I recently wrapped up work with Matt Nager. Matt is a very talented portrait and documentary photographer whose old website was obscuring a lot of his strongest work. We started by talking about his strengths, defining what his main goals were and establishing the best way to spend his marketing dollars to reach those goals. We completely overhauled the website, resulting in a fresh and streamlined site powered by aphotofolio.com. His previous site featured too many choices of stories for editors to go through, so the new site is all about delivering his best images efficiently so that busy editors don't miss the strongest work.
We also put together a print promo (quantity 750 printed by paperchase.net) announcing his upcoming move to Denver. The promo features images that highlight his strengths in portraiture, travel and documentary.
My personal favorite part of our project was developing the print portfolio (I just love print books!). Matt teamed up with the very talented Scott Mullenberg at portfoliodesignstudio.com. Scott sent a variety of fabric samples for us to consider. We narrowed down the choices to a palette of blues and browns and finally decided on what you see below. I edited and sequenced Matt's work to highlight his diversity but also to show that he approaches all of his subjects with a consistent personal style and vision.
I am really happy with the finished product. Matt traveled to NYC and DC and got 23 meetings in just a little over a week. Upon returning home, Matt said "I think editors really liked having a physical book, it honestly made a huge difference." Many editors mentioned loving the colors as well. Actually showing your book to a lot of clients is the best way to gauge if the edit and sequence are right, and Matt might make a few tweaks to the book. But the overall impression was that "the sequencing was really great and showed off (his) versatility."
Of course now the real work begins... all of the follow up marketing that will help Matt capitalize on the the momentum we have built. To help with that, I created a year long marketing plan for him that incorporates suggestions for print promos, newsletters, social media and in person meetings.
Best of luck with the next year Matt!