"Check out my new website!" I have no idea how many times I have heard or seen this sentence. Nowadays, it seems, everyone has a website, a blog or at least multiple channel media presence.
My old website was outdated and I thought it was a good idea to get something new. Something I could manage myself and change the content quickly if I wanted to. Looking around, I found quite a lot of choices for self service website sulutions. It sounded easy enough, so I chose a template and cheerfully starded to work. I was quite confident to have a beautiful web presence in a few days. Soon I was absorbed in the orbit of templates, layout and design choices. I learned about SEO (how to be quoted high in google searches), URL-Permalink and META-titles (you don't want to know) and I now can "link" everything with everyone. But the many choices also drove me crazy and if you think social media is a time consuming business don't ever attend to build your own website. I worked long nights and changed every bit possible at least twenty times only to come back to the first version again. After the first delirious days I responded to the excessive pressure with excessive procrastination.
Today, four months later, I finally did it! What sounded like a very good and quick idea at first, is in truth a lengthly, stony way of trial and error and I will from now on worship every "check out my new website" with humble appreciation because I know now how much effort was put into it. So please check out my new website! I know you will be like: "Why, on earth, took it four months for her to do this" but believe me - I gave my best and I would love to hear your comments and suggestions.
Out came a classical fine art photographers website. I wanted it as simple as possible and not overload it with secondary information. It is about my work and I hope the look of the website reflects the serenity of my pictures.
And then there is the blog section. It took me a wile to make up my mind if I wanted to start a blog. But after some research the idea grew to me. When I browse the net and look at artists websites, it might give me a nice impression of their work but you almost never get a connection to the person behind the lens. There might be a CV and a link to a gallery for further inquiries but the step to contact a gallery to find out more about an artist is a huge barrier. A blog is a great way to get more personal information about the artist and the step for first questions (I am interested in picture xy, how can I get it) is much lower. A blog will also give me the flexibility to play around on my page and make it more interesting for people to visit. But being quite a straight person, I need a structure, a guideline, so the whole thing will not get out of control. And so I decided on 5 themes.
MY WORK: Here you can find information about new work and upcoming exhibitions. Eventually it will make the section "exhibition" on the website unnecessary because over time you will be able to track all the past, current and upcoming shows by category or tag and get information and pictures - more fun then a dull list.
ART AND INTERIOR: When I looked around photographers websites although the images look beautifull on screen I noticed that its hard to imagine the installation of the actual photographs in real space. The information about the image might give you its dimensions but who can transfer these numbers in an actual proportion, add a little on all sides for a mat, plus imagining a frame in a certain thickness and color for it? That is even hard for me. But as a fine art Photographer, that is what I want: I want people to have my pictures on the wall. I want them to live with them, to be happy about the image but also about the presentation. In this category I would like to show framed work in they're natural habitat, to give you an idea about size and proportions.
ALL AROUND PHOTOGRAPHY: Here I will post information about analog printing, and about collecting photography. I will write about everything that might be of interest for other photographers, collectors or friends who might wonder, what I do all day long.
FEATURING: This is a dear section I wanted to include. It shows pictures of other photographers. Work that inspires me or I would love to own myself. Feel free to wander off and explore more. I think we should be kind and helpful to each other and I will be happy if you find a new artist you like.
TRAVELING: After all, my passion! The way I do it changed over the years, maybe due to becoming older and not seeing the necessity anymore to squeeze myself in a local bus in rural India to be bounced against the seat for hours on non existing springs. I have done that and know, I could do it again if it was necessary. On the other hand, one of the galleries that represents me, has exhibition space on board of one of the most beautiful cruise ships in the world. If she can't be on the ship herself, she sometimes asks me, if I can supervise my exhibition. So my spectrum on travel experience is very wide and I will be happy to share it with you.
Last I would like to apologize to the native english speaking folks that made it all the way to the end of this text. I know my english is not perfect and in writing probably even less so. But I have many friends around the world and I would like them to be able to follow me too. So I decided to write this blog in english, If I unintentionally write something offending, please let me know!
So I hope you enjoy my new page and maybe join me on my blog,
x,
Silke
