website to use as beginner photographer

[Mytusi]

Hi,

I have been doing children photography as a hobby for the past 2 years. Recently I started having people coming to me and offering to pay for me to take some shots of their children. When I was asked how much I take for a session, I was caught unprepared - I have never charged before. I said I will gladly take the pictures and let them decide how much they want to pay (they are friends or people that I know). And I asked for the permission to use the pictures in my portfolio.

Now, I am thinking that maybe I should take a leap of faith and offer my services for some income. I'm thinking to put my 'still to grow' portfolio online for people to see (the ones that approached me saw only the pictures of my own children on Facebook/Flickr).

I see my ideal web site at this stage:

- simple but professional looking
- affordable (free...? ...)
- allows me to display my portfolio
- allows me to include an introduction/contact info page
- bonus -> possibility to create personal albums for potential clients to see/buy their photos

What would you recommend?

Thank you,
Mytusi

[OsmosisStudios]

A facebook fan page and flickr combo.

[Nekrose]

If you are serious about doing this as a business, I highly suggest Photobiz. They are awesome! And have great customer service.

[myang07]

Try http://www.wix.com/. Can create some nifty flash websites for free.

[JMN-Photo]

Photography community, including forums, reviews, and galleries from Photo.net is a very nice venue for posting your photos and getting feedback. Basic membership is free. Once you upgrade ($25/year) you have the option for a "free" hosted website. The templates are very nice and easy to work with.
For example: Northrup Photography.
Good luck!

Mark

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by myang07

Try Free Website With Flash Website Builder at Wix.com. Can create some nifty flash websites for free.

Please dont.

[candleman]

Originally Posted by Nekrose

If you are serious about doing this as a business, I highly suggest Photobiz. They are awesome! And have great customer service.

+1

i use them and havnt got a bad word to say about anything.

but its not free



if you WANT free use facebook/flickr

[Rina Minca]

Originally Posted by OsmosisStudios

Please dont.

Can you tell me why not?

[GadgetRick]

Originally Posted by OsmosisStudios

Please dont.

What he said.

Flash is bad bad BAD!!!! Lots of problems with Flash which is why so many people are either moving away from Flash or are being pulled away from Flash. Why do you think Apple doesn't support it on the iPhone or iPad? In fact, there are applications out there to suppress Flash from loading when you visit a site (I use ClickToFlash with Safari). You'd be AMAZED at how much faster your browsing is and how many problems you DON'T have.

[myang07]

Originally Posted by OsmosisStudios

Please dont.

Eh, it's free...otherwise learn some coding and build your own like I did. There's plenty of tutorials out there to help you out. IMHO the simpler the better. Your main goal is to showcase your photos. Another great idea is to combine your blog/website. What's nice about that is you're constantly updating it and it fills in clients/potential clients on what you're doing, but also provides information about your services like you would on a typical website. And if you categorize your blog entries, people can search through them like a portfolio. Wordpress is an awesome tool for that. I use it for my blog, and there's TONS of templates to pick from around the web (some are free, not all). Fine example of this is http://jessicaclaire.net. I'm starting to do that and will maybe phase out my website sooner or later. You can check out my blog in my signature. All in all, if you want to get serious with this business, might have to spend some money...webhost definitely...