Web Edit & Print Edit: An Update for Adam Lerner

Adam Lerner is a fashion and portrait photographer based in Brooklyn, NY. Recently, he contacted me looking for help freshening up his site with a web portfolio edit. Although our staff had previously worked on an edit for Adam about a year ago, he had lots of new work to show and we both agreed it was time for an update.

We started the process with a Skype call to discuss Adam’s current clients, prospective clients, and goals with his edit. His previous site was divided into two main galleries: Portraiture and Fashion, along with a Projects section. After looking through all of the new material Adam sent over, it was clear that we needed to move out with the old, and in with the new to make room for a new specialty, Corporate, on his site.

Our first step was to go through and reorganize Adam’s fashion work. Keeping in mind that he was looking to gain more fashion clients, we created a versatile gallery that focused on showing a curated collection of his fashion, fashion lifestyle, location, studio, and even some catalog work. Emphasis was placed on sequence, flow, and showing what Adam is capable of doing in one gallery without it being overwhelming, disjointed, or unorganized.

Regarding portraiture, Adam does work for a wide range of editorial clients. After rating, sorting, and organizing all of the portraits he sent over, it was clear that he’d benefit from integrating a new Corporate gallery onto his site. Luckily, he had just enough images to create this new gallery— making it quicker and easier for users to filter through his portrait work and get a better perspective of the type of clients Adam’s been working with.

Adam’s main Portraiture gallery contains a diverse mix of subjects in a variety of settings. Some images were taken in the studio, some were environmental editorials, and some were just very strong images from personal projects that fit well into the edit. With this collection, we focused on streamlining the range of Adam’s skills and showing off his talent for effectively capturing such a broad range of personalities, moods, and subjects in one cohesive edit.

For Adam’s Projects gallery, we focused on showing projects that felt complete and well thought out rather than showing unfinished series or works in progress. The goal was to make his projects just as commercially viable as his bread-and-butter work. In doing so, we had to eliminate some interesting work that just hadn’t come together yet and build up more complete stories with the work that was more developed. Our favorite grouping from this gallery is the series Summer Ride, which features lifestyle images from Adam’s summer motorcycle adventure with friends.

After the edit was complete, we sent the sequenced PDFs over to Adam so that he could review them, add his own feedback and eventually update his site. We were happy to see that when Adam implemented the edit, he also updated his website to a more streamlined and responsive template from Squarespace.

After the new edit was implemented, Adam decided to consult with us on a print portfolio edit as well, so that he could have an updated book to leave with clients. Although he decided to order the book on his own rather than have us order it for him, we provided him with a carefully sequenced and edited collection of images that supported the work on his site. With the print edit, it was crucial to use images that enhanced the content on his site, rather than simply repeating it. We also brought in Senior Designer Melissa Ginsiorsky to design the cover and inside front page.

I started by using just a few key images from his website, then built around them with strong work from all of the specialties he shoots:

It was an absolute pleasure working with Adam on his edits, and we love how the final products turned out. Here’s what Adam thought about working with us:

Working with Stacy on my web portfolio edit and print portfolio edit was fantastic. Stacy managed the entire process quickly and efficiently despite having to cull through literally hundreds of my images. I was really impressed with the depth of connections Stacy made in my photos. From content, to composition to color scheme, Stacy identified common threads and thematic cues that now arranged properly show my work at it’s best. I’m very happy with the results and applied her exact edits to both my new portfolio website and my new print portfolio book.

You can view Adam’s finished print portfolio below:

Check out Adam’s website to see his full web portfolio edit.

Need help with a web and print edit? Reach out!