Hesperidian Productions Summer 2011 Runway Show

This past weekend I photographed my first runway show by Hesperidian Productions at Tempo Dance Studio in Middleton, WI. One of my favorite local designers, Claire Ann of Gypsy Couture had many of her designs featured.  It was a great show by everyone involved!

You can see the photos here:
http://jenniferahughes.zenfolio.com/p403228380

Hesperidian Productions can be found here:

www.facebook.com/hesperidianproductions

Featured Photo in Madison Snaps

Just found one of my photos was featured on "Madison Snaps" on Isthmus' The Daily Page.  Always fun to find my photos somewhere other than on my own site!  :)

http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=33762

I know this is a photography blog but....

I live in Madison, Wisconsin, and I'm sure many of you out there have heard of the battles we are having with our current Governor.  Today was a sad, sad day, in that the Supreme Court ruled that the law to bust unions was, in fact, in effect. This evening, as many days and evenings in the past, we held another rally at the Capitol.  Here is a video that represents true democracy in Wisconsin...Wisconsin sings "We Shall Not Be Overcome"

Update: I was contacted by CNN this morning for permission to use my video throughout their site, as well as on TV.  CNN iReport: The Day the Unions Died

Zenfolio vs PhotoShelter vs SmugMug for a Stunning Gallery!

Recently, I did extensive research into sites which I can host my photos on, as well as have the possibility to produce sales.  Many sites came up, the top being Photoshelter.com, Zenfolio.com and SmugMug.com. 

Prior to choosing Zenfolio, I was only using Flickr.  Flickr is an amazing site for generating traffic, plus many of my images show up in google image searches if my name or the correct keywords are used.  I love Flickr, especially the feedback you can give and get from the community.

However, the downside to Flickr was that I put everything up there...and that includes events and snapshots, which are by far not my gallery quality work. There is also no easy way to sell on Flickr.

As mentioned above, I did research into Photoshelter, Zenfolio and Smugmug.  Right off the bat Photoshelter was out due to the fees to join. Their rates start at $9.99/month and go up from there. 

It was then down to Zenfolio and SmugMug.  Both had great reviews, and both had great looking galleries.  SmugMug starts at $40/year for their basic plan, however you cannot set your own prices and there isn't much customization you can do to your page other than their basic layouts.  So, I went over to Zenfolio.  Same story as far as the basic vs. pro package, but their easy to use site, customizable pages, SEO options and the $25/year membership had me hooked.

After about week, I have a very nice gallery and customized pages.  They have many templates to choose from, and you can customize them as needed (font, graphics, etc).  At the $25 rate, you can choose to have your photos available for prints, however the prices are extremely low.  If at some point I choose to upgrade to the premium plan, $100 isn't so bad.  For the time being, I use their contact me section for inquiries on print sales.  With the premium plan, you can set your own domain name (however, see below for how I did this already), Zenfolio branding is removed, you can fulfill orders on your own or use one of their labs, photos are watermarked (although I was able to turn off the option to download them), and you also have a client access page.

Overall, I am very pleased so far with Zenfolio.  For $25/year, it's a great start!  They are not the best for SEO, reading the forums, keywording photos, titling your pages accurately and getting backlinks will all help traffic to your site, however.  There is an SEO section, so my page has been "given" to Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.  Also, I was able to purchase http://www.jenniferahughes.com/ through godaddy, and immediately redirect it to my Zenfolio site www.jenniferahughes.zenfolio.com for easier access. 

I hope this article helps anyone looking to find a great place to host a photo gallery and sell prints!