A Look at Photographers with Portfolios
If you missed Michelle’s announcement about the launch of WordPress.com/portfolios, or Cheri’s round-up of WP.com Painters with Portfolios, you might still be in the dark about the range of portfolio themes we have on offer for visual artists and bloggers.
Today I want to take a look at a small handful of the hundreds of amazing photographers using WordPress.com, and the design choices they’ve made to best show off their talent:
artborghi
artborghi is the home of Italian-abroad, freelance photographer Lorenzo Borghi‘s work, which has appeared in the likes of National Geographic Traveller, among other places. Leafing through his portfolio, it’s easy to see why. Lorenzo makes use of the premium Photography theme for his site, showcasing some of his most beautiful work right on the theme’s custom home page carousel (learn how to achieve the same effect here):
Digging deeper into his portfolio, we find a classic grid layout, gathering Lorenzo’s photographs thematically, and giving the visitor to his site the chance to explore his various photo series. Choosing one of these in turn takes us to Photography theme‘s showcase feature, a lightbox style slide show that allows the user to browse intuitively through a selection of photographs, size-optimized for the screen you’re viewing on:
More portfolios using the Photography theme
The following portfolios, which all make varied use of the Photography theme, are well worth your time, too:
- Wild Places makes great use of the simplicity of the theme’s grid layout and slideshow features to show off a truly incredible range of unmissable travel and landscape photography.
- James Duong‘s work spans from beautiful, street level photo-journalism, to glossy, studio-lit fashion and lingerie work, and the Photography theme gives the new arrival a nice, simple grid from which to explore his various photo sets.
- Gustavo Semeghini makes great use of Photography’s alternate light color scheme to complement his beautiful wedding and even photography.
- Gerganara also uses the theme’s lighter color scheme to share some beautiful, candid, artful photography with the world.
Kasia Marcinkiewicz
Kasia Marcinkiewicz is a Polish professional photographer, specializing in pictures of children, families, reportage, and portrait photography. Letting the work speak for itself right from the start (but for great use of a custom header to brand the portfolio), Kasia puts the clean lines, crisp grid layout, and infinite scrolling of the free Hatch theme to work. The result is that we’re instantly in touch with the photographs, free to explore those that attract our eye. It’s a wholeheartedly visual experience that allows the photography to draw the site visitor in, rather than trying to sell the idea with lengthy paragraphs of text:
Those interested can then dig in deeper, via the custom menu, to see specific subcategories of Kasia’s portfolio, previous clients, or information (in Polish) about the various photographic sessions and services on offer. It speaks to the ability to build your entire photography business here on WordPress.com — you don’t need to draw the line at just showing off your work. The addition of a contact page, blog section, or pages of information about the work you’re offering clients, can help you run the whole show right from one site.
More portfolios using the Hatch theme
The photographers among you seem to really get on well with the Hatch theme. Here are some more sites you might want to check out that make use of the theme in showcasing a really nice range of photographic subjects and styles:
- Imagination Photography use Hatch to beautifully minimalist effect to showcase a nice selection of light, romantic professional portraiture.
- Pramudiya brings a fresh twist to the clean, simple good looks of Hatch with a beautiful custom header, a great introduction to a diverse body of work.
- Mr Beady marries the stark simplicity of Hatch with that of his evocative photography of abandoned buildings in the North of England.
- Anne’s Imagery demonstrates how something as simple as a change of background color and the use of a custom font can create an entirely different mood, in this beautiful portfolio of professional, creative photography.
- Clare Cecilia Photo, on the other hand, lets the sans-serif and grid get out of the way to let her powerful travel, wedding, and commercial photography shine.
Zac & Kaitlin Photography
While there are plenty of themes that show off your photos in a grid or carousel for new visitors to check out, another approach is to make use of good, old-fashioned infinite scrolling and a theme that gets out of the way of your work. Zac & Kaitlin Photography makes use of the premium Portfolio theme to this effect, and the results are both beautiful and personal thanks to some bold blog branding. This results in a portfolio that puts the work center stage, while also leaving you in no doubt as to whose portfolio you’ve landed on throughout the experience of checking out their work:
When you land on the site, you’re taken to the classic reverse-chronological blog layout, so that you can see the latest work that Zac & Kaitlin have worked on. If you’re then interested in digging in to a particular type of photo, the custom menu will take you to individual, per-topic pages which make great use of linked images as a custom visual “menu” system:
It makes for a really personal visual design that further compounds the beautiful, but simple, visual branding of the logo up top. Again, thanks to Portfolio theme the photography is stage-center, but the little details remind us where we are and what whose work we’re enjoying.
More themes!
If you’re looking for a great way to showcase your photos and one of the themes mentioned above didn’t grab you, bear in mind that WordPress.com has no less than thirty free and premium themes that were born to make photos look awesome. Whether you’re all about colour-responsive backgrounds, dark or light showcases, or gridtacular layouts, you’ll likely find one that you can customize to make your own among the selection on offer.
More photographers!
Want more photo inspiration? Jump in to the tagged topics for wedding photography, street photography, landscape photography, portrait photography, or, you know, just plain old photography right in your WordPress.com Reader. And if you have or know of a beautiful photo portfolio you’d like to share, let us know about it in the comments.
- March 26, 2013
- Better Blogging, Community, Customization, Themes
Thank you for sharing this info and all these great websites, I am looking forward to exploring these blog’s further. My friend Nicoletta and I are trying to get some experience in Food Photography and got a nice critique session on one of my pictures last week, which was a great learning experience. I am also interested in people portrait with natural light and will explore this area, too. I will definitely consider one of the portfolio themes to showcase my best shots.
Linda
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A really terrific post Michael giving credence to us photographers. I have to say there are some great photographers and themes out in the blogging world. Once again a huge thanks to WordPress
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I use the Photography theme .. check it out..
http://www.swwphotography.wordpress.com
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I love the portfolio themes, but they don’t work for those of us who are not exclusively graphical. I wish that there was a way to graft two themes into one and switch back and forth. Maybe that’s why some poeple have multiple blogs, but I can barely keep up with one. Two would drown me. Good thought though and those graphical templates are lovely indeed.
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Those photos are gorgeous! If my blog wasn’t so “writing heavy,” I’d love to use one of those themes.
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Hi,
Is the cost of a premium theme a one time event or is it reoccurring? I specifically like the photography theme in this email.
John Ferebee Web Site
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John, it’s a one-time purchase.
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I have a blog here: http://javashotsblog.wordpress.com/ But since I use SmugMug for my web-hosting, I am able to “share” and do the initial blog entry from there. I will hit the forums to see if one of those incredible Photography themes would still work for me. Great post Michael! gives me lots to work on!
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Reblogged this on MetaRead360 Small Press presents and commented:
Always nice to see beautiful photos!
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Check out http://scottseyephotos.wordpress.com. Wonderful photos brought to life by the commentary.
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I really like artborghi’s landscapes!
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Thank you so much for featuring my blog, Anne’s Imagery. What an awesome surprise! 🙂
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Eye See Art with Hatch!
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I use the AutoFocus theme, you can see it here: http://sunnycrestphotography.wordpress.com
I have been using it for a while now & I LOVE IT! I just don’t see myself changing it anytime soon. I am VERY HAPPY with it. 🙂
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THanks for this….I needed some inspiration on how to change my blog in the future!
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Thanks for sharing! I hadn’t seen the post before, and was just looking for a new portfolio theme for my photoblog. Much appreciated 🙂 x
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Nice very, nice indeed! But let me make one little suggestion about premium themes, show the price up front. Time is of the essence these days. If I see something I like, tell me immediately what it cost, no beating around the bush. Some may not see It clever marketing but in my case it would produce a more positive outcome. Men in my generation know exactly what they want before they walk into the store; shopping is not therapy for them.
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Hi there,
Although the prices aren’t marked in the post, it is clear in our theme showcase which themes are premium, with a price that appears on the hover:
http://theme.wordpress.com/
I appreciate this suggestion, however. Thank you!
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Reblogged this on Dawn Ryddner 2013 CV and commented:
I really like this way of showing a portfolio!
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