Photographer's Photography Website

The website

This photography website was done with a bottom-up approach for the launch initially with the basic and important contents necessary. I believe taking the first step is always the most difficult milestone and thus I didn't establish a large-scale plan that would take me forever to launch this website. Yes, I did it (put it online) within my capability (time) without dragging my feet.

As days go by, I overwhelm this website with more content in the battle within myself over the priority and importance of every piece of them. Every day, it's just like firefighting.

Design This photography website is designed with the key specifications - simplicity and usability. It's not something difficult since I've been designing websites since my secondary school days. The greatest challenge is when new content is added, some minor design has to be tweaked. Over time, more changes have to be made to accommodate a larger amount of content.

On the main page, the photos are displayed randomly among a few photographs that are in landscape orientation. Every time it's refreshed, the photograph will be changed.
Coding Everything was started from scratch on a notepad. PHP language is used largely to reduce time in updating the site, simulating a database without actually creating one. I have played with HTML, CSS and JavaScript as well.
Copywriting All contents are written by me unless otherwise specified. I have a limited vocabulary and thus I'm able to keep things very simple. I write much better than I speak. This website is therefore a good platform for self-expression while sharing ideas and knowledge with people from all over the world.
Updates I update the website very frequently to add new content and improve on my language. Over time, I may have to restructure some of the content.
Limitation Some of the photos are loaded from Facebook in order to reduce space usage in my server and also for easy updating. However, Facebook does reduce the quality of the photos. There may also be a dead link when Facebook changes the direct URL of the photos.

Goals

Showcase my work The top priority of this website is to showcase my portfolio which I can direct my potential clients to. For a serious professional photographer, a simple portfolio website is minimal. Social media websites like Facebook and Instagram are very good platforms to display my work but they have limitations and definitely not as organised. For example, I'm not able to categorise my portrait, event and interior photo albums on Facebook. Some of my potential clients may find it messy. It's too tedious for me to create a different Facebook page for each kind of photoshoot work.
Connect with people With this website, I'm able to connect with many people from all over the world, including clients and other talents in other fields that are related to photography. I also collaborate with other talents/artists. I gather my work, thoughts and knowledge to share with my visitors. They get to know at least a little about me before they even get to talk to me. People who are patient and detailed tend to know me even better because they make more effort to read, just like you are doing now.
Educate people
1. to judge the quality of photographs Having excessive interaction with bad photographs shot by amateurs with lots of LIKEs and compliments (due to hot models) may influence one's standard of judgment, in a bad way. I seek to help people learn how to appreciate tasteful photographs.
2. to understand the effort of photographers Most people own at least one camera nowadays, be it a DSLR, compact camera, GoPro or mobile phone camera. To many people, photography is only about clicking of the shutter button to snap photographs. Therefore, most people don't really think about the cost of photography, or rather, simply assume photography is an easy job.
3. to eliminate unrealistic expectation For example, if a client engages a photographer at a low price, the client shouldn't expect to receive very good photographs; rather, they should actually pray hard that the photographer is good but inexperienced (that's the reason for the low rate). After all, you get what you pay for. In order to help everyone, including photographers, I have created an artist about misconceptions and myths in professional photography.
4. to improve collaboration While many photographers, makeup and hairstylists and models will collaborate (TFCD) to build a portfolio or for marketing purpose, there are many unspoken rules and procedure for the sake of fairness and getting better end products (photographs). There are many people who have been setting very bad trends and influencing newcomers. Eventually, photographers are taken for granted, apart from the fact that they are spending the most time on each project - planning, shooting, and post-production.
Help enthusiasts to learn Helping others is also a way of helping myself. I have added many instructions, tips and articles to this website. These contents are up here for multiple reasons such as (1) for myself to refer to, (2) for referring people to and (3) for visitors to learn. For example, I have written various photography tips.
Promote Singapore I have created a list of best photoshoot places in Singapore. I have tried to do photoshoots at places so that I can share the photographs. The list also serves me and my clients well during the planning phase, while many visitors visit the page for brainstorming for their photoshoots too.

Short URLs

I name my pages with descriptive words so that I can find the files easier on my system whenever I need to edit them. Although the URLs of every page can be long and include ".php" at the back, I have tried to work on the navigation around the website so that visitors don't need to type the address on their web browser. However, I have also included some short URLs for the frequently visited web pages so that visitors can remember them easier.

Best photoshoot places in Singapore
https://skaichanphotography.com/places
Bikini/ swimwear photographer
https://skaichanphotography.com/bikini
Contact Skai
https://skaichanphotography.com/contact
Couple photographer
https://skaichanphotography.com/couple
Dating profile rebranding
https://skaichanphotography.com/dating
Event photographer
https://skaichanphotography.com/event
Equipment
https://skaichanphotography.com/equipment
Freelance models
https://skaichanphotography.com/model
https://skaichanphotography.com/models
Freelance photographer
https://skaichanphotography.com/photographer
Frequently asked questions
https://skaichanphotography.com/faq
Makeup artists and hairstylists
https://skaichanphotography.com/hmua
https://skaichanphotography.com/mua
Interior / real estate photographer
https://skaichanphotography.com/interior
Maternity photographer
https://skaichanphotography.com/maternity
Night portraits
https://skaichanphotography.com/night
Portrait photographer
https://skaichanphotography.com/portrait
https://skaichanphotography.com/portfolio
Post production - photo editing (enhancing, retouching)
https://skaichanphotography.com/editing
Photographer's rates
https://skaichanphotography.com/rates
Service agreement
https://skaichanphotography.com/agreement
Studio photography
https://skaichanphotography.com/studio
Testimonials / Reviews
https://skaichanphotography.com/testimonial
https://skaichanphotography.com/testimonials
https://skaichanphotography.com/review
https://skaichanphotography.com/reviews
TFP / TFCD photoshoot
https://skaichanphotography.com/tfcd
Photography tips
https://skaichanphotography.com/tips
Videography
https://skaichanphotography.com/videography
https://skaichanphotography.com/videographers
Wedding
https://skaichanphotography.com/wedding

You may be interested in:
- Crafting my photography portfolio pages
- Links to other websites
- Photography tips
- Photography service agreement
- Important checklist for hiring a photographer