Create a Photography Website Program

Creating a Photography Website

News Flash - M Fontaine chosen as program presenter for NECCC 2007. For details, click.

There are thousands of ways to create a photography website. This program focuses on one of them. Microsoft Front Page is the best-selling software for website creation and, if you are familiar with Microsoft Office, you’ll find it pretty intuitive. If your club members want to enhance their photography resumes and they want the flexibility to change content and images easily and they want a true URL domain name (rather than www.aol.com/yourname ) OR they simply want to understand basics and good website etiquette, then this program is geared to them. I've designed and currently maintain many websites. Two of my photography-related sites are www.gatewaycameraclub.org and www.mfontainephotography.com, both built and maintained with Front Page.

As webmaster of Gateway Camera Club and VP and Program Chairperson of Seven Hills Camera Club, I understand how important it is to provide relevant program content. As a photographer, I also understand how much we want to share our imagery with the world. This program will help your members take the next step.

This program is currently structured as a 2 hour program, full of easy-to-understand content. By easy, I mean someone with no web experience will leave with a much better understanding of the process. The program notes are available for a limited time after the program through www.mfontainephotography.com.

M Fontaine Productions also offers 'Creating your Photographic Website' classes, either at the business center in Whitinsville, MA or remotely, at your location of choice. Class details can be viewed here.

Here are just a few recent testimonials from Camera Club members who have attended the program.

Let me be among the many, if not first, to congratulate you. You were very basic and people seemed to really want to hear what you had to say. - Phyllis Wiseman, President of Gateway Camera Club

You did a great job presenting the material. I was so impressed by the images of both screens and having everything coordinated to view. - Elaine W.

Excellent presentation at just the right level. I hope to make use of the information. Thanks very much for all the effort you put into the presentation. - John B.

I can’t wait to try out my newly found skills. I will be downloading the presentation from your site later today. - Ellen M.

Thanks for last night – I learned a lot. You have enticed me to try the photo-shows and now you are enticing me to try a website. - Richard I.
Your presentation at the camera club was phenomenal! It was sheer genius to review the material a second time and the two screens were helpful. It was all clear and concise. It could have been such a threatening jumble of confusion for the novice. - Bunny C.

Part 1

The first part of the program is a presentation covering:

A bit of history and how the www began in Cambridge, MA only 14 years ago.
What, exactly, is a website– vs. a web page or 3^rd party site?
How do you get your own domain name?
Storyboarding – outlining your plan
Preparing images – loading size - what is acceptable? Copyright and watermarks - how to protect your property.
Creating the website – step by step tutorial presentation using screen captures for best visual learning and recognition.
Industry best practices and recommendations; i.e. font types, real estate, scrolling, resolution settings, backup, web etiquette.
Publishing the website; hosting suggestions, prices, how it’s done.
Helping people find your website; search engine natural optimization.

Learning Tools

Along with presenting the facts above, the program includes a website building tutorial that is shown in segments. After each tutorial segment, a streaming video demo of that segment is shown, providing a double-visual impact.

The Q&A portion of the program. This is a great way to measure the effectiveness of the program. There are usually many questions from excited audience participants.

The stipend I request to give this program to your camera club is $100, plus .$485 a mile round trip from Millbury, MA. If you are interested or have any other questions, feel free to email me (mfp@mfontainephotography.com) for availability.

Michelle Fontaine