PictureThis – Full Screen WordPress Theme

There are a few themes that will fall into this catagory of “Full Screen.” PictureThis is hot and can you imaging your customers reaction as your photography website loads? This WordPress theme isn’t trying to make a huge full screen flash slideshow either. The theme is going to work over multiple devices. I love the full screen slideshow for the home page. I’d love to test out this theme to see if I can easily turn off the rotation of images on pages other than the homepage. If it’s not easy, it could still be done; however, it would make the theme that much nicer to me. If the slideshow rotation is still desired across the website, I would probably try and optimize those images so that the face of a person isn’t covered up by the content box. You can’t deny the instant impact though. When I look at this theme, I think of how it could be used for photography projects. Get more info on this theme…

*This was originally part of a larger list of amazing WordPress themes for photographers, but it was causing the original post to not display properly. This is a pretty awesome fullscreen theme that shows off work and captures attention of viewers. Cheers!

I came across this WordPress / Google Plus tutorial today and I know there are a lot of people on the obsessed front of Google+.  Many people, especially photographers, are getting a little freakishly in love but it doesn’t mean I don’t want to share cool stuff related to the social platform.  Many people LOVE that they can integrate their Twitter updates into their blog but what about their Google+ updates?

If you’re one of those obsessed Google+ photographers, you might not even use Twitter much anymore.  You may have totally jumped ship and deleted your profile. That’s cool, focus on one social platform or dabble [make sure you have a sanctuary...].  Now you’re Twitter feed sits showing on your website broken or displaying something from 2 months ago.  You can change it up with your Google+ updates finally :)

Let me tell you, I sure didn’t come up with this code to display your Google Plus updates in WordPress. Kevin Muldoon from WP Mods shares 2 ways to do it and a 3rd way is simply using a plugin + widget.

View the Google+ Tutorial

Forget the hard work and get the plugin.

Anything to help feed the Google Plus addiction for photographers :)

Oh ya, if you’re not already connected on Google+: Add me to a circle [don't worry I'm cool with being in your weirdo circle]

First of all, I am a WooThemes Fan to the fullest and I will support them til the day WordPress dies or I die – Whichever comes first. There are so many reasons I adore WooThemes and I’ll share that soon; however, I’m very interested in finding amazing WordPress Themes for Photographers. I ultimately wish to help photographers with their website setup, design, and execution. Much more needs to go into a photography website than just installing the theme, but it is a serious first step in the right direction. I also want to fully support the adventurous photographers that love to do things themselves – I’m one of them. If you’re one too, hopefully this list of mind blowing WordPress Themes will help you elevate your photography website to a new level.

I believe the presentation of a website can and should make your brand JUMP off the page. Right now on my personal photography website, I am using the Snapblog by WPBundle and I love it; however, it’s not letting things jump off the page [in my opinion]. It’s very clean and structured for photography, a good thing, but I love more detail on my homepage. I have the know-how to add more features, but I love when I find something that will help me achieve results in less time.

The WordPress themes that I’m listing here, for photographers, are the type that I believe can let your brand jump out in seconds. While Google is growing more obsessed with the speed of your website, photographers should be obsessed with the speed of their brand becoming aware to viewers. I believe these themes have serious potential to blow your mind. The themes may not be perfect for every type of photography but I am certain there is something worth exploring. One might be amazing for a Landscape Photographer or Wild Life Photographer, another for Portrait Photographers, another for Architectural Photographers. They will depend on how you want to brand yourself, or your photography business, and your images. Almost all of the WordPress themes listed are from ThemeForest and I will appreciate you forever if you follow the links to the themes and purchase. Why? Because I am also an affiliate and I’ll earn a tiny bit to further explore more themes to review in detail. That’s something I’d love to do eventually.

Without rambling on more, here are the mind blowing WordPress themes for photographers:

Statua – WordPress Theme for Photographers by WooThemes**

WooThemes dropped a brand new WordPress theme for photographers! I’d been wanting a new theme that gave some options for a homepage slideshow and more. The great thing about Statua is that it brings layout and slider options but still keeps the theme light and minimal.

Brick and Mason – Premium Photography and Blog WordPress Theme*

Brick + Mason is a very clean and elegant WordPress theme for photographers. The theme uses the jQuery Masonry, much like the theme I’m using now from WooThemes (Briefed) in the Photoblog, Mobile Photoblog, and Goodies section. I love the way it shows the photography. The infinite scroll feature is pretty nice too so that viewers don’t have to continually hit next. Check it out and it’s a pretty nice theme for such a good price.

Duotive Three – A Complete WordPress Template [for photographers]

I was meant to find this WordPress theme today as I was playing with the word “DUO” last night for an idea. This theme blew me away so much, I had to go and tweet out my excitement. I wanted to wait to share it here, but I had to tell the people on Twitter about it first. If there was ever a WordPress theme to kill ProPhoto Blogs for photographers, this theme is it – in my opinion. Why? The options are endless. They options are so endless that I am not even going to try and list them for you here. I am going to present a screenshot [or 2] and you can have at it! This theme has a huge number of slider options for your homepage. This is amazing because not all photographers will use the same one – interests will vary. I love when photography can be shown off instantly, but I also have this inner need to present written content to viewers. Beyond SEO benefit, the added text can help with presentation and help you to sell you photography services with additional copy. If you’re unsure how this WordPress theme could be the best thing for your photography, get in touch and we can hash it out. This is a must have WordPress theme and you can grab it here.

With the Gallery Slider Option

Slider with Gallery v2 Option

Fables – Premium WordPress Theme

This theme is a bit different from the others in the list. I can still see it for a photographer but it might not be as in your face. As a premium WordPress theme, you’ll get 5 options for different sliders on your homepage. It seems as if multiple slider options is becoming an increasingly big deal. We usually suffer from buyers regret and these themes look to lessen the impact of missing out on other slider features. You could change from the accordion slider and into the Nivo slider with an easy change and not have to redo the slides. If your mood changes monthly, like mine, this might be a good theme for you.

A really rad plus to this WordPress theme comes in the form of shortcodes for sliders, galleries, and images. Why does this matter? This makes using your WordPress theme really easy. Shortcodes are a breath of fresh air. Most, if not all of the themes in this list today, have a huge list of shortcodes; however, the Fables theme seems to do well with the needs of heavy image uses – aka photographers. You’ve got to play with the theme and to do that, you’ve got to check it out here.

Zoom – WordPress and Beyond

I was so blown away by this theme for photographers that I had to share 4 screen shots of the theme in action. Talk about a killer WordPress theme for photography projects and more. Zoom extends beyond amazing on the desktop though. This WordPress theme is optimized for touch and keyboards. Touch? Yeah, the theme looks and works like magic on an iPad. On the page for this theme you can watch a video of it. The images speak for themselves. If you’re looking for a bold WordPress theme, Zoom is going to get people talking. Check out more info on Zoom….

Photorific – Photography WordPress Theme

The Photorific photography WordPress theme is very similar to the PictureThis theme. You’ll quickly notice the menu bar is a different set up and design. I wanted to show off another full screen option for photographers. I can’t get past the impact that the full screen images hit me with. Many photographers talk about letting images do the talking – the images finally start to scream here. I’ve included screen captures of the homepage and blog section. Learn more about Photorific…

Anan – Photography Creative Portfolio

The larger the screen, the better the Anan WordPress theme looks. Even on my 13″ MacBook, the theme still looks great though. Looking at the theme features, I’m not 100% sure if you can set images to rotate in the background of the homepage. The demo didn’t rotate for me but that’s the thing I enjoy about page backgrounds. The fact that there is some transparency on content pages to allow the background image to peek though – yet you can still easily read the content. Some photographers could really benefit from a WordPress theme like this.

Take Away

I’m amazed by these WordPress themes that photographers can get today. These themes are also so affordable compared to something like the ProPhoto Theme blogs. I’m even hoping that these themes can be shown to my favorite people at WooThemes and influence something they might create.

The themes shown are all from designers and developers that sell via ThemeForest. There is so much more to the themes than meets the eye here. I suggest you dig deep into themes that really catch your eye. Some have insanely simple ways to create dynamic slide shows right within blog posts. I know that I’ll be looking at a few of these WordPress themes for my own photography projects.

What do you think?

Still not sure? Here are a few other blog posts we’ve published with more WordPress theme options for Photographers:

*updated June 19th 2011
**updated June 21st 2011
***updated July 20th 2011 – The old post was corrupt and no data was showing. Fixed links to other WordPress Themes for Photographers posts.
***updated September 29, 2011 – code for 2 themes suddenly made post to not show any content. Will share them in a new post soon.

Spring in our Condo Complex

Reflecting on Post Frequency

While I’d love to publish daily on the blog, it’s a schedule that’s not sustainable for just myself.   I’m open to guest posts if there is anyone that would love to submit one.  It would help fill gaps, but it’s not something I’m going to rely on at all.  What is sustainable is 2 or 3 blog posts per week – while building a queue to increase the frequency in the future again.

The whole point of having a blog, website, or photography business is to make it sustainable.  If you feel you need to post once a day or 2 times a day to keep your traffic up or compete with other websites, I want you to ask if it’s sustainable for you?  If it is – Awesome. If it isn’t – find that sustainable point and don’t care about what others might think.   If you’re running a photography business, getting the photography out the door or shooting new photography work is most important.  In the past, I’ve let that slip to keep blogging and it’s not a good idea.

For my photoblog, I intend to keep daily images going from Monday – Friday (Sat and Sun would be a bonus for me).  There will be times – like yesterday – that I didn’t post a daily photo.  Why didn’t I post? Well, I was working on some wedding photography and opted to focus my energy there.   My energy is pretty low these days and I need to put it where I can.

For Instagram photography gallery, I’m posting my favorites in that area of the site.  It’s not intended to be my instagram feed for a reason.  The images are not posted at a specific schedule and I like that.

Reflecting on the Website

There were a number of days – if not the entire week – that Nuwomb looked funky for viewers.  When logged in, I couldn’t tell the problem was there.  I thought I fixed it each time.  I know, it kind of made me laugh too.  Scott Wyden mentioned it looked funny and then asked if I used the W3 Total Cache plugin.  Since I did, he knew what the issue was because he had it happen recently too.  After that talk, it was all fixed.  He is my hero of the year.

I’m still enjoying the Simplicity Theme by WooThemes. It’s simple, clean, and does the job.  Modifying it, I leaned a lot more about WordPress.  That said, I’m not committed to the Simplicity Theme and I know that I’ll end up changing it in the future.  A massive redesign is what I plan to do someday, but I don’t know when.  I’m really loving the LESS framework that is found in the FaultPress Theme by WooThemes.  The LESS framwork is apparently coined as responsive webdesign, meaning that it is responsive to browser width or device width.  I’m not versed in the terms – if you’re finding this article and I’m butchering the term, please feel free to comment!    I absolutely love how it responds and would love to move in that direction.  It would allow me to not worry about “mobile plugins” and such.

The design here will change sometime.

Blog Posts from the Week:

Shoot More iPhone Photography with Third Rail System

This would be my preferred smart battery system to help extend the iPhone 4 battery while out and about.  I imagine it being awesomely useful during extended photowalks. I consider my iPhone as a great device for photowalking or “mobile walking” as PhotoJack mentioned on Instagram one day.  Normally after a photowalk, everyone gathers in a bar or coffee shop to talk and hook up have some drinks. The Third Rail System could become a battery for a number of devices, especially if stacking a few of them together.  If not, maybe you killed the battery shooting photos and now you want to start sharing them instantly with Instagram or Camera+.  Check this out!

#Starbucks: Engagement, Trustability, and Transparency with Instagram

I love Starbucks (and not just for the caffeine). I love the way the company interacts, grows, and presents itself.  They are an inspiring company and I have been looking at them more than a company like Google or Apple.  I was amazed to see how Starbucks was making use of the Instagram hashtag #Starbucks on their official website.  Take a look and read more too!

Clarity: Camera+ is an Essential App for Mobile Photography

Shared just yesterday, I looked at some examples of the Clarity feature within the amazing iPhone photography app – Camera+ by Tap Tap Tap.  If you’re not running some of your iPhone photos through this feature, you could be missing out on catching amazing detail.  Mobile photography is advancing quickly and while low light is a huge problem, Clarity is looking to help us out in the mean time.  See the comparisons!

Photoblog Images from the Week:

This week, I added the “Share on Tumblr” button in the single pages for the Photoblog. If you see a photo that you’d like to share on your tumblog, hit that button, select the Photo option, and then select the actual photo from the thumbnails.  I’ll blog about this later with steps, but that’s it for now.

Monday: Photograph Everything

Tuesday: Street Photography: Canal and Walgreens (see black and white version too)

Wednesday: Rusting Rebar in Mexico (see the image before editing too)

Thursday: Push Rocks (see the image before post-processing too)

After sharing these, I wish I hadn’t been lazy on Friday – even though I was not actually lazy in the true sense.  Time to set the alarm clock a few minutes earlier to sit down and make sure I get that photoblog image out for the day. It’s my daily post-processing practice and sharing of my work.

Instagram Photos Added this Week:

Pop Shoppe at Gibraltar using Gotham Filter

Finding the Light using the Earlybird Filter

Cheers!

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Scott

In taking that action, I stumbled upon what might be the best Instagram plugin for WordPress. I was not that pleased with the plugin called “Instagram for WordPress” because of the constantly rotating instagram photos.  There was only a matter of time before a better Instagram plugin for WordPress would come along in the form of InstaPress.

InstaPress

This highly customizable plugin offers the possibility to embed feeds from Instagram into your WordPress Blog.

If anything awesome comes from my exploration into the Instagram API, it might be that I came across this plugin sooner than later.  And hopefully you’re not learning about it for your blog now.

If you want to quickly see the plugin live, I’ve got it set up in my footer right now.   Important to know, what you see in the footer isn’t all that this Instagram plugin can do.   Right now I’ve got the plugin configured to open the Instagram photo in a lightbox; however, you could set it so that the link leads to the image posted on the instagram site.  Once open on the Instagram site, you can see who likes the image, number of likes, and the comments.

Setting up InstaPress

InstaPress actually communicates with the public Instagram API and requires you to set up an application.  This sounds weird, but it’s insanely simple and quick. For the curious person, like me, I can also gain a bit of insight into working with the API.

You’ll install the plugin just the same as you’ve done every other WordPress plugin. And the instructions are actually nice and clear.  I doubt any of you will have trouble setting everything up.  You will need an Instagram account though.

Where InstaPress Excels

This instagram plugin actually makes use of shortcodes, allowing us to put an instagram feed into a blog post or page!  I’ve set up an instagram photography gallery on my own using custom post types and I control which photos are actually shown there.   With InstaPress, you could achieve a similar solution [not exactly though].

To do so, all you would need to do is input the Instapress shortcode format terms surrounded by square brackets:

• userid: ID of instagram user (leave blank for popular media, use “self” for your own media or “myfeed” to display your feed)
• piccount: Number of instagrams to display (Default: 9)
• size: Size of instagrams in pixels (Default: 85)
• effect: Name of the effect to use for the slideshow (Currently only ‘fancybox’ possible) – Since 0.4.3

This is really interesting! Below I’m showing my last 6 Instagram photos.

Conclusions

Right now, I believe InstaPress must be the best Instagram plugin for WordPress. The static display of thumbnails in a grid, ability to link to the photo or load the fancybox, and the ability to post photos with shortcode make this a top notch solution to integrate your Instagram feed into your WordPress blog.

Perhaps you can drop that Flickr plugin now! ;)

Read more about the InstaPress Plugin or Download it here

I’ve started many blogs and I’ve realized the pure frustration that can come from maintaining those domains without a team.  Sure, I could spin my content and build backlinks to benefit SEO, but it’s not a sustainable model either. I decided to turn Nuwomb into a hub of photography activity for both myself to share photography and discuss topics that pertain to building a photography business centered around having a good time.

Instead of saying that I’m passionate about photography, I decided to live it. With that said, I needed a way to organize some of my most fascinating Instagram images.  The photoblog found on Nuwomb could have easily accommodated the mobile photography but I want to keep the images separate without having to start a subdomain or another blog.   Luckily, WordPress makes all of this insanely awesome to do now with custom post types.

Instagram Custom Post Type

Using custom post types [or call them custom content types if it's easier to get your head around] I can organize my own content within the Nuwomb website.  This allows Nuwomb to become much more than a blog and I owe much of the knowledge I’ve gained to the WooThemes team.  In having custom posts for Instagram Photos, I can separate my photography in a much nicer way.  This same kind of thing could be done for different types of photography – ie Wedding Photography, Child Photography, or Engagement Photography.  I enjoy the ability to go beyond the use of categories for certain types of content.

Sometimes efficiency isn’t going help you display your work in a way that you truly want.  While a plugin is a great and simple solution, it pays to go beyond if your needs go beyond.  The Instagram WordPress plugin went in the sidebar and rotated your last 20 shared photos.  If you’re happy with that, use the plugin.  There would be no point to try and figure out how to integrate the same functionality if you want same thing coded into your WordPress theme.  While I can’t integrate Instagram into my WordPress blog using the Instagram API [a way that creates the content automatically for me], I am happy that I don’t have such efficiency.

The Instagram photographs that I’ll be posting in our Instagram Photography Gallery will be my absolute favorites.  This allows my Instagram stream to become more free for sharing, exploring, experimenting.  The intergrated Instagram gallery here becomes more of a mobile photography portfolio for me.

Walking the Walk

I hated talking about Instagram and mobile photography without having a gallery on the site. I believe that photographers blogging about photography should be consistently sharing images.  I find it so weird when a photographer doesn’t share photography but continually tells me how to improve my photography.  The ultimate way to lead is by example, in my opinion.  I also have the desire to share more than a single photograph on most days. Now, the great thing for me is that when I post to this gallery I don’t flood my RSS feed.  There is traffic that could come from the RSS but I leave the actual blog posts for the blog.  I leave the photoblog posts to the Photoblog.  Organization! A functioning website instead of a crazy blog.

The Instagram Gallery is Only The Beginning

The gallery in the image above is really just the beginning of integrating Instagram into the WordPress website here.  The gallery makes use of a page template to get the gallery type viewing. This is almost like an archive page for all of the Instagram custom posts.  I love this page because it allows you, the viewer, to have a place that allows for quick viewing.  The quick viewing is enhanced with a prettyPhoto lightbox seen in the image below.

User Experience is Worth It

The lightbox loading means that a viewer doesn’t have to go to the single page for the post if they do not want to.  This could be removed and I could force viewers to load another page and help inflate analytics, but I hope the user experience is worth more.  If a viewer wants to get more information on the instagram shot, they can load the single post.

That’s right, the page template for the gallery is just one of the places each image shows up throughout the website.  Since the image is associated with an actual post, there is a single page that is created with the content I wrote for the photo(s). I have the ability to build page views and optimize the site for search engines. Plus, the single page allows me to show off the images beyond a lightbox – see below!

Single Post is the Key

The single post is key as I can link to this specific photo if I need to reference it for anything instead of just the gallery page.  If you were to upload multiple photographs for this post, they would appear below the main image as thumbnails and you’d be able to select through them as shown in the image to the right.

I would have never been able to set this all up without being a WooThemes Subscriber.  Being able to customized aspects of their themes is a joy and allows me to share my instagram photography in a meaningful way to me.

There is another place that the latest instagram photo will show up on the website though.  I wanted the homepage to be a great place to launch people all over Nuwomb. I also wanted the homepage to be continually updating and changing without having to constantly do it myself.  Finally, we find some efficiency, right?

If you check out the homepage, you’ll see that I’m currently showing the latest 2 instagram posts.  Soon I’ll be changing the homepage to show off only the 1 latest post and beside it will be links to valuable content centred around instagram and mobile photography. The key for all of this is that it constantly updates for me automatically once I publish a new custom post.

When I create a new instagram post, it actually gets shown in 3 places, but I don’t worry about any kind of duplicate content. I don’t worry about duplicate content because I’m using the post excerpt on the instagram page template and the homepage.  I’m interested to see how things go.

Below is a screenshot showing how the images appear on the homepage:

What about Instagram in the Sidebar?

Understanding custom post types has helped me realize I can put posts almost anywhere. If I decide to want a latest instagram photo of mine in the sidebar, I can easily do that just as I’ve integrated it into the homepage. The same could be said about the post footer.  I can have the latest update shown, specific posts with a specific tag, and anything.  I learned this kind of thing while working on MegaPixeld and it’s been a great reward now.   I’m not set on the images in the sidebar as of yet, but it’s something that could be done.

Wrap it up, B

As I’ve said before, this isn’t an Instagram API solution that integrates into WordPress.  This is a method using WordPress custom post types.  I’m very content with this solution as I don’t want every Instagram photograph coming up on the site.  I’ll leave the many pictures of Reese within my Instagram feed.

I enjoy being able to organize this website in a way that makes sense.  The ability to highlight specific content can be carried over into many other possibilities. This can be done for more than just Instagram images. It’s a really nice way to separate different types of photography within a website and it means that not everything has to flow through the blog feed.

///

What do you think of adding Instagram to Nuwomb in this way?

Would you be interested in getting something like this set up for your WordPress website?

Leave a comment and show us you’re out there!

** Thanks to 365psd for the awesome instagram signing button. I used part of that PSD for the custom post type icon!

11 More Sexy Photography WordPress Theme Options

If you’re the do it yourself type when it comes to getting your photography website in order, we totally understand.  This is why we love to share these photography WordPress theme options for you.

If you’re not the do it yourself type, Nuwomb would love to help you with your WordPress website.  We started off as the DIY type and have learned vast amounts of killer ways to customize a website for a photographer or photography business.  We hope our website serves as a great example of what we’re capable of.  Feel free to get in touch with us and we can see how we can help you with your website or blog.

Why is it that nearly all photography websites are some of the ugliest sites on the web? Other than the actual photography most of the interfaces are just horrid.

You would think that people so dedicated to the visual arts would be better at designing an appealing, user-friendly site.

Apparently not.

~ Jared via a Pixiq comment due to a list of photography websites

Photography websites seem to be pretty notorious for terrible design and user experience.  Many photographers claim that photography will do the talking and thus give the impression that design doesn’t matter.  In my eyes, leaving your photography website to die of website cancer actually gives off an overall lack of care.  I find this to be true of photography websites that make no effort to be unique in their design elements and functions – Oddly enough, the photography can all start to look the same too.

We don’t want you’re photography WordPress website to fall victim to these issues.  We’ve presented a number of photography WordPress themes in the past, but a lot has gone on with WordPress since then.  WordPress is now on version 3.1 and I’m hearing things of WP3.2 now.  Many WordPress themes are taking serious advantage of custom post types, post filters, WooTumblog, and more.  I certainly remember how difficult it was to find so many amazing WordPress themes for photographers when I first starting using the CMS.

Each photography WordPress theme includes a screen shot of the homepage and we’ll highlight a few features we find interesting about the theme too.  These themes have some pretty detailed information on their respective WordPress Theme club’s website. Going over everything would be information overload and we’re simply trying to put these photography WordPress themes into your consciousness.  There are more options that using ProPhoto Blog for your WordPress template.

We hope you enjoy the list and consider sharing it within your social networks.

Photography Pro Theme by Theme Foundry – Very Robust Theme

Snapblog within the WPBundle – Very Clean Photography Theme

Photolist by Obox – Awesome Slider with This One

Imbalance by WPShower – Free Photography WordPress Theme

Carousel by Obox – Slick WordPress Theme for Large Photography

Blogfolio by Themify – Could be for Photographers Too

365 Photography WordPress Theme

EVO by Upthemes – A WordPress Theme for Visual Inspiration

PhotoSquares – A Portfolio Photography WordPress Theme

Portfolium by WP Shower - Free Portfolio Photography Theme

Simplicity Theme by WooThemes

Great Theme Options

If you’re on the hunt for a new WordPress theme for your photography website or blog, we hope that you might find something within one of these 11 themes. They are really strong, show off photography, and make use of the WordPress system. You don’t have to get the same theme as everyone else, but if you do please consider customizing it to your brand and image.

We’re going to be showing more WordPress themes going forward because we really want to help show photographers there are a lot of great ways to improve your website quickly. We also want to help photographers customize their WordPress site if they don’t know how to. We don’t want photographers to have to fuss with code and learning an entire new set of skills (unless they really want to do that). These themes shown here are just outstanding and we believe we can help your build on them for your specific needs and desires.

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Cheers!

I hardly use Tumblr for posting my own content. I grew tired and frustrated with the we’ll be right back message of the past. Nuwomb has always been powered by WordPress and proud of it. When Tumblr was having some massive problems I opted to move my photoblog back to it’s proper home: here.

I do login to Tumblr because there are blogs that I follow and I do explore searches to find things to share each week.

Recently I ran into the page on Tumblr from which this instagram shot was captured. The Image was pretty cool and then I realized it was telling me that the site is down again. Gotta give it to Tumblr for at least getting a sweet graphic of the situation.

I ran into it again.

I ran into it again just now.

There are a few important services to have set up to protect yourself in the future but for the point of this post, I recommend considering the move to a self-hosted WordPress option.

These Tumbeasts appear to be multiplying like Gremlins in contact with water.

If you’re frustrated enough, let’s talk because I’m happy to help those looking to move to WordPress but hesitant or confused on the process. Just hit up the contact page for all the ways to get in touch.

What I’m about to say may offend some people.  I promise my intentions are good; however, there is an epidemic occurring within photography and photographers websites.  Photography WordPress Themes are often overlooked for one illustrious theme. The best way to illustrate the issue is a cartoon I noticed while reading Evil Plans by Hugh MacLeod – even though it does not specifically refer to the Pro Photo Blogs WordPress Theme for photographers.  Before I start on the offensive, I want you to take a look at this image of the drawing.  You’ll probably get it right away.

Normally you’ll probably read all about how a WordPress theme is ah-mazing and every photographer needs to get it.  However, there will become a time when something good becomes bad. Right now there is an epidemic happening within photographers websites: ProPhoto-itis. The ProPhoto WordPress Theme is spreading like cancer and I can’t stand it anymore.  Much like the Cartoon above, the trouble with a photographers website is that every one of them is using the same source code.

I’ve never used ProPhoto Blogs for any of my photography WordPress websites, but I do understand why photographers gravitate towards it.  I can’t but wonder why photographers want their website to look exactly like every other photographers website.  Before I go over some quick positive aspects of the Pro Photo Theme, I want to ask you:  When creating your business cards for a conference, say WPPI as it’s going on now, do you want your photography business cards to look exactly like everyone elses? You don’t want your photography to look like every other photographers too (okay some do), now do you?

What is it that makes photographers forget about unique presentation when it comes to their online presence, website design, and message they are sending viewers?  I commend NetRiver Inc at their ability to market a professional photographers theme for WordPress as it’s obviously worked.  Remember though, too much of a good thing turns into a really bad thing.

Pro Photo WordPress Theme Positives

ProPhoto WordPress Theme Negatives

A lot of Options Out There

When it comes WordPress, there are so many great themes for photographers.  I’ve shared a number of great options that in the past and I’ve found many many more recently.

A few weeks ago, I caught wind of some photographers I follow talking about WordPress themes.  These photographers currently use ProPhoto Blogs and were trying to find something new for WordPress or go with a completely different CMS.  I was so happy to read their expressed dissatisfaction with PPB after long use.  You’ve got to differentiate yourself with your photography, so why not with your website presentation too?  Check what Brian Matiash said:

…am also leaving PPB template. Getting played out hard core.

This same thing happened with the DIY Themes Thesis Theme but with every blogging niche out there. Great themes, but it sucks not being able to fully customize it like the companies promise.

My biggest concern is that the PPB theme does not differentiate photographers from the next. If a photographer is looking to convert viewers into clients, the photography is very important; however, being able to convey your personality as a photographer is very important. Even in my city, there are so many photographers using this theme! It’s like one copying the other copying the other. No wonder photography is moving in the direction of a commodity – it’s being presented that way to people.

Just like the image at the start of this post, photographers are all using the same source code.

Remember: my intentions are good. The ProPhoto Blog themes do provide elegant, simple looking WordPress websites for photographers but I believe there isn’t near enough ability to customize or Brian Matiash would not be in the market for a change. Instead, he would just spend a little bit of time customizing further and creating a new look with the same theme.

Beware of the marketing hype that plays on a lack of experience. Of course they can say the theme is cheaper than a custom design from a designer/developer but still pretty good. Definitely overpriced still compared to almost all other themes. It’s another website that is far from innovative beyond it’s galleries and slideshows that probably are not optimized for mobile (iPhone or iPad).

Take this article for what it’s worth. I’m clearly not a fan of the ProPhoto Blogs and much prefer a theme company like WooThemes and WPBundle. If you want to follow all the other photographers today, grab ProPhoto! I won’t stop you.

Browsing Tumblr, we came across this beauty of a camera! The Polaroid Land Camera boxed and everything.

Since getting my Instamax 210, I’ve been awakening my love for polaroid and instant analog photography.  Instagram has done that as well on the digital front.

We are on the look out to build an army of these polaroid land cameras.  If you see any up for auction or you’re selling yours let us know first!

P.S.  I could have reblogged this image on Tumblr via Vizwomb, but I remember that Nuwomb has the Tumblog functionality engaged thanks to WooThemes.  Why fragment this camera pornography when our blog is set up to quickly tumblog content.

Don’t know what the “Tumblog” functionality is? We’ll be covering it along with the Express App for the iPhone soon.  In the mean time, you can get aquainted with the idea via a few WooThemes Tumblog WordPress Themes:

• Canvas Theme
• Crisp Theme
• Auld Theme

Boxed Polaroid Land Cameara image: via psychological noise