Lara Swanson Photo » Nontraditional, Offbeat and Alternative Photographer

It’s official – we’re moving to Massachusetts!

Though I’m incredibly sad to leave my wonderful clients (and friends!) in the DC area, Brad and I are beginning an exciting journey up north. I’m so thankful for the wonderful clients I’ve had here; I hope you all keep in touch! I want to shout out a few particular people -

Kim, Jenn, Brit, Liz, Suzzanne, Lisa: thanks for being terrific clients, blog readers, and most importantly, friends.
Michelle: thanks for agreeing to befriend me a year ago; in the words of Lost, you’re my constant.
Kelly: you’re the strongest woman I know; thank you for being my best friend and business partner.

As many of you already know, I shifted my business to focus on portraits (rather than weddings) last year. It’s been a great decision – one that has allowed me to focus on my health – and I’m planning on continuing to do a few portrait sessions each year. But to keep up on my adventures, be sure to subscribe to So You’re EnGAYged, and feel free to shoot me an email anytime! I’ll miss you all and hope we keep in touch :)

I’ve been working steadily on some side projects over the past few months. Here are a few images from them…

I just got the canvas order in from one of my favorite clients, Liz and Nick! And of course, I wanted to show off the picture that they chose for their 16×20 – it’s the PERFECT picture choice.

A little bit of detail. I absolutely love how this turned out!

(And thanks, Brad, for being my hand model!)

Brad and I had a delightful time at Sara and Jeffrey’s autumnal wedding at Poplar Springs in Midland, VA. The colors were absolutely gorgeous – all deep reds, purples and browns – and complemented beautifully by the weather we had later in the afternoon. Enjoy the slideshow!

I’m a web designer by day, and lately I’ve been accumulating notes on some web design snafoos on photography portfolios. The online portfolio is something that should get clients excited and inspired, and help them connect to you on a personal level. Here are some best practices to follow when building your site that will help you achieve these goals:

1. Organize your images. Your portfolio should make it clear to the potential client what kind of work you do; having multiple galleries with a spectrum of work in each will just be confusing. They want to see your aesthetic, and they want to see it based on the type of photography (weddings, portraits, commercial, etc.).
2. Do not resize their screen. It may seem like a good idea to force the user’s window to be as big as it can be, but this is incredibly annoying for the user. Best practice is to never do something for the user that they didn’t choose on their own.
3. Do not play music automatically. Falling in line with number two, turning on music automatically will annoy the vast majority of users, since it’s not something they chose, and it’s often difficult for them to figure out how to turn it off quickly. If you really want to have music playing, make sure that the on/off button is visible on the page, and the user won’t have to click multiple times to get there.
4. Do not force the portfolio to open in a new window. Same reason still: don’t force the user to do something he or she didn’t choose.
5. Be succinct on your About page. Well I guess we should start with: you should HAVE an About page. On it should be some brief sentences on who you are and why you do what you love. It should also help you stand out from the crowd – why do people want to work with you? What makes you different? But this page should be no more than two paragraphs long, and definitely shouldn’t scroll.
6. Make sure the Contact page is clickable from any other page. You want people to be able to get in touch with you. I also recommend that you include your email address and phone number directly on that page, and don’t force users to always submit a form to get in touch.
7. Your navigation should be easy to use. This is a more subjective guideline, which you can test by asking a few people to check out your site on their own and giving them goals. How difficult is it for them to get to your second gallery of images? How difficult is it for them to find information about you or your prices?
8. Use gender-inclusive language. What if a groom is perusing your site, and finds language about how this is the bride’s day, how you make bride’s dreams come true, and you request the bride’s name on the contact form? There are many grooms out there whose responsibility it is to find their wedding photographer. Similarly, same-sex couples may value the effort in same-sex language.
9. At least mention where your pricing starts. This is an item that’s up for much debate, but potential clients will value having at least an estimate of what your price range is.
10. Don’t write obviously-for-SEO language. If you start getting keywordy, you start looking spammy. Plus, search engines will notice anyway (in a bad way) – they value content that is obviously written for your user to read.

Sarah Hund-Brown, one of my favorite clients EVER, invited me to photograph the Walk a Mile in Her Shoes event this past weekend in Westminster, MD. Yes, those are men in high heels. These men:

The event raised awareness of domestic and gender violence. Many teams participated, including teams from the Fall Fest, a pharmacy, a dentist office, and Timeout Sports Grille. Here are some of my favorite photos from the morning.

Today Brad and I celebrate 2 years of marriage :) I realized I’d never really posted photos of the event here, so enjoy! :)

I still wear this.

My sister and I, and one of my bridesmen getting adjusted by one of our photographers (the incredible Stefan Bright).

I have to give a huge shoutout to two of my bridespeople, Jenn and Ed, who both congratulated my anniversary this morning on Twitter!

Brad hugs his mom before the ceremony, and my dad (and Jenn!) escort me the 10 feet from my parents’ house to the church (my mother was the minister).

Yes, my train really was that long.

Our reception was at a park that I used to play Ultimate Frisbee with my friends in. We had a barbecue for our guests, and invited them to change into comfy clothes beforehand.

This is me, indulging.

My goddog relaxing, and me enjoying our cake toppers.

Brad and I decided to go a little non-American-traditional and partake in a Jamaican wedding cake-cutting tradition called the kissing bird:

His brother and my sister gave amazing toasts.

Our first dance:

Father/daughter:

Mother/son:

And the in-laws, so everybody got fair dance time!

But what is a park reception without some frisbee, whiffle ball, and soccer?

Thanks, Bradford, for two awesome years of marriage :) (And thanks to LD Bright Visual artists for the incredible photos!)