My old photography website had plenty to show, but the experience needed a better way to explore it. I talked with friends and people I met while photographing, redesigned the pages, and built a new site for the images, stories, and field work.
I asked people how they wanted to browse the photography, studied the existing site, designed the new pages, and built the responsive WordPress front end. I worked on the galleries, image controls, page content, and testing myself.
01 People
I had spent years building a collection of wildlife photos and field stories. The old website showed the work, but it gave people too much to sort through. I wanted the pictures to lead and the other parts of the site to be easier to find.
I asked friends and people I met while photographing how they liked to look through wildlife photography online. I also went back through the old pages and thought about the order in which visitors met the photos, stories, and links.
Those conversations and my own review shaped the new site. I designed and built it myself.
The question behind the redesign
How could I help someone enjoy the pictures, find a story, and keep exploring without getting lost?
These were real conversations during my photography work, rather than a formal research study. I used them to question the old layout and decide what deserved more space.
I thought about what should greet a new visitor before they read anything.
I looked for simpler ways to move from one animal or picture to the next.
I wanted field notes to add context without competing with the photographs.
The old pages mixed photography, biography, articles, and other links. I reorganized the new site so each part had a clearer purpose.
Open with a strong visual and a clear way into the photographs.
Keep wildlife categories and full-size images easy to reach.
Give writing, the map, and other work a place without crowding the gallery.
02 Design
I redesigned the way people arrive, browse photographs, and find the stories behind them. The new site starts with the Tetons and moves into the wildlife collection, field writing, and other work.
Open with the mountains and wildlife that define the work.
Let visitors choose an animal or image that interests them.
Make it easy to change photographs and open a larger view.
Keep field notes near the wildlife they're about.
Offer a clear path to the journal, contact form, or wildlife map.
The old design is on the left. The redesign puts the photography and the journey through the site in a clearer order.
I redesigned the layout, visual style, page order, and interactive parts, and built the new website myself.
The three-screen composition shows how the photography, stories, and other page layouts work together.
Actual pages from the new site. Click the image to see it larger.
View full compositionMobile experience
Large photographs still need room on a phone. I changed the layout, content order, touch controls, and image sizes so the site worked on smaller screens.
03 Build
This was my project from beginning to end. I wrote the front-end code, built the WordPress pages, and tested how the galleries, navigation, and content worked on phones and computers.
I reorganized the main pages around photography, field stories, my background, and the next step.
I chose the image treatment, colors, type, spacing, and page rhythm for the new site.
I built image controls that let people switch photographs and view them at a larger size.
I adjusted the layouts, navigation, and touch areas for smaller screens and tested the working pages.
I gave the galleries, field stories, upcoming book, and wildlife map their own places on the site.
I made the visual ideas work in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and WordPress.
I checked photos, links, responsive layouts, and interactive controls in the browser.
The pictures get the attention while captions and field notes stay close at hand.
The field journal explains what happened without taking over the photo gallery.
The site connects to the wildlife map, my background, and ways to get in touch.
04 Photography
Photography is the reason I built Greek Mountain Man. I designed the site so a photo could lead someone into a collection, a larger view, or a field story.
Start with a clear image and the name of the collection.
Pick another photograph without leaving the section.
Open the main image at a larger size when you want to inspect it.
I took these photographs and built the viewer so people can change images without leaving the page. Clicking the main image opens a larger view.
05 Review
A long page can look good in a design file while people miss what sits farther down. I use scroll maps to see how far readers make it and review the order of the content.
Homepage scroll-map capture
The colors show the scroll reach across a long homepage. I use this kind of evidence when deciding which photography, stories, and next steps need to appear sooner.
Homepage scroll mapOpen the full image to inspect the color bands.
View full scroll mapI gave my photography its own space instead of asking every page to do everything.
I built responsive layouts and interactive photo controls for touch as well as desktop.
I can review how people use it, change the content, and refine the design myself.
I own Greek Mountain Man, make the photographs, and design and develop the website. I can follow the decisions all the way from a conversation to the live page.
The new Greek Mountain Man site brings my wildlife photography, field stories, and the people behind the pictures into one place. I planned it, designed it, built it, and continue to improve it.
