Retouching Jeremy Hogan Photography
A prolific photojournalist, Jeremy illuminates the underground, captures rallies and protests, and has documented American youth for the past three decades. With a portfolio well over 300 images - we had our hands full.
Jeremy Hogan began working with Jet A Studio in early spring 2005. At the annual Your Art Here auction, held at a now defunct music venue in Bloomington, IN, he placed the winning bid on our web services. A photographer for the Herald-Times newspaper, Jeremy wanted to breathe life into his personal website - one he’d built and managed on his own. After meeting with Jeremy and viewing his extensive portfolio, we knew we’d come out on the good end of the bargain.
Through meetings and correspondence, we began to understand Jeremy’s problem with his original website. The structure of the site was not designed to accommodate the shear volume of series and images in Jeremy’s portfolio. The design arose from an immediate necessity – to have his work accessible for people across the country and to promote his stock photography services. While it served its purpose at the time, the website was difficult to maintain, and did not reflect the energy and style of Jeremy and his photography.
Framing the Site
Jeremy wanted to add a new facet to his website as well – each series would be accompanied by passages providing context to the images. As we began to plan the new design, we took into account where the original website was limiting and the future needs Jeremy would have for his site, and used the following guidelines to aide our development:
- Make the photographs pop
- Allow for long passages of writing
- Simple to maintain and upgrade
- Visually complement the personality of Jeremy’s work
- Clear and consistent navigation
Incorporating the Writing
Over the course of a year, working with Ron Whitehead on revisions and edits, Jeremy prepared passages for every one of his series of work. The well-written, behind the camera perspectives gave a welcome context to the time, place, and circumstances surrounding his work. We designed each series page to feature the photographs, but provided ample area for the text - being sure not to minimize its importance. Finally, with Jeremy’s growing interest in sharing insights on his work and on the field of photography, we integrated a blog where Jeremy can continue to post his essays.
Trimming the Portfolio
We received five CD’s containing nearly 400 images in twenty series. We delved into Jeremy’s portfolio and witnessed punk festivals, protests at the Republican National Convention in 2004, Tibetan monks, portraits of Generation X, a war-torn Nicaragua, and intimate snapshots of America’s youth over the past three decades. Each story, while disconnected by race, class, borders, and time, was intertwined by Jeremy’s keen eye. With Jeremy, we edited down each series to a digestible 12-15 images, so that each carried the same weight and the most striking images were represented.
“The site is at once a self-curatorial online photography gallery and also a means to promote my work to people who might want to collect my photographs or commission me to make new photographs.”
The Final Product
After a year and a half of planning, organization, architecture, writing, and development, the new website launched in 2006. Jeremy’s photographs remain the focus of the website and are now balanced by his essays. A raw aesthetic more closely resembles the attitude of Jeremy’s work, but does not hinder the site’s functionality or impair its accessibility. Built with a content manager and blog software, Jeremy is able to update his series of work and content without needing to learn any more code. Jeremy’s passion for his work and his willingness to collaborate made this site a pleasure to develop - we hope it shows.
About Jet A Studio
We’re a team of web developers in Louisville, KY who like making websites we enjoy using. We invite you to learn more about us, see the services we have to offer, and if you like, get in touch with us. ◊