About Me

Most people call me Flagg. I'm from a small town south of St. Louis and just graduated from the University of Missouri. Photojournalist by trade, I use this blog to visualize my life and surroundings. Aside from photo, my great loves are my family, food, the St. Louis Cardinals and Queen. I'm open to go anywhere in the world and experience everything.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

EPJ Website Critique 2


The portfolio website of Penny De Los Santos contrasts sharply with the last critique I did of National Geographic photographer, Joel Sartore. De Los Santos is a photojournalist from Texas who has also worked for National Geographic, but has taken her photography to a food level. Literally, she integrates her journalistic talents to food in different cultures.

Anyway, I met Penny at the Missouri Photo Workshop I’m helping with this week (more details to come later). In stalking her and the other faulty members, I found her web site and decided to use it for this assignment.

De Los Santos’s website is plain and clear, much like her food photography. Both the pictures and the sit complement each other well. The white background on the site goes with the white plates featured in many of her shots. The site is also easily navigable. Home, and category buttons are at the top of every page. Her portfolio button becomes a drop-down menu featuring her galleries. I have mixed feelings about this. I like that a user can choose what they view first, but I don’t like pictures not accompanying the gallery titles. Also, the light gray font color blends into the main image on the home page. The galleries don’t become impossible to read, but become more difficult.

I’ve decided I like the look of top navigation rather than on the left side like I have on my site. My name will need to be a little smaller and aligned left and then my categories will be smaller on the right.

In her galleries, she has a scroll bar to the left but without navigation arrows. Users must move their arrow up and down the pictures to click to enlarge; I think arrows would make it easier. De Los Santos has anywhere from 20-32 pictures for each gallery. While I do not have that many good pictures for my site, I love the variety and amount she has.

Lastly, in her bio category, she has links on words like ‘family.’ A new window will pop up with a little blurb about her family. I love this. Many people want to share their family, but not necessarily everyone wants to read about it. With this interactive tool, people have the option to learn more.

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