For Sienna Rhodes, I designed the homepage around one idea: the portfolio should come first.

Photography clients usually want to know one thing before they read about your process, your packages, or even who you are: Do I connect with your work?

So instead of opening with a traditional introduction, the homepage leads directly into the portfolio and lets the imagery make the first impression. The supporting copy and details come later, once the work has already created that initial connection.

I’m curious where other designers and photographers land on this. Do you prefer a portfolio-first homepage, or do you think the photographer’s story should come first?

Portfolio first, every time for photography. Nobody hires off a process paragraph, they hire because one image stopped them scrolling. The story matters, but it lands harder after the work has already made the case. That start here slider does the pitch by itself.

I don’t get how web designers complain about spending hours on one hero section.

I’ll easily go through 10+ iterations before I even know which directions are worth showing the client

10+ iterations before the client sees anything is the unglamorous secret behind every calm site like this. A psychosocial risk brand has to feel trustworthy without going cold, and this nails that balance. The restraint is doing the heavy lifting.