Fact: any photographer with a dedicated website is automatically taken far more seriously than others when it comes to actually making great images. Yup, we’re talking about authenticity — not trying to pander to the attention economy to get views. Good photography isn’t showcased on social media. Instead, it thrives like a plant when you put it in a bigger pot for it to expand and take up all for itself. That’s to say that your photos look better and are far more effective when they’re on a website. Besides the fact that they’re not competing for everyone’s attention, the platform is literally designed to showcase your best photos. Thankfully, with the new VSCO Sites, photographers are going to have to do far less work to make a website work.
This article is presented in partnership with VSCO.
Why VSCO Sites?
For a long time, photographers have used one service or another to get their photos on a website. Then, they’ve often ignored their website because it is tedious to upkeep. But with the new VSCO Sites, photographers don’t necessarily have to use a new service.
In the app, just create a curated gallery of your images. You’ve got full control there: make a gallery of your portraits, landscapes, wildlife, photojournalism work, wedding photography, product images, etc. Then when you go onto VSCO for the web, you can enable the website if you’re a Pro member. So for around $60/year, you can have a robust photography website.
For the Photographer Who Cares
Your VSCO Site will, by default, display some of your latest images unless you specifically curate the ones on your home page. But when folks want to look at your work, they can go to the gallery of their choice and peruse your photos. That’s right, it syncs up with your VSCO profile and makes your VSCO galleries into their own sections of the website.
When someone wants to contact you, they can head to the About page to send you an email.
So what can VSCO Sites do for you that social media can’t?
- Show your images off in a bigger and better way.
- Remove distractions from you in their feed.
- Give selections of your work the prominence it deserves.
- Make people think that you take your work more seriously.
I made one with my VSCO profile: check it out here.
Think about it: Most people simply ask for your Instagram. But if you give them your website and are there with them as they interact with it, they are often far more captivated by your work. That’s because the real estate space of your work is centered around, well, your photos. It doesn’t have anything to do with likes, shares, a caption, etc. Instead, it’s just for you to show off your work.
I liken this idea to the silence that we all crave. Everyone’s brain is often overloaded with so much stimuli that they forget what it’s like to not have to use more than three senses at once. So why not give someone the gift of silence and a bit more peace in their head? This way they can reconnect with their own emotions about your photos in a way that feels organic to them.
And what’s even better: VSCO Sites is just for photography. No need to curate your best reels or anything else like that.
VSCO Sites also integrates with the new VSCO Blogs feature; so if people want to see more about you and your work, they can check out those beautiful videos and text that you’ve made to showcase your work.