Author: Judie Balagot

Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Tiktok ? INSTAGRAM.

Facebook seems to be a great platform. Although, it is more focused on connecting with family and friends and I don’t see my brand or work growing in the Facebook community.

Twitter. Not a platform that I’m currently active in. I was but I honestly just got bored of it. I may open on for when my business/brand grows that I’ll need a platform to further reach out and interact with people but as of now, I don’t think I’ll be using it. Also, It is really not a platform for showcasing my photography work.

Snapchat + Tiktok is a growing and popular community. Can be used for BTS-type of videos. But I don’t it fits the whole aesthetic of my work and I don’t take many vids so I don’t really see having a separate account for videos is necessary.

Currently, I think the main social media that I should use is Instagram. There are more people active on the app than other socials and it is a perfect platform for my photography and visuals as it is an app where you post pictures. I can tag appropriate accounts and hashtags to get my work ‘out’ there. Also there is an option to post videos cancelling out Snapchat & Tiktok as a main social accounts.

Right now I’ve made an Instagram account @judie.balagot. There is nothing on it just yet but I made it so that I can claim the handle name as soon as before someone else gets it. I wanted the username to be @judiebalagot so that it is the same as my website but it is already my personal account.

I was looking into buying a domain and how much they cost. It would just look much more professional if i had my own domain on my postcard, business card and CV. www.judieee.wixsite.com/judiebalagot is way too long.

If i do buy a domain I would have to upgrade my Wix website to connect a domain which costs quite a lot. A yearly costs that will cost me £100 every year plus £10 for the domain. Its a lot of money at this time especially now that I’m currently unemployed but I am really considering it as an investment for me.
Above is my Homepage. It’s a simple layout with a slideshow type of gallery of my work from each project. I’ve chosen a font thats bold but minimal. And chosen a vertical menu as I think all my listed work will fit better that way than having a horizontal menu.
This is the layout when you click on one of the projects on left. I’ve chosen a ‘mason gallery’ to showcase the images. I wanted the images to be big enough but not too big where you can’t see the full image in one screen so I chose to have 2 columns max. This layout may change.. if theres too many images, it feels way too long / dragging scrolling down to see all the images..

WIX

Pros

• Free basic website
• I’m already familiar with it
• Easy to design with their website builder tools
• Customization is easy though might be limited but I don’t think I’ll need any complicated designs/layout
• Straightforward
• Can design the website layout for mobile devices !!

Cons

• Need upgrading to have more benefits on building website
• In order to link my domain I will need to upgrade
• Wix ads would be displayed unless upgraded
• Maybe limited to designs

 

Tumblr

Pros

• It is free to link your own domain!
• Familiar with it as I have a Tumblr account
• Can select through readily available layouts that are Free
• Various media can be added
• Layouts can be customized through editing the coding

Cons

• You have to know how to program to edit layouts. Unfortunately I’ve forgotten how to. I used to customize my personal Tumblr account but it has been years.
• Cannot customize a selected layout easily
• Some good layouts could cost £50+
• Most layouts are watermarked at the bottom page

So far these are the only sites that I know and that I’m both confident enough to use to create my portfolio website. Looking at the pros and cons, I think Wix would be a better choice to create my website. The navigation and tools are easy and straightforward enough.

I went on a holiday to Philippines for 3 weeks in January. On of the days I scheduled a trip to the infamous dumpsite of Payatas where hundreds were killed due to an enormous pile of garbage collapsing in the year 2000. Unfortunately I was only able to take pictures from the inside of our car with the windows rolled up. The air was not safe to breathe as Mount Taal has just erupted days after the visit to Payatas.

The disaster in 2000 left thousands homeless. This dumpsite was clearly neglected by the government in the Philippines. The disaster would have been avoided if the government imposed proper rules and regulations for managing the city’s waste. The dumpsite was closed for a couple of weeks but had to re-open because they had ‘nowhere to put the garbage from the city’ and ‘health and safety of the people in the city was at risk’ due to the uncollected garbage after the disaster.

Today it is still the main dumpsite and ‘recycling center’ for the city. They’ve imposed rules of no piling of garbage of ‘incredible heights’ and have also built walls so that the garbage is not seen from the public. You can see from the photos I’ve taken than I only managed to get a glimpse of the garbage from opened gates.

Here are some websites of photographers that I liked.

Naomi Wong http://naomi-wong-znmy.format.com/

• Striking red background with yellow coloured fonts which reminded me of the UNCO magazine colours.
• Big images that fits my laptop screen and all you have to do is scroll through it from left to right. I feel that it looks more uniformed than scrolling down a page.
• Simple navigations/menu
• She has really narrowed down her work to selected works, editorial, commissions & film. No albums within it. It is all in one gallery but each project is well separated.
• An ‘INFO’ icon on the first image of a project that is clicked for title and description.
• Max 3 images from each editorials and commissioned work.

Leo Berne http://leoberne.com/

• Full blown image as a background (only on the homepage)
• Contrasting font colour
• Simple navigations
• Vertical menu
• Minimal
• The only downside is that this layout is not carried throughout the other pages. Making it look like you’ve gone to a different website once you click one of the linked buttons on the homepage.

These layouts that might be too bold for my style but I would still consider. I really do like the idea of having a full blown image as my homepage. Although now that I think about it, most of my photography work are portraits.

However, the coloured background like Naomi Wong is giving me ideas. Probably not a bright colour but more muted rather than just having a white background.

Ivania Carpio of Love Aesthetics & Aetelier http://love-aesthetics.nl/

• Before entering the website there is a sign up box for updates and newsletter
• Simple minimal layout that reflects her Minimalism aesthetics
• Easy to navigate.
• Posts are narrowed down to 6 categories to ease navigation through her archive of blog posts
• Socials are integrated on the right
• Header/Logo looks too bulky. Or it could be made bigger so that the Love Aesthetics header is the first visual image seen once entering the website
• Negative space
• Blog post style website
• Scrolled vertically – Only cons is that i feel it is way too long
• Posts / Images are spaced out purposely to create dimension and scale with the images.
• Animations are used
• ‘Aetelier’ shop is linked using an image
• The bottom page her Instagram is integrated showing her recent posts on @love_aesthetics

Instagram @love_aesthetics (personal) & @aetelier.ae (retail brand)

• Personal account  an influencer of minimalism
• Known for her minimal aesthetics in beauty, fashion, lifestyle and just the mundane
• Regularly posting and interacting with followers through comments, video stories
• Strong voice on sustainability

• The retail brand account
• Posting visual research and own products
• Architectural images that align with her designs
• Everything looks really cohesive and aesthetically pleasing visually

In terms of layout, the website was ‘ok’. It is easy to navigate but it looks too all over the place for me and there it too many things going on on a homepage. I do like the minimalism idea of it though. That is something that I will definitely carry forward for my own website.

Image from Nhac Nguyen. It’s an image of plastic stuck on trees in a province in Vietnam. Taken on May 18, 2018.

The picture itself depicts plastic pollution perfectly. But I guess I wanted to exaggerate it further by collaging on top of the image. So here I glued on ripped plastic from found plastic bags. Layering them on and purposely creating creases to get a textured surface.

Craig Green https://craig-green.com

• Name/Brand is not visible unless hovered on
• Recent campaign shown on homepage
• Simple dropdown menu
• Easy to Navigate
• Minimal and clear design
• Lots of negative space
• Instagram is integrated

• Collections and Campaigns are all clearly titled
• Horizontal scrolling BUT could be better. Scrolling/ swiping to the left on laptop is often recognized as going back a page.
• Images are displayed with lots of negative space so they aren’t full blown images
• Unfortunately images cannot be clicked to expand them

I think the website and the contents in it are well curated that fits the aesthetic of Craig Green. Letting the images speak for themselves rather than having a fancy website that takes away the focus from his work.

Instagram @craig_green

• Posts own work, installations, collaborations, editorials & runaway
• Appropriately crediting each image from photographer to make up
• A good following on Instagram
• Following appropriate social media accounts – brands he has worked it, people he has worked with, artists and creatives
• Instagram account is more of like a body of collaboration work that is not shown on his main website

I’ve recently contacted her for a future collaboration. I’ve been looking for garments for photoshoots that I’m planning to do in the next semester. I found her work on Instagram and she happens to be a final year student in Brighton, which is perfect as it’ll be easier to contact her and see the garment and her other designs in person.

Grace has agreed for me to borrow this particular garment and was welcome to use any other garments if it is finished before the planned shoot.

What I really liked about the garment is the textures of the weaved and the raw edges of the ‘fraying’ plastic. Also it is not a garment that would be tossed in the bin. It is an art piece! Plastic scuplture.

‘Late Life’ dress made with found plastic materials that have biodegraded in nature. Possibly plastics that’s been around for years.

I love the textures that the plastic gives. The degraded parts makes it look delicate like it’s a high fashion couture dress. Usually when you find a biodegraded plastic in nature, it looks hopeless and just no use. And from the looks of it, the plastic found to create this dress cannot be recycled. So, it’s amazing how Helen Storey gave another life for these found materials.

I don’t think it’s a wearable piece seeing that it’s so delicate. It is more of a sculptural art work. A reminder of a worrying rate of plastic waste entering nature. Also, waste in the fashion industry – most of our clothes are made with plastic too!

This gives me an idea for the styling of my shoots for this project and also possibly be working with creatives that designs plastic garments and/or upcycled designs.