Stephen James is an Australian landscape photographer who lives on the sunny Gold Coast in Queensland’s south east. He started his photography back in New Zealand in the late 1970’s, securing a position as a photographer with the “Westport News” under the then editor Colin Warren.  His main employment now is working for Queensland health as a surgical nurse, and when time permits he enjoys the peaceful atmosphere of the outdoors.

Hope you enjoyed his work.  Please take a moment to visit his website at Stephen James Photography.  Stephen is using the Photocrati theme on his site.

Are you a photographer who’s using WordPress to power your site?  You might be able to be featured as well.  Just send me a link with your request on our contact page.

These photos were all found around the web and are examples of the power of the portrait shot.  Enjoy!

Two good friends

Preserve your memories

Child of Gaia

Baby blue eyes

The darkest light

Rainbow family member 13

150

They’re staring at you

Le moribond

Leaf

Haunted

Sweet insanity

Still light

Beautiful day without you

Pepitas

Love

Her flowers

Travelling song

Stranger 77

Marlboro man

83

Black and white

I paint my face on

A stranger: Victor

A stranger: Andy

The glass is half full

That funny feeling

Hideaway

Vanishing

Little goldfish

Eyes full of sunshine

Hologram

Little warrior

In all seriousness

Nice thick feathers

If you like posts like this let me know in the comments section below and I’ll continue to do more.  Thanks!

Notice any trends lately in the WordPress themes market for photographers?  Yeah you guessed it… fullscreen and widescreen themes have come on strong this year with an impressive array of premium themes all geared to displaying your images in a big way… read more below.

13 Cool New Fullscreen WordPress Themes

Village

Chocolate WP

Viewfinder

Picturethis

Panorama

MediaReel.

King Size

Delight

Core

Contrast

Black Label

Anan Photos

Adventure

Fullscreen Theme Screenshots:

Click on any of the thumbnails below to view larger screenshots in a lightbox.

Individual reviews of each theme will be coming soon!

Know of any other cool WordPress themes that have fullscreen capabilities, let us know in the comments below.

To show you how good photography websites can look when powered by WordPress, today, we have collected 40 great examples of photography websites powered by WordPress for you.

1. Randall Murrow

2. Justine Unrago

3. You Plus We Photography

4. RoyTanami.com

5. Ben Severance

6. InPhotograph

7. Kevin Jacobus Photography

8. Net Photography

9. Plain Things

10. Lee Pikington Photography

11. Luis Veiga

12. Nicole White Photography

13. Tyler Sharp Photography

14. Mitchster Photography

15. Steve Gordon Images

16. Wide Angled

17. Alli Easley Photography

18. Steve Gerrard Photography

19. Furious Photographers

20. Charlie Stout Photography

21. Cloud 365 – Year 3 Project

22. Beau Mitchell Landscape Photographer

23. Utzel Butzel

24. Los Angeles Times Photography

25. Matthias Richter

26. Kulay Photography

27. New Type York

28. ArteFakStudio

29. TrojanPhoto

30. Razvan Photography

31. Bryan James Brophy Photographer

32. Eric Scouten

33. Ignas Kutavicius Photography

34. Eggraphy – Scott Cartwright Photography

35. Digital Creations – Photography by Alan Grant

36. Daniel Nobre Photography

37. John Stuij Photography

38. Ryerson Photography

39. Karen Tregillas Photography

40. Carolyn Beller Photography

That’s all from me today. If you have any other Photography websites powered by WordPress in sight, then do share them in the comments section below and I will happily add them to the list.

Your competitors are cut-throat and will do whatever they can to reach the coveted top position in Google. However, you can play the game too; this is how to outrank your competition.

Phase 1: Discover your Competitors

The first, essential, step to outranking your competition is to understand what you’ll be up against.

Use terms, which define the photography industry, to search the web as to whom ranks well, in Google, for the targeted terms. Browse the sidebar, in Google, to see which businesses advertise using Google Adwords. Spy on your competition in social media platforms to see who the major players are in your market are.

Collect and compile the information you’ve gathered into an easily referenced spreadsheet. Include additional information, in your spreadsheet, about your competitors such as their Google rank, Page Rank, inbound links, social media profiles, advertising budget and main keywords.

Tools such as SpyFu, Google Keyword Tool, Google Toolbar, Market Samurai and Twitter Search are fantastic for gather a massive amount of information on your competitors.

Phase 2: Create a solid USP, Mission, Culture and Website

The next action, to outrank your competitors, is to optimize your web presence and business practices.

A unique selling point is what defines your products or services; it explains what makes your offerings different from the competitors. The USP is your chance to declare what you don’t like about your competitors and why your product is the obvious choice for customers. Your USP should also reflect your company culture and share a human side to your business; this lets people create an emotional connection which they may not receive from your competitors.

Secondly, take a look at your mission statement and overall company culture to see if the two are aligned. Companies rarely act as how they have outlined themselves in their mission statement. Make sure that your company is remarkable from the inside out; develop a culture which trickles down from your employees to the customers. Reinforce your mission statement with examples of your company culture at work.

Finally, optimize your website for search engines and copywriting. Avoid industry terms which are rarely used by your end-user: the customer. Speak with human vocabulary. Test and improve your website navigation, design and copywriting to reflect everything that your customer desires; focus on the benefits, not just the features.

Creating a solid foundation for your business is absolutely crucial to ensure that you stand out from the competition and that any further actions will have the greatest return on investment.

Phase 3: Develop a Content Marketing Strategy

Content marketing is the use of multimedia to create a substantial web presence in various mediums and channels on the web. In basic terms, it’s using blogging, article marketing, social media interaction, video production, podcasting and any other form of media to improve your website ranking in search engines and give your community something to share on social media.

Content marketing is the future of the web. An advertising campaign, today, will only run as long as you can continue to pay for its budget. However, content creation is a long-term strategy because every piece of content you create, for the web, becomes indexed in search engines, gives your community something to share on social media and boosts your presence in search engines like Google.

Content creation, alone, is not enough to outrank your competitors; a robust strategy is required to tip past your competitors and snag their search engine rankings. A strategy is a publication schedule which gives you insight as to the type of content you will be creating, publishing and how it all interconnects to give users the ability to explore deep into your website.

A content marketing strategy will be the culmination of feedback and research, from your community, to deliver content which will be attractive to targeted leads. The content created, for your website, will be used to draw in interested leads, supply valuable information which displays expertise in your industry and stimulates them to take further action to either buy or subscribe to your business.

Strategic content creation and publication will create additional web pages indexed within Google; these will be additional entry paths for customers to find your business. Likewise, your content will be picked up and shared within social media circles which results in additional brand awareness and website traffic.

Phase 4: Become an Authority in Social Media

Social media is a channel for community interaction that few businesses utilize and even fewer fully pull out the potential. Social media is a revolution for business; it has given the power back to the customer but equally so to the small business owner.

Social media allow you to create one-to-one connections with your community and customers. Your competition may have a social media presence but it’s rare they fully understand the platform to improve their business. You can use social media to gain an edge against your competition and utilize the power of the channel to help your business increase its rank in Google.

Google has begun to use social media interaction as a factor for search engine rankings. Google’s initiative, since its beginning, has been to provide its users with the optimal web experience. In recent years, social media have been on the rise, with web users, which made Google aware of its overall effect on the same web experience it seeks to improve. Your own social media interaction, with your community, can result in a greater opportunity to build your authority and rank in the search engine giant.

Content you create and share on social media is rapidly indexed and viewed. Community interaction through blog commenting keeps search engines active on your website and alerts them to how authoritative your site is based on its high amount of activity.

Use social media to connect with your community; each connection creates a new opportunity to find brand ambassadors which may result in these active community members writing about your business on their websites and sharing your brand within their communities.

Phase 5: Capitalize with Online Advertising and Marketing

Lead the charge in brand awareness while online businesses pull back from advertising. In down economies, the first item cut from a business’ budget is advertising and marketing. Your competitor’s lack of marketing funds creates a wide open road for you to take charge and set yourself out in front of the industry.

Capitalize on business with online advertising channels like Google Adwords, banners, contextual ads, social media marketing and more. The decrease in spending, from competitors, will lower your costs; this bonus can be your advantage. Use every channel to reach your market; don’t eliminate advertising because it requires a budget.

Likewise, expand your reach by using new channels to sell your products and services. Sign up for Amazon and sell your products on their platform, start an affiliate program to turn your customers into salespeople, develop niche websites to offer your services, use EBay to reach huge market segments; there are hundreds of these types of platforms out there waiting for you.

Summary and Conclusion

To summarize what you have learned in this article: Learn from your competition and research to create a solid brand which can be transferred into various mediums through content marketing, social media interaction and online advertising.

Every action your business takes, as a whole, creates a cumulative effect. Content you publish can be shared on social media which, in turn, builds your traffic and authority, so your next piece is more widely accepted and shared. A continual display of expertise and value, to your community, will give you the edge to surpass your competition in Google; it’s a marathon so be ready to be in it for the long run.

WHAT’S IN PHOTOCRATI 4.0?

• Built-in gallery management! (they’ve made it even easier)
• Built-in ecommerce galleries! Add ecommerce galleries with print sizes and prices. Comes with shopping cart functionality, integrated with Paypal. Accept Paypal or credit cards for purchases. You’ll be notified of purchases and sent an order summary. You’ll fulfill orders yourself at your preferred print lab.
• iPhone / iPad compatibility. (you read that right,, it works on the iphone. ipod and ipad now!)
• Copyright protection for Photocrati Galleries – no right clicking, dragging images to desktop, or viewing source URLs
• Albums. Now add album pages – with thumbnails linking to each of your galleries.
• Border controls. Customize borders on images and thumbnails in galleries.
• Music. Add music to your home page, gallery pages, and blog page.
• IPTC Data. Automatically imports IPTC headlines and captions.
• Dozens of other updates!

These new features should be met with open arms from photographers because they are really quite awesome.  I’m a big fan of Photocrati’s theme because it gives photographers a theme that puts imagery first.  It’s super easy to use and allows you to get your site set up in a couple hours,, depending on how many photos you have.

I’ll be putting up some video tutorials in the near future on how to install, set up and make the best use of this theme so keep an eye out.  And if you have any questions please leave a comment below.

Also, I just uploaded a video on installing photocrati theme and creating a gallery if you’re interested.

All new theme from Studiopress for photographers and teens.

From StudioPress “There’s a fresh, vibrant generation out there, and you’re a part of it.

Pretty Young Thing can capture the essence of your experience and reflect it back to a world that badly needs a dose of youthful exuberance!”

Current version: 1.0 · Updated: 2/16/11
Requires: WP 3.0 · Compatible to: WP 3.1
Features: custom background/header, 3 color styles, 6 layout options, fixed width, theme options, featured images, threaded comments, footer widgets
BuddyPress Compatible: No

My thoughts:

When I first saw this theme I thought that it was a perfect fit for photographers of all types, especially women because of it’s feminine features and color palette.  But you can also adjust the color palette and change the logo and have a totally new site that has cool features like prominent about me info in the right column.  It also has a variety of template pages so you can have pages with or without sidebars.

Of course this runs perfectly on the newest version of WordPress 3.1 so you can do a lot of cool stuff.  Oh and this theme has built in adspace which I think is a great feature.

This is a child theme of Studiopress’ very popular Genesis framework so you know you’ll get great SEO features.

Be sure to check out the demo to see more of the pages.

Arcade is dark and sleek, with a solid retro vibe thats reminiscent of pinball machines and old-school sci-fi films. Perfect for gaming or movie blogs, new custom sections are easy to add, thanks to fluid design elements and well-documented CSS.

View the live demo here.

Key Features

• Custom Logo Input: No need to delve into the code of your theme, simply upload your awesome logo with the click of a button.
• Page Templates: Our themes come packaged with multiple pages templates including Archives, Full Width and a Portfolio page.
• Menu Management: Organize your Menu Structure for super smooth visitor navigation. Choose what goes and what stays in your nav.
• Advert Management: Setup your BuySellAds adverts or run your own custom campaign, OCMX allows for complete control over your revenue system.
• Ajax Comments: When a visitor submits a comment to your blog there are no page reloads. That means they can watch a video and comment at the same time.
• Automatic Image Resizing: Using TimThumb to manage our theme image resizing you never have to worry about resizing your pictures when switching to our Themes.
• Cross Browser Compatible: Our themes work in all popular modern web browsers.
• Search Engine Friendly: Obox themes were designed with Search Engine Optimisation in mind. All our HTML is W3C compliant and is ordered so search engines can read it.
• Analytics Install: Don’t miss a single hit with easy input of your Google Analytics code.

The Arcade theme boasts a full-length slider on the homepage

You can also add as many widgets as you can to the widget-ready footer

Creative bloggers will enjoy the quirky detail of this 2-column hand-drawn theme. Left Handed brings together custom-made fonts, chalky lines and subtle texturing, and turns them into a template suited to any creative theme – including music, art and design.

View the live demo here.

Key Features

• Custom Logo Input: No need to delve into the code of your theme, simply upload your awesome logo with the click of a button.
• Page Templates: Our themes come packaged with multiple pages templates including Archives, Full Width and a Portfolio page.
• Menu Management: Organize your Menu Structure for super smooth visitor navigation. Choose what goes and what stays in your nav.
• Advert Management: Setup your BuySellAds adverts or run your own custom campaign, OCMX allows for complete control over your revenue system.
• Ajax Comments: When a visitor submits a comment to your blog there are no page reloads. That means they can watch a video and comment at the same time.
• Automatic Image Resizing: Using TimThumb to manage our theme image resizing you never have to worry about resizing your pictures when switching to our Themes.
• Cross Browser Compatible: Our themes work in all popular modern web browsers.
• Search Engine Friendly: Obox themes were designed with Search Engine Optimisation in mind. All our HTML is W3C compliant and is ordered so search engines can read it.
• Analytics Install: Don’t miss a single hit with easy input of your Google Analytics code.

This unique black and blue theme is perfect for personal blogs

This theme also comes with a widget-ready footer