Photos.ork.be restructured yet again*
* Or alternatively: what happens when you over-engineer a photoshoot workflow?
As you might've noticed I've restructured my site(s) again. Gone is the way too long list of photoshoots, and in with the new "You only get the highlights" portfolio style! I'm still tweaking the latter, so expect a few more changes before everything is finished.
Why the change?
Short answer: it's about what do I want people to see? Ultimately, I would like to be able to get my hobby to pay for itself. For that I need to have an attractive portfolio, which just shows what I can do, what I like to do, and how I can help you with getting the pictures you seek.
However, after talks with many of you I found the old list of shoots to be a hindrance there. It made the site perfect for everyone who already knew the site, but horrible for people who don't know me (yet). That had to change. I did however not want to change this by removing the old shoots entirely. They're all cool and beautiful in their own right, but unfortunately I had already reached the limits of what the gallery system of zenfolio.com, my photo hosting provider, could do. I had to do something else. That's done now!
Ultimately, my portfolio needs to be even smaller and more consise.. But.. little steps.
So what's where?
In short, two things:
I don't like manual labor. I like automation. If it wasn't for automation I would not be able to do this at all, since it would take way to much time away from thesis-work, which still takes up most of my weeks.
Luckily, zenfolio.com provides a nice API to everything I put online on my portfolio. After some searching I found a nice Django plugin for Zenfolio, created by Scott Gorlin. This plugin allows, amongst other things, automated synchonization between a local Django database and the zenfolio database. This means that photoshoots I've put online at photos.ork.be automatically get synchronized to ork.be. There, a local script parses the description fields of any new shoots and matches these to a local database of models and shoots. This, in turn, is used to render ork.be/shoots and ork.be/models.
So, what's my publication work flow?
I've got several in fact. First, the photoshoot workflow:
Though the extra model review steps are strictly speaking not necessary, I like doing shoots this way. Showing results early to models is my way of saying "thanks" for helping with a shoot. Also, the extra time spent on listening to critiques is very helpful. This in turn helps with making the end result just a little bit better.
The publication workflow:
Okay, bunch of photos ready for publication.
As you might've noticed I've restructured my site(s) again. Gone is the way too long list of photoshoots, and in with the new "You only get the highlights" portfolio style! I'm still tweaking the latter, so expect a few more changes before everything is finished.
Why the change?
Short answer: it's about what do I want people to see? Ultimately, I would like to be able to get my hobby to pay for itself. For that I need to have an attractive portfolio, which just shows what I can do, what I like to do, and how I can help you with getting the pictures you seek.
However, after talks with many of you I found the old list of shoots to be a hindrance there. It made the site perfect for everyone who already knew the site, but horrible for people who don't know me (yet). That had to change. I did however not want to change this by removing the old shoots entirely. They're all cool and beautiful in their own right, but unfortunately I had already reached the limits of what the gallery system of zenfolio.com, my photo hosting provider, could do. I had to do something else. That's done now!
Ultimately, my portfolio needs to be even smaller and more consise.. But.. little steps.
So what's where?
In short, two things:
- Photos.ork.be is my photo portfolio. It shows a summary of my work, and what I (can) do.
- Ork.be is my personal site. Primary function: to provide updates on what I do. It contains both my blog and the list of recent photoshoots. This last one is new, and contains a nicely clickable list of shoots and the people I've worked with. Oh and everything has RSS feeds as well of course :)
I don't like manual labor. I like automation. If it wasn't for automation I would not be able to do this at all, since it would take way to much time away from thesis-work, which still takes up most of my weeks.
Luckily, zenfolio.com provides a nice API to everything I put online on my portfolio. After some searching I found a nice Django plugin for Zenfolio, created by Scott Gorlin. This plugin allows, amongst other things, automated synchonization between a local Django database and the zenfolio database. This means that photoshoots I've put online at photos.ork.be automatically get synchronized to ork.be. There, a local script parses the description fields of any new shoots and matches these to a local database of models and shoots. This, in turn, is used to render ork.be/shoots and ork.be/models.
So, what's my publication work flow?
I've got several in fact. First, the photoshoot workflow:
- I create a bunch of images
- I work through these and share a set of photos with the model(s), usually using a password protected link on photos.ork.be.
- I await their response(s), and determine a nice selection of cool photos to work on some more if needed (more Bibble, more Photoshop, etc.)
- The resulting images are then again sent through to the model(s), and if and only if we both agree on what should be put online, I put that series online.
Though the extra model review steps are strictly speaking not necessary, I like doing shoots this way. Showing results early to models is my way of saying "thanks" for helping with a shoot. Also, the extra time spent on listening to critiques is very helpful. This in turn helps with making the end result just a little bit better.
The publication workflow:
Okay, bunch of photos ready for publication.
- First, I place a bunch of photos in a new gallery on photos.ork.be, and add titles and tags where needed.
- I flip the switch on that gallery from "Offline/private" to "Online".
- Then several things happen. My main site picks up on the newly created shoot using the zenfolio API, and creates a new index on in the shoot list. Any known models get tagged automatically, the rest I manually add later.
- Usually I then select a few images in zenfolio and mash the "Publish to flickr" button. This leads to nicely titled, tagged, resized and watermarked images on Flickr.
- I mash the "Publish to facebook" button and type some text. This creates a new facebook link to the shoot.
- I write a blog about what I did
- The published images on flickr are automatically uploaded to Hyves somewhere around 05:00 that night.
- The published blog (if any) is automatically added to Hyves too.