I have worked on a new website to showcase my pet photography and my little bit of family work. The site is not complete but the basics are in place. Your opinions and suggestions are welcome. James, our leader, made a few suggestions and I separate the pet photography from the family photography so that each section would have a more uniform feel. Other suggestions really appreciated.

see: www.visceralimagephotography.com

john

It looks nice, but I hate flash on photographer web sites. It slows down the viewing process. It take 5 seconds for each page to load and I am on a very fast broadband. Most photo editors at the magazines share my view on flash used on photographer web sites.

Thanks David, that is why my site has the choice of Flash and Dial-up HTML on the entry page, I also hate flash. This site is not for my commercial clients such as magazines, it is for customers interested in pet photography. My wildlife photography site is only html as it is for my commercial clients

John, I like the flash. I agree with your point 100% on your target market. I actually run marketing for a very large company so I'm very tuned to "target marketing". On my site I also have music but the viewer must turn it on. I find that most of my viewers actually do turn it on which proves they love to sit back and enjoy the show, or at least I hope they enjoy it. I always ask clients what they like and dislike about my site and I do take it to heart, in spite of my own likes and dislikes, after all I am not marketing to me.... nice job!

I can deal with flash and actually John's page isn't slow for me. I *HATE* music and if it is on when I enter a page, I close the window. Most photographers really do believe people want to hear their music and watch a show, but, I think people just want to see the photos.

Anything that causes people to wait, or draw attention to their computer(music) will make them close the window. Think how many people surf the web at work. Last thing they want is your melody letting everyone know that they aren't working

I agree on the music can be a negative, like I said, on my site the visitor has to turn it on. The default is off. Interestingly though most clients tell me they turn it on.... and enjoy it.

I think there are some applications where people want music. It seems if it is a slideshow with *their* photos, they love it. Wedding photographers almost always set them to music

I have slideshows on my site and they all have music. You have to click them to play though. I had the one on my front page autostarting and got some negative feedback from those on slow connections.

As long as it doesn't accost me, I think music can be an ad

Thanks folks, I really appreciate the candid comments.