How to create a photography website for school events?

[jamesbond007]

I got a side gig to shoot photos of pre-school kids in May. I don't have a website. Parents are used to getting a code from the photographer, then they go to the website and punch in the code. They see their kid's photos along with different packages they could purchase. Then I would accept payment, print them out, and deliver them to the school.


Is there a cheap way of doing this? I thought about cash as an option, but the school admin says parents don't pay cash anymore. They are lazy. Any ideas?


I would be making approximately $180 for this job before website considerations.

[gooki]

I used to do this for a photographer many years ago. It was all bespoke code to automate much of the process.

If I was managing it today, I'd look at https://www.smugmug.com/ or similar services.

Just remember to whack a massive watermark over the photos when posting online before payment. People will screen shot em instead of paying etc.

[Daley]

Square might be the most cost effective, simplest, all-in-one platform for you. They offer basic storefronts starting at free and can handle credit card payment processing at one of the lowest rates available for small fry operation.

https://squareup.com/us/en/online-store/plans

As Gooki pointed out, make sure you watermark and keep online photo resolution small.

There's other off the shelf canned options for the non-technical, but you start climbing into real money costs rapidly, like $15/month or more.

[jamesbond007]

I used to do this for a photographer many years ago. It was all bespoke code to automate much of the process.

If I was managing it today, I'd look at https://www.smugmug.com/ or similar services.

Just remember to whack a massive watermark over the photos when posting online before payment. People will screen shot em instead of paying etc.

I used to host on smugmug very long time ago. Lost touch. Do they support automatic code generation and linking a gallery to code?

[katsiki]

I worked with a photographer recently who used this service:

https://pixieset.com/


It was only used as a viewing gallery to choose photos so I am not sure if it will do what you need.  HTH