Blending healing, light and photography into an integrated online presence with WordPress and SmugMug
If memory serves me correct, the first project I did with A’na Satara was for Sacred Light Photography. That’s taken a backseat to her regular practice, becoming more of an extension to what she does.
Fine art photographers have a tough row to hoe. Particularly those specializing in landscape photography. If you build a photography website hoping to sell tons of prints without tons of effort, you’re in for a rude awakening.
But A’na’s photography is a part of what she does with Earth energy, and has a value beyond that of trying to sell prints. It not only illustrates what she does, it’s another door for people to find what she does with energy work, via her beautiful photography.
Over the past couple of years she’s become a juggernaut of content creation, turning out articles, images and videos. She’s managed to keep her message consistent across social media platforms, and is growing an email list, which is an excellent way to develop a relationship with your visitors.
Sure, social media might, might be a quicker payoff. It’s easier to get someone to click a friend or like button than to give up their email address. But the people who do have an actual interest in your work. And unlike social media’s ever fluctuating algorithms which prevent most of your fans from seeing your work, email goes straight to their inbox.
The original design for Sacred Light Photography, and indeed her main site involved organic shapes, as A’na has an aversion to straight lines and boxes.
For both sites we dispensed of those, and avoided straight lines by interjecting air into the layout, and a bit of fade on the bottom of the images. It requires a couple of extra steps, rather than just using SmugMug’s self-generated thumbnails, but it’s worth the effort.
With so many platforms calling out for attention now, it pays to do as she has, and lock down your style and tools for each, consistently across all channels.
After all, when you’re trying to make the world a better place, time is important.
Below: A page from A’na’s main site. Like her homepage on SmugMug, both contain a lot of content to fit with the viewing habits of those viewing the sites on tablets.
