Patricia Burke is a Colts Neck, New Jersey-based photographer who specializes in Architecture, Home/Garden, and Adventure imagery. We first became acquainted after she contacted Wonderful Machine with an interest in joining our roster of photographers. It was during this initial dialog that we spoke about her website, her edit, and the ways in which she could utilize our consulting services to strengthen her brand and get the most out of her membership.
As with most editing projects, we started off Patricia’s web edit with a Skype call to discuss her background in the industry, the type of clients she’s been working for, and the prospective clients she’s looking to gain. It was made clear during this conversation that her primary specialties are Architecture and Home/Garden, and that her active lifestyle work, with a focus on cycling culture, is something she would like to be doing more of. With that in mind, we knew that her edit needed to focus on what was already working for her while making it more concise and impactful and then integrate her secondary work in a way that shows off both her skills and potential. You can see my screencast of Patricia’s site below:
Prior to the edit, her website was divided into six portfolios, showcasing galleries of interiors, exteriors, people, active lifestyle, and two different cycling galleries. After carefully considering all of the photos Patricia submitted for review, it was clear that we needed to consolidate her content and mostly focus on her most commercially viable work, while carefully integrating the work she’s looking to do more of. During the edit, it was necessary to eliminate any work that didn’t support her brand. For example, although she had some strong portrait work, there just wasn’t enough of it to show a solid representation or style within this specialty on her site.
Taking a look at Patricia’s first gallery, you’ll see that emphasis was placed on sequence, flow, and diversity of environment. In her original edit, she grouped interiors according to the room. Although this seems to be a logical method of grouping work, it can feel a bit repetitive and lessen the impact of the individual shots and the details.
With her Exteriors and Garden grouping, we felt it was best to start with an inviting image that merged the concept of both architecture and outdoor living. Throughout the gallery, we focused on showing a push and pull amongst the sequenced images, integrating both garden and architectural details in order to break up some of the repetition that was apparent in her previous edit.
The Active Lifestyle gallery was meant to showcase the strongest images from Patricia’s outdoor adventure and cycling imagery. The focus of this gallery was to highlight the range of work Patricia has photographed while emphasizing her growing interest and passion for photographing cycling culture.
The last gallery on Patricia’s site is meant to function as a project offshoot from the Active Lifestyle gallery and to highlight work from specific cycling events. She plans to update this gallery, currently showing work from the 2014 Tour de France, on a regular basis. We can’t wait to see the work from the upcoming Tour!
You can check out more of her work and our edit at patriciaburkephotography.com.