JD Howell recently asked me to collaborate with him to set up a stock photography site to accompany his Portfolio, which Creative Creature developed in February and March of 2007. As usual, JD didn’t want the standard-issue stock site that food photographers the world over use to make an extra buck. He was more interested in presenting something that would connect gracefully with the audience of his Portfolio, which includes a significant range of artistic photography and imagery combinations. To this end, we worked together to build on an existing application and customize it to his needs.

The solution was fittingly named Amass: “to gather together or accumulate (a large amount or number of valuable material or things) over a period of time.” JD has selected a range of images from his archives and organized them into events he has photographed, and a group of images he calls Heart Felt. These images conjure views of a realm that is unsettling, intriguing, emotive, and which always seem to hint at more than the subject offers at first glance. Feeling that such images should be searchable by mood as much as subject, JD has tagged his images with emotive, expressive keywords, rather than restricting his descriptions to subject and composition.

Amass has been integrated with JD’s Portfolio in two ways. First, a beautiful tab has been embedded on the right side of the browser when viewing the Portfolio. On rollover, it slides out gracefully to reveal itself, and a click takes the user to Amass. Additionally, images featured in the Portfolio which are available in Amass are marked with a subtle purchase link which appears above the image in question. Selecting this link presents the user with that image’s details and purchase information within Amass. The works are available in both digital and print format.

The design of the site reflects the ‘floating’ nature of the Portfolio design, keeping visual distractions to a minimum and the work at the forefront. This is further emphasized by the minimal, muted colour palette and font treatment, all of which suit the elegance and austerity of the images.

As always, it was a pleasure to work with an artist of JD’s calibre. I’m sure this won’t be the last innovative project to come from his direction.