JC Candanedo is a Fashion and Portraits photographer.

Originally from Panama, he has lived all over the world before moving to London where he’s now based and where we have crossed paths.

JC is one real exception in the world of Fashion photography, which can often be standoffish and cold: his kind, warm personality shines through all his work and his love for photography is nourished by a very strong set of values. In his own words: “I have a passion for real, genuine beauty in photography which translates into a commitment to an ethical approach: my aim is to avoid promoting the fictions of eternal youth and falsity in general.”

How refreshing is that?!!

JC asked me to help him getting to the next level with a full Web overhaul.

Now, a Web Edit sounds a pretty easy process; it’s just about choosing which pictures taking off from one photographer’s website, right? This is very seldom the case.

Photographers today have multiple sites, multiple portfolios scattered on the web, sometimes, such as in JC’s case, even multiple names; their versatility translates into such a multitude of styles, productions, experiments, that finding the “file rouge” that binds their personal style with the needs of the market is sometimes a very complex process: a Web Edit works only as far as it reflects the online identity as a whole, so my work needs to take an holistic approach and normally starts with digging into a much wider series of identities that have somehow “materialised” during the photographer’s career, to find, ultimately, who the photographer truly is and wants to be.

Practically, this means considering everything: fine-art personal projects against commercial revenues, strength of an established brand name against how well it reflects the visual content, potential of multiple skills in different fields of photography against a simple, functional web menu … and of course, all pictures, all projects, all texts…

It’s quite an intense process but eventually, simplicity and clarity reaffirm themselves;

* for JC Homepage’s Portfolio, after a careful look at all his production, we decided to “sacrifice” his most commercial work and unify his beautiful Portraits with the most personal, strongest shots of his Fashion and Beauty projects.

* for his Projects, we decided to create single galleries, one for each, but all accessible from the same menu page, in order to give JC’s public an overview of his work, while having at the same time the possibility to dig deeper and see each project in its fullness. We also made sure that each picture could open up in full page format, something that editors and publishers always look for in a photographer’s website.

* besides, we decided to create a new item in the menu for Media, gathering all the publication of JC’s work, which were many and greatly added to the “credibility” factor; we thought at the Media intro page as a publication in itself, adding a little text below each work, to help the “magazine” feeling.

As often happens with full Web Edits, we eventually had the strong perception that we had created something that was simultaneously brand new and already “there”, just hidden below the surface.

When I finish my work, and the photographer publishes it, I spend quite some time looking through it as I have never seen it before, and if it just flows, I know something good has happened, and we are where we should be.

But the best reward comes when my work helps a photographer gain some new deserved confidence in his own work: as JC recently told me after a series of portfolios reviews “I am glad that we did all the work that we did because I feel now that I am competing at the level that I should be competing”.

JC has been so kind to share with me and on his fantastic blog his thoughts on our work together:

“Raffaela and I gathered all the images that I have shot over the course of my career and put together an online portfolio that presents a more accurate version of who I am as a photographer.

It wasn't an easy task; we had to come up with a portfolio that was strong and coherent but that would also balance all the different types of photography that I shoot. 
Our main goal was to make the website appealing to those who are looking for my fashion work but also to those who want to see what I can offer as a portraiture photographer.

Raffaela helped me unify the Beauty & Fashion portfolios with the Portraits one, finding a consistent style all through. Also, she managed to build a Homepage Portfolio which could be appealing to Editorial and Commercial clients at once but also suitable and interesting for the general public. In the process, some of my favourite images were left out. But we had to sacrifice the most obvious commercial shots in order to give a contemporary edge to the website.

I am really happy with the result and I think that we nailed it!

It was a really difficult process because as photographers we are emotionally connected to our work. Having someone else take control over our work and tell us what we should and what we shouldn't present in our portfolios is probably one of the hardest things an artist can go through. But, in the end, it has been a relief. Just having the weight lifted off my shoulders of having to decide what to display in my portfolio has made the whole experience completely worth it.

Working with Raffaela not only helped me present a more accurate version of myself as a photographer, but it has also made me realise that the quality of my work was better than I gave it credit for.”