Apr 28, 2011

A new space to call my own

The reason for this unusually early post today is that I'm very happy to share with you the official launch of my website and portfolio. Finally! I couldn't even sleep last night, I was so anxious about it and proceeded to have nightmares about a host of website bugs.

Thank you all for your always encouraging and supportive words. Whether you've shouted out to me on twitter, or sent me a flickrmail, or chatted me on gtalk when I was feeling frustrated about my progress, or commented on this blog, or sent me an email (or even if you're just a lurker here!) - your words definitely helped push me through the some 30+ hours spent working on this over the past week. And a huge special thank you to Jimmy, who stayed up even later than I did last weekend to help me with the coding and who worked tirelessly through all the kinks to make sure everything looked perfect. When I gave up, he persisted. I really can't thank him enough.

Click above to get to the main site, or you can just direct yourself to my portfolio.

I faced a lot of challenges when I was putting together my portfolio. One was the typical photographer catch-22 dilemma in that the photos I most want to display (that is, professionally styled food and interior shoots and more official restaurant shoots) aren't going to happen until I have the right portfolio to attract those kinds of jobs. But I can't get the right portfolio without having had those kinds of jobs to begin with! And thus, my portfolio consists of rather candid, "unofficial" shots... for now, at least (I hope!).

Two was that I decided to display only portrait format shots and only shots that complemented another to tell a more complete story. Sometimes I felt I had a great standalone shot but I had to scrap it because it just didn't fit with something else. Other times I would put two shots side by side that I felt could work, but going back to it a few hours later, it just felt bizarre and not right. So I scrapped those too. I had to remind myself constantly not to get too attached to an idea or image.

Three was that I am very disorganized when it comes to photo storage. Multiple drives with multiple folders for my pictures. Things calmed down after I got Lightroom, but everything before that is a mess. Part of what took so long was painstakingly finding old folders and hunting down specific images from a few years ago that I knew I would want to visit. On a similar note, I really wished I had shot in RAW back in the day. (That is advice to you all out there still shooting in JPEG!)

I know the hard work, setbacks and challenges don't end here. I know how competitive this space is and how many stunning portfolios there are out there. One of my career goals is to shoot a printed cookbook and I will remain thoughtfully optimistic - here's to even harder work and hoping for more exciting things in the future. Hope you'll stick around!

21 comments :

  1. It's so great Alice! I am looking at your portfolio and enjoying everything about it. :-)

    Wish you the best in your career! xo

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  2. Alicia, your portfolio looks faboulous! Great Job!!

    Just dicover your blog and I'm enjoing it! :)

    Hugs from Montreal!

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  3. Alice, your site looks AMAZING! You and Jimmy did a great job. I wish you all the best :)

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  4. Really quality site, Alice! Congrats to both of you on your hard work!

    I hope this doesn't sound weird but I had a dream that you had published a cookbook full of your photos; something like the "Art" of Asian cuisine or something. Maybe I'd read somewhere at some point that it was your intent but I don't remember that!

    Best of the best luck to you!!

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  5. Congratulations Alice!!!

    After first finding your blog randomly, I wanted to read more! Your pictures definitely drew me in and after reading each and every blog post it really is an inspiration to see that now you have a photography website! It looks lovely! I'm sure whoever has their cookbook photographed by you will be so lucky!

    All the best from Kingston!

    :)

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  6. looks great Alice! Well done :)

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  7. Said it before but seriously, this is a great looking website and although it is only a small sample of your work, your portfolio is already quite impressive :) You're going to do great, this is just the start!

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  8. it looks absolutely terrific!!!

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  9. Congrats girl! It is simply gorgeous. All u touch turns into gold. Keep the inspiration flowing!

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  10. Alice, your portfolio looks great - so professional!

    I am so excited for you - and that cookbook? It's just a matter of time, my friend.

    Congrats!

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  11. such huge congrats :) so proud of you, it looks beautiful, and there is SO much in front of you!

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  12. Congratulations Miss Alice!! The excitement of a successful launch must be blissful :) As a past anonymous lurker, and now a blogger with a name I am very excited for you and wish you much success with your passion!


    Con amor,

    Yesenia
    http://yessiandthegypsies.blogspot.com/

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  13. Alice you're amazing! I love how your portfolio images are so thoughtfully put together into diptychs. I've always loved the work you do and I'm so eager to see more! :)

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  14. Congratulations, your website is beautiful. I like the clean, fresh look very much and combining your photos into diptychs was a splendid idea. (I'm one of the lurkers, so I'm afraid not much of support to you, but one tab in my browser is always open on your blog :))

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  15. congrats! it's great that you have a definitive goal of shooting a cookbook.

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  16. i am so blown away by your porfolio! so gorgeous and delicious! the pairings are done really well. i have no doubt that a cookbook filled with your beautiful images is coming to a bookstore near us :) great job, alice!

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  17. A huge huge congratulations! One day, I am going to hire you to shoot something. I just don't know what yet! :)

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  18. I like your new portfolio a lot. I'm thrilled. I like all your photos. For your career, I wish you much luck and perseverance.

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  19. I've just been to look at your portfolio, it looks amazing! I'm in exactly the same boat right now, re-designing mine as I have anew target in my sites, and curating the images has been a nightmare! Yours looks fantastic, best of luck with it!

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  20. I've been a frequenting your blog for a while now and wanted to come out of lurk mode to say congratulations on the launch of your new creative enterprise. Your work is amazing and inspired, and success is yours for the taking!

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  21. just took a look at your new website and the portfolio! you really did a great job, I love every single one of the shots that you have selected!
    and I keep my fingers crossed for the printed cookbook - great goal!

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