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.

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.

Mizzou Volleyball

I've been attending some of the Mizzou women's home volleyball games, here are some pictures from the stands:

Jubilation after winning only 1 of 4 games.

Julianna Klein is an amazing outside hitter and her sophomore year, she tore her ACL. Sound familiar? For my Fundamentals in Photojournalism class, I did a photo story on her and her recovery as a two-time ACL destroyer. It makes me so happy to see her out on the court again kickin ass.

Columbia Missourian

Hi! I know it's been a while, but this has truly been a summer of photography. I stayed in Columbia this summer and was a Staff Photographer for the Columbia Missourian. While working, I covered anything from the Show-Me-State games to the Harry Potter premiere to a portrait about a private investigator. Eventually, I'll include links to multimedia in addition to my photos.

I really enjoyed the random assortment of things I did for the paper this summer. Although challenging, it gave me the experience of a daily newspaper staff photographer.

Boone County Horse Fair

So apparently, Centralia, Missouri is the land anchor capital of the world. They're the leading manufacturer of the things that drive holes into the ground. Every year, they have a town celebration called Anchorfest and no joke- an anchor driving competition. In probably one of the most entertaining sporting events, people of all ages compete to be the fastest anchor driver.

The City of Columbia is trying to pass an ordinance that allows its citizens to own chickens. Bluck Blaahhh.

Stephen's College dance rehearsal.

The Columbia Entertainment Company put on My Fair Lady this summer.

Two hysterical Show-Me-State game volunteers.

Columbia also played host to the regional Soap Box Derby this summer.

The two firefighter divisions in Columbia joined this summer and had training exercises.

50 and over softball: EPIC. These old guys can play better than I ever have.

Show-Me-State Games mountain biking at Rock Bridge State Park. Yes, I did hide in the bushes.

Who knew kickball was an official sport at the Show-Me games

Summer concert series at Shelter Gardens

It rained on the Fourth of July, but all the staff photographers covered the fireworks show splendidly.

This was for a story about a woman who struggles financially and looks for free things to do with her kids.

At the Boone County Fair, a new animal show came which displayed exotic animals from hyenas to tigers to bears... and an adorable baby monkey.