Vail, Colorado-based photographer Carmen Chan came to us originally for a list build, but our marketing department suggested that before putting in all the marketing effort that she consolidate her extensive web edit first. Although Carmen was showing some really strong work on her site, there was just too much of it, which made it difficult to navigate through the content without feeling overwhelmed. Rather than build a list and reach out to clients with her edit looking less than stellar, she was happy to accept our advice to spice up her site and refine her projects before reaching out to new clients in her region.
Carmen agreed the edit was something she could use our help with, so we immediately jumped on a call to talk about the different kinds of work she’d been shooting lately and what direction she was looking to take her brand. She mentioned her continued interest in shooting portraiture, fashion, and lifestyle, along with an emphasis on athleisure in the hopes of eventually working with clients like Madewell, J.Crew, Urban Outfitters, and Fader.
Since Carmen had been working on a pretty broad range of projects, from fashion to portraiture to reportage work for brands, we agreed to continue to showcase her work via project galleries, but to refine the overall amount of content she was showing in order to do a few things: 1) emphasize only her best work 2) show a manageable amount of image content 3) focus on showing the type of work she wants to be doing more of in order to appeal to future clients.
After going through close to 800 images from over 30 different projects, we were able to consolidate the work to about half of that, focusing on showing only a few especially successful projects per specialty. There were even projects that covered specialties she wasn’t previously giving much attention to, like hospitality, that were quite strong and worthy of inclusion in the new edit. In addition to all the new project galleries, I also made a single specialty gallery for all of her editorial portrait work.
The new edit significantly improved the impact and focus of Carmen’s brand, and with the addition of a new template which she did on her own, and some refinement to her logo (she simply made it larger and darker), her site looks and functions 1000 times better. The content is much more dynamic than in her previous edit, and it’s presented in a streamlined and easy-to-navigate manner so that clients can comfortably explore.
After we completed our work together and the edit was implemented on her site, Carmen had these kind words to share about the process:
This refresh was a huge undertaking because it was the first time I ever overhauled and sought help with an edit. It involved looking back at four years’ worth of work and sending Stacy over 800 images that she masterfully narrowed down to what you see on the site… I really feel like the edit contributed so much and provided that structure for people to look at my work and the breadth of it all. It’s the most professional I’ve ever felt.