After searching through twenty-four Toronto photographers’ web sites yesterday, trying to help a customer find a suitable photographer, I gave up. The customer needed some fashion-style photography which I don’t do.
One photographer’s web site stated, “I specialize in fashion, beauty, weddings, portraits, children, maternity, glamour, food, product, catalog, commercial, editorial, landscape and pet photography.” Whew! Everything but the proverbial kitchen sink.
Another photographer said he was “based in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, London, Paris, Rome and Sydney.” Jeez, talk about covering all your bases!
The slideshows on one site contained 89, 112 and 172 pictures. Who has the time to click through that many photos?
One site required the viewer to click through four splash screens before getting to the actual content. A few Flash-based sites barely functioned. One site popped open a new window for every photo. Several sites had unreadable text. And yes, a couple of sites had music playing.
One photographer wrote, “I am a very busy photographer but I have decided to accept bookings for 2012.” Gee, how considerate of that photographer!
From time to time, photographers should pretend to be a customer searching for a professional photographer. See what customers have to put up with while tediously searching through endless photographer web sites. Then apply this information to improve their own site.
