DOCUMENTATION
Document everything you make. Document every show. Factor the cost of documenting any exhibitions into your budgets and if you can afford a professional photographer, get one. Most art schools offer photography workshops – do one before you leave. The best source of light is natural daylight. Avoid using flashes unless you bounce them off something: ceiling, white card etc Get the shot frame parallel to the edges of the work. Don’t be tempted by ‘arty’ shots – a corner of this, a detail of that – show the work, not your photographic skills. Don’t over-correct your images – it is so obvious when you have become over-excited with the contrast button! 300dpi TIFF files for print; 72dpi jpegs for email and web.
If sending images to view on a screen, they don’t need to be huge. Check sizes – even in the age of super-fast broadband, sending huge files is still bad form. Think of a useful filing system for your photographic files – trust me – it will help so much later on. Decide on a cataloguing system (your name/title/date/ exhibition/media/reference number/etc.) and stick to it. Portfolios – don’t use images of a work or project that you consider to be personally important if it is badly documented – no-one else will understand the significance. Throw away pictures of work where we can see your reflection. BACK UP YOUR FILES!
YOUR WEBSITE
CONTENT
This advice is for portfolio websites, not web-based artworks. Don’t attempt to show everything you have ever done. Be selective.
Contact – please do include your contact details. Not including them makes you seem aloof. Contact forms are just annoying – if you are worried about spam, list your email address like this: example[at]example.com Don’t include huge amounts of text explaining your work (unless it is part of it of course) – allow the work to speak for itself where possible. Statements – complex ideas can be conveyed with clarity, and clarity is appreciated by others, especially when reading at speed. Do include a full CV of shows and your education, if you deem it relevant. Interested parties will look here to gain a sense of how active you are. Do constantly update your CV. Test how the document comes across to others and don’t get hung up on details rather than overall presentation.
Consider also how your web presence matches up to your paper CV. Advertising – just don’t go there! Keep your site for your work alone. Links – it may be tempting to include a page with lots of links to your friends’ sites – unless they are collaborators or somehow relevant, don’t – keep your site focussed on your work. SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) – read up on this to make sure you get the most from search-engines.
BUILDING
If you do not have the time and energy to learn HTML, there are several options available to you: Tumblr, Blogspot (good for running updates of news etc), WordPress, Indexhibit, Weebly, Cargo Collective. Most of these will give you a subdomain site, eg. example.weebly.com. However, for very little money you can upgrade to use your own domain, eg. www.example.com Layout/navigation – whatever you do, make sure your website is easy to navigate. Do not make a labyrinth (unless it is your intention for people to get lost). Always make sure individual pages have links back to your homepage. Homepage – this is the first thing visitors to your site will see, so choose a work or a slideshow that you feel adequately represents your practice. Sounds/video – do not have these play automatically.
Give visitors the option of clicking to hear/view. Images – use web-friendly image sizes, around 100KB or less. Adobe Photoshop’s ‘save for web’ feature is good for this. Hosting – don’t be tricked into buying a package with huge amounts of storage. Save on hosting by using third-party sites such as YouTube/Vimeo/Soundcloud, and then embedding these as objects on your site.
Put your domain name on your email signature. This is a great way to get your work seen without being pushy.