I've recently built a site for a young friend of mine who has developed an interest and in my opinion, quite a talent for photography. Both Sarah (the young photographer in question) and myself would appreciate any and all feedback, advice, and constructive criticism.

Thanks for your time, Matt

http://www.bukanza.com/sp/

-- Matt Regan (mattregan@hotmail.com), January 05, 1999

Answers

I like the animation effect on the first page, but because it's a Java applet there was a 20 second pause before the page loaded on my browser. That's enough time for me to lose interest in the rest of the site.

Get rid of the Java and save the animation as a minimized .gif, or just drop it completely despite the clever graphics.

Otherwise a good, simple design, perhaps too much text up front. I'll let others discuss the content. Java may be universal, but it's still a bottleneck for some users--you don't need that on a homepage.

-- Mason Resnick (bwworld@mindspring.com), January 05, 1999.

I almost always stop loading when animation starts. If there is enough to click on at that point, I will.

Text needs to be interesting if it is going to be the lead. You really don't want someone to not like the text and not make it to the photos. Unless someone says something that makes the reader want to view the photos, it should be optional ("click here for bio/statement.") This will probably get more people to look at the photos, and if they really want to know about Sarah, they will read the statement afterwards.

I thought a few of the photographs were interesting, especially the one on the first page, but they don't really hang well together. Some of the photos aren't strong enough, and they aren't connected by topic or style. A good example to look at is Lisa Johnston's (see "new exhibit to critique") in this forum. Better selection, grouping, or other rearrangement could go a long way in this regard.

-- Jeff Spirer (jeffs@hyperreal.org), January 05, 1999.

Nice job! Creating web pages is very much like photography in that they're best when kept simple. I agree with the others that java and elaborate animations are the cause of many sites never being seen. Too much time put into the fancy stuff and not enough put into the site's real purpose, sharing information and art. My favorite of your B&Ws would have to be the "Swing"; although I prefered looking at it without knowing the caption. It's one of those pictures that has different meanings to different people; some will see it as a swing and some may see it as a reminder of the days when we had public hangings. In any case, it was certainly a new way to photography a swing. Good eye! Maybe adding a link from photo to photo after one selects a thumbnail would make it a bit more visitor friendly. I like the thumbnails and will probably change my page to have the same soon. I wish you lots of luck and have a great new year!

-- Leslie Ratliff (leslie@carteret.com), January 05, 1999.

I am confused over whether Sarah and Matt are friends (according to him) or brother and sister (according to her). Not that it matters, and I suppose the two are not incompatible.

The Java stuff wasn't there when I saw it, good. Mind you, it was last updated two days after today, so perhaps I am in a time warp. I don't mind how you spell color/colour, but the rest could do with a spell-checker. The border style was inconsistent, which of itself isn't so bad, but some of the images cried out for a border, to separate blacks in the picture from the black page background. One- picture-pages would often be centred rather than left-justified.

The images themselves? I found them refreshing. Unconventional, and fun. Sure, they are a mixed bunch, but I feel that style will settle down with time, along with printing/scanning technique (burnt-out whites).

-- Alan Gibson (Alan.Gibson@technologist.com), January 08, 1999.

I only had a quick glimpse... ...and was a bit afraid to miss the photography among all Your text.

Question regarding Your photography: As far as I have read, You are using 35mm equipment. Why do You crop Your prints so that they look like 6x6 shots?

-- Andreas Steiner (andreas.steiner@datacomm.ch), March 07, 1999.

Thanks for "Optimism"!

-- Iryna & Valery (igud@fn.csa.ru), March 10, 1999.

I didn't have any delay loading on 3/16/99. The work is very good, especially for a high school student. some of the disussion seemed a bit too much. Perhaps a separate artist statement would be helpfull and a little more discussion of each print. Keep up the good work!

Im wondering if she has had any requests to buy prints?

-- Gene Crumpler (nikonguy@emji.net), March 16, 1999.

Personally, I enjoyed your site very much. I did not read all of the text, though perused enough to get a flavor for who you are.

The site layout was very appealing to me due to its simplicity. Your menu bar was a nice touch, and the photos, the photos promise an excellent composition.

I give your site a thumbs up and will bookmark it with the hopes of ne additions.

-- Eric Myers (emyers@mc.net), August 26, 1999.