EPJ

This semester, I am enrolled in a class called Electronic Photojournalism. Although not required, I decided to take this class to expand my non-existent knowledge of web-site building, Flash and other aspects of outside-camera photography.

The class requires a blog, so I will occasionally be posting assignments as well as my current photography. I bought a domain name and will also be building a real website throughout the semester!

Our first assignment is a web site critique.

For my first critique, I chose to analyze Joel Sartore’s photography web site. Mr. Sartore has been one of my favorite photographers since I first picked up National Geographic Magazine in high school.

I’ve visited Mr. Sartore’s site many times, but never for ease and content review. The gray background with white type makes his site stand out from the average black or white photography backgrounds.

Mr. Sartore included links at the bottom of each page to return to the home page, galleries, bio, store and stock as well as links to Facebook and Twitter.

The home page displayed three big pictures. Two linked to galleries and had a slideshow effect that I would like for my site. The third was a personal story photograph. The site displayed Mr. Sartore’s current work on amphibians along with his updates to his old work. A short description also accompanied every gallery, which helped distinguish his different projects.

Mr. Sartore’s site is all-inclusive. Not only does he have a biography and blog, he has a section of frequently asked questions and links to his field notes. While this is unnecessary for my site, I respected that he is willing to share his knowledge easily. He also has forms for contact and many contest and information links for great interactivity.

What I did not love about the site was the sidebar distractions. The sidebars were links containing more of Mr. Sartore’s videos and information or National Geographic advertisements. While they were organized, they distracted me. Without the bars, the main images could have been bigger.

This class also requires a final project incorporating multimedia. I only have one project idea so far. The St. Louis Cardinals are having a break-through season. My family has season tickets and I would like to do a project on the Cardinals while they finish their season. I can interview fans, and photograph games to create the story of the end of their season.