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West Haven, Connecticut-based photographer Christopher Beauchamp had been struggling, like so many photographers, to create a portfolio that would speak to both current and aspirational clients. He decided it was time to get an outside perspective and enlisted me and our team of designers to help him retool his brand and website.
First, we discussed his current approach to editing and maintaining his website. It had been some time since he took a comprehensive look at his portfolio. He’d been adding work in drips and drabs, clouding his galleries with work that didn’t necessarily fit. We agreed that a complete ground-up edit was needed. Christopher wanted to market himself as an adventure, sports, and portraiture shooter, which would help him move away from the generalist vibe his site was sending out. We discussed the kinds of clients that were coming back consistently. However, we agreed that he was in a good position in his career to specialize his presentation and pursue new clients.
While our designers got to work on the logo and Christopher went off to Columbia for another wild adventure, I began the Web Edit. As Chris and I discussed, I focused on narrowing down the broad spectrum of work to concise edit. I created three separate galleries: adventure, sports, and portraiture. Of course, I included adventure themed portraits in adventure, and sports related portraits in sports. This way, the portrait gallery could be geared towards editorial publications in need of environmental portraits of everyday folks instead of hardbodied adventurers.
Next, I approached the adventure category. Chris’s adventure work is a mix of caving, rock climbing, and ice climbing. I considered weaving them together, to find colors and themes between images of each activity. After discussing this with other photo editors, I opted to keep separate sections within this category. At this point, I used transitional images to bridge the three sports into one smooth progression.
To create the sports section, I divided the work into three basic areas. Those are competitive sports, fitness, and “grittier” sports (skateboarding, obstacle courses, etc.). I used the more polished, competitive sports portraits as the opening and closing shots. After that, I used color and texture to guide the viewer from parkour to yoga!
After the edit was complete, designer Melissa Ginsiorsky worked with Chris to transfer his site to AFotoFolio‘s Design X, customizing the new template to be as user-friendly as possible. Chris eventually found his way back to the US, and was thrilled with his new look!
See more of Chris’ work on his website.
Further Reading
Specialty: What is Outdoor/Adventure Photography?
Specialty: What is Portraiture Photography?
Expert Advice: How To Build Your Web Presence
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