the websites I have researched so far for this project, Avedon’s using the standard clear, white background with a select few images from his lifetime’s work. Although, browsing through the pages of the sight has a slightly different aesthetic/design/style than what the photographers’ sites had. I think this may be due to Avedon’s fashion photography style, but his website seems much more editorial than the others and something that would be more suited within a fashion magazine such as Vogue, possibly due to the light typeface, only using portraits for the home page and having one single font for the whole website – which I particularly liked. I also enjoyed how the three images chosen for the home page are all portraits but show a diverse range of styles, reflective of Avedon’s artistic/photographic ability. Sequencing a candid black and white portrait of a beekeeper next to an editorial style fashion colour image shows the diversity of Avedon’s style. The website also has more headings within its menu than I have seen with the rest of photographers I have researched: The Work, The Archive, Publications, Exhibitions, About and Social Media. The decision to have. Multiple pages with extensive amount of work is also reflective of the fashion editorial aesthetic, which is probably why it suits Avedon’s work.

PHOTOGRAPHERS’ WEBSITES FOR INSPO

The EgglestonArtFoundation website is the official site of infamous American photographer William Eggleston, known for his expert use of colour and American culture most notably through the 60s and 70s. Similar to the other websites I have researched so far for this project, EgglestonArtFoundation also uses a simplistic design/layout, with only one page presenting the photographers work. The reasoning behind just using one page is to keep the site as simple as possible, leaving the work to have the centre stage for the viewer. I personally probably won’t choose to do this for my site but I can understand why it might be desirable. Out of the three websites I have researched so far, Eggleston’s use of a white background is the most effective alongside his images, making his bright, saturated work pop out to the viewer. Another great style choice for the site is matching the ‘EgglestonArtFoundation’ title in the same shade of green as the car in the below picture – it’s a small detail but helps pull the design together. Thinking more about the title, the use of three shades of green on a bold typeface completely corelates well with Eggleston’s bright imagery and Americana style. I also like how the website contrasts the cool winter-feeling image on the left with the warm summer aesthetic photograph on the right. The viewer is presented with more of the photographer’s work when scrolling further down the page and is given a small piece of text about the photographer’s life and also any upcoming projects, although it is not extensive leaving the viewer to search for more.

Photographers’ Websites for Inspo

To gather inspiration for my website, I decided to find the website of David Bailey due to him being one of my favourite photographers and also taking inspiration from his work in my past project. While trying to find his website, and then coming to the conclusion that he doesn’t have one, I found a lesser known photographer also named David Bailey from the US. Thinking his work was very good, I also enjoyed the layout of his website as well as the straightforward way he presented his portfolio of work. When first clicking on the site, you are presented with one large documentary style portrait below the photographer’s name and menu. I’ve decided after seeing this on both Bailey’s and Brandt’s websites, I am sure that it is a great way to present the viewer with a key image which represents your work as a whole, whether that is a documentary street photograph or a portrait. I think landscape is a more effective choice over portrait orientation as it works much better on a computer screen – I think of my crime series photographs could work well in this style. Like Brandt’s website, Bailey’s also has a limited number of headings, resulting in the viewer not being overwhelmed with unnecessary information or images.  

Photographers’ Websites for Inspo

Bill Brandt’s official website is a key example of the kind of website I anticipate to create for my portfolio. With a clean, uncomplicated aesthetic, Brandt’s website delivers the photographer’s lifetime work in a straightforward manner. The website is basically everything which I wrote what I wanted mine to look like – such as one key image on the home page, white background and simple black text/font. I also like how the website has a page dedicated to ‘News’ mostly filled up with any current or future exhibitions/book reissues. It’s a small feature but something which could make the website more engaging while browsing through. One design choice of Brandt’s website which I probably wouldn’t have chosen to do would be using one font for the ‘Bill Brandt Archive’ title and another for the rest of the text on the page. I could see why this would be done, mostly to separate the title from the rest of the page, but I think for mine I want to use a single font for most of the website if possible. Although the title at least is using a traditional typeface which suits the style of photography which is on the page. The overall style/aesthetic of each page is similar to a newspaper style of arranging titles and having a neat layout etc. I think this style works well as Brandt isn’t a contemporary photographer and it is contextually appropriate to match his style of work.

Initial Website Style Ideas

Creating a rough idea/plan of the kind of website I want to create, I have decided on some basic aesthetic choices for the layout, content etc. Some being:

1. Clean, black, white background so the viewers sole attention is on my chosen images.
2. portfolio – A strict chosen selection of images from my past work – using images which may have similar style, eg my portraits and documentary portraits from Image Making which all have some sort of nostalgic feeling to them
3. One main chosen image presented on the home page
4. Contact page – displaying email etc
5. info page – minimal with relevant information
6. Category for Individual project work
7. Possibly another category for my documentary work
8. link to social media – probably somewhere in the info page
9. Simple, smart typeface – nothing distracting