Introducing the Stock Photography theme for WordPress

For years there’s been only one way to sell stock photography: Do business with a large, corporate stock photography company. Photographers had no choice but to be at the mercy of a company’s shifting rules and regulations.

We knew there had to be a better way. So, we set out to build an alternative to the traditional “top-down” stock photography business. We made changes that will have radical results. Brace yourself.

stock photography wordpress theme

Run It Like A Boss

Finally you call the shots. Our new WordPress theme, Stock Photography, turns your web site into a stock photography business. Manage your portfolio, blog and stock photography business all from one site. This streamlined approach will save you tons of time; spend it vacationing on an exotic island like the boss that you are.

Say My Name

For years you’ve been an anonymous cog helping stock photo corporations get bigger and bigger. That ends today. Now, you own the business and the brand. Design it and name it what you want. Build yourself some much-deserved recognition. People will be buying your images and shouting your name from the rooftops in no time.

Be Internet Famous

When you run an online business, Google decides who’s famous and who isn’t. Stick with corporate photography companies and your name and images might end up on page six or page ten. Use our Stock Photography theme, and have the semantic power of WordPress behind you. Our goal is to get you to page one.

Represent Your Niche

These days web sites for every interest imaginable exist; yet stock photography sites have lagged far behind. Today they catch up. With our new WordPress theme, you can create a site for a specific type of stock photography. For example, you might consider building a location-specific stock photography website, such as “Washington D.C. stock photography.” Or perhaps you prefer a topic-specific site and decide to target the niche for “surfing stock photography”. You’re images won’t be lumped together with thousands of unrelated images like on other stock sites, and your web site will rise higher in search engine rankings for your target market.

Get Paid

Stop doing business with other companies that control image pricing and charge you 20-70% commission on every stock photo you sell. Set your own prices with the Stock Photography theme, and keep 100% of the sales. More money, it’s not really a problem after all.

Compare

Stock Photography theme Corporate Stock Companies
You keep 100% sales
No monthly service fees
Integrated with your portfolio & blog
You’re the boss
Target niche markets
Ability to customize all aspects of the design

Advanced Features

We put a ton of research and development time into the Stock Photography theme and packed the theme full of killer features, including:

  • Advanced Search - Find images based on keywords, price, collections, licensing terms or the orientation of the image.
  • Lightbox - Save images to a lightbox and share with friends, family or clients.
  • Metadata - Import image medadata (keywords, location, EXIF) and create automatic archive for each term.
  • Dashboard - Create a private login area where your customers can download their purchases.
  • Alternative Colors - Includes four alternative color styles to create the perfect custom site design.
  • Collections - Organize images into collections, such as outdoors, people and sports.
  • Social Sharing - Share Facebook and Twitter in one click.
  • Social Icons - Add social media icons to any menu link.
  • Custom Fonts - Choose from over two dozen custom fonts.
  • Logo - Add a custom logo and favicon.
  • Widgets - Includes 8 widgetized areas and 9 custom widgets (popular photos, recent photos, similar photos, etc.)
  • Custom Headers - Add a header image to customize the look of your site.
  • Custom Backgrounds - Add a background image or change background colors in one click.

And since the Stock Photography theme integrates with the Sell Media plugin, you can take advantage of any of the extensions for Sell Media to enhance the functionality of your site. Sweet, eh?

Video Overview

The Revolution Waits For No One

Don’t let someone else beat you to building your dream company. Here’s a little push: Use this coupon code to receive 20% off the Stock Photography themePHOTOBIZWHIZ

The offer is valid until midnight on May 24, 2013.

Grow Your Mailing List by Offering Free Downloads

Offering free theme and plugin downloads here at Graph Paper Press grew our mailing list from a big fat zero to well over 200,000 subscribers in less than four years. Today, we’re releasing this same functionality to you in the form of a plugin called Free Downloads. To use Free Downloads, all you need is a WordPress site, our free Sell Media plugin activated, Free Downloads activated, and something awesome to give away to your site visitors.

Overview

The Free Downloads extension for Sell Media brings this ordinarily complex process directly into your WordPress site. Any image, pdf, document or ZIP that you upload into WordPress can be used. Once visitors click the download button, they will be prompted to submit their name and e-mail address to complete the download. This is a great marketing and lead generation tool that you can use to:

  • Offer free pdf guides
  • Offer free images
  • Offer free zip downloads

Screenshot

Free Download Popup

The screenshot above shows the popup box where your visitors will add their name and email address in order to receive the free download.

Give A Little, Gain A Whole Lot

We designed the Free Downloads extension for Sell Media to give your visitors something they want, as well as something you need. The extension integrates with MailChimp, an e-mail marketing system.

So why not install the Free Downloads extension for Sell Media and grow your subscriber list with every download.

Sell Photo Reprints without the Middle Man

Our Photo Reprints extension for the Sell Media plugin for WordPress will simplify the way you sell images and free you from third party websites. This extension allows you to sell both downloadable files and photo reprints from your WordPress site—no middlemen involved—and print and ship them directly to your customers. You can create an unlimited number of reprint size options and print the images yourself, or send them to your preferred print vendor of choice.

Video Tutorial

Screenshots

More Control = More Freedom

When you activate the Photo Reprints extension, you’ll immediately transform your WordPress site from a portfolio and blogging platform into the hub of your online business. Sell any image you upload to WordPress as either a digital download, a photo reprint or both. Break the chains of third party websites and spend more time creating and sharing your work.

Download the Photo Reprints extension.

Introducing Snaps – a free portfolio and photo WordPress theme

Snaps is our newest free WordPress theme that showcases header images, grid layouts and post formats in a beautifully simple design. The theme includes social media icons, support for custom backgrounds, footer widgets and integrates with the theme customizer. The default home and archive pages support thumbnails in vertical orientation (portrait photographers rejoice!) and includes layouts designed specifically for mobile devices. Visit the Snaps theme page to download the theme for free.
snaps-wordpress-theme

Please let us know what you think of Snaps in the comments below!

Full Frame on WordPress.com

fullframe
We’re completely honored to announce that Full Frame is now available on WordPress.com. Full Frame has quickly become one of our most popular themes to date and we’re excited to offer it up to the millions of users on WordPress.com. You can also download the self-hosted WordPress.org flavor of Full Frame right here at Graph Paper Press (more on the difference below).

Our good buddy and former co-worker Philip Author Moore blogged about Full Frame and another sweet theme called Ryu by the talented Takashi Irie.

WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org

While some of our themes are available on the WordPress.com platform, you cannot download themes from our site and add them to your WordPress.com site.  Why? WordPress.com and the software you download from WordPress.org are two entirely different things (although they do share a vast number of similarities). You can’t install new themes or plugins on WordPress.com.  For more info, please see this post or watch this video.

Download the WordPress.org flavor of Full Frame

Download the WordPress.com flavor of Full Frame

Photography Themes on WordPress.com

Full Frame is the second premium theme that we’ve released on WordPress.com. Gridspace, which was our first premium WordPress.com theme, quickly became a top 10 premium theme available on the platform (some of our free themes are also available there too). Each day, more and more photographers, designers and other visual creatives are discovering the power of the hosted flavor of WordPress and that makes us happy.

What do you want us to build next?

Go Big With Our Full Frame WordPress Theme

Tired of tiny photos and videos? Yeah, we are too. That’s why we built Full Frame, a clean and modern, responsive, post-format-loving WordPress theme that is ohhh…sooo pretty.

Full Frame homepage without header

Custom Headers & Background Images

The featured image of each post becomes the background image of the post on home and archive pages. You can optionally add a custom header image and logo, which will sit atop all pages. Here is an example of a post assigned to the “gallery post format” with an inserted gallery and featured image:

Full Frame gallery post format with inserted gallery thumbnails.

Smart Ways to Use Post Formats

Post Formats are an incredibly useful, yet under-utilized tool. If you only wanted to showcase big photos, for example, use the image post format to create a photo-centric site, like this. You could also mix in some gallery post formats, which look like this.

Full Frame supports the following post formats: Standard, Image, Gallery, Video, and Quote.

Keyboard Navigation

You can use your up/down arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate quickly between post on the home and archive pages. You can also optionally use the up/down buttons located in the top right of the navigation bar to navigate as well.

Responsive Design

Full Frame is a single column theme that resizes with your browser. This theme was designed with mobile devices in mind. We’re especially proud of the responsive menu on iPads and iPhones. Give it a ‘lil test!

Sticky, Fixed Navigation Bar

The optional custom header image (not shown on the demo site) appears above the navigation bar. When visitors scroll down below the header image, the navigation bar changes from a relatively positioned element below the header image into a fixed position, appearing always at the top of the page. Pretty useful, eh?

Fonts, Theme Options, Customizer Support

As with all of our newer themes, Full Frame includes custom font options, additional theme options for easily customizing your site, and integrates with the theme customizer tool in WordPress.

Winner?

We’d love hear what you think about Full Frame. It’s been a doozy to make and we hope you enjoy it!

How do you plan on using it?

Own Your Destiny in 2013

In 2012, we proved that it’s possible build a successful stock photography website using free software like WordPress, our themes, and our Sell Media plugin. We also proved that building one new theme each month was possible. Now it’s time to raise the stakes.

Our 2013 Promise

In 2013, we’ll continue our one theme per month promise and up it one new plugin each month. While quantity might make for good marketing, quality is just as important to us. Here is the proof: Each theme incubates internally an average of 3 months before public release; we spent 10 months building Sell Media.

Our First Theme

Storyteller is our first official WordPress theme for 2013. It’s a beautifully designed responsive theme packed with slideshows, header images, custom fonts, and live theme customization integration.

storyteller-wordpress-theme

Three New Sell Media Extensions

Our newest extensions for the Sell Media plugin will make the functionality of your website rival some of the biggest stock photography websites in the world. The big difference, of course, is that you set all prices and you keep all profit.

Advanced Search - Find the perfect image or other media based on specific search criteria. Filter media using keywords, collection, min/max price, orientation and available licenses. Read more about the Advanced Search extension for Sell Media.

Commissions - Reward contributors with sales commissions. Build a small photo agency or collective and distribute sales commission amongst contributing photographers. Read more about the Commissions extension for Sell Media.

Expander - Quickly browse, enlarge and buy images or other media on Sell Media archive and search pages. Read more about the Expander extension for Sell Media.

WordPress Users Win

A growing number of our users power their entire web presence (portfolio, blog and e-commerce) atop WordPress. This makes both practical sense and it makes business sense, given that WordPress is free, themes are inexpensive and the platform is infinitely extensible. Thousands of developers around the world are building new themes and plugins for WordPress around the clock. This translates into a big win for WordPress users.

Renters vs. Owners

Do you own or rent your website? If you pay a third party platform to run and host your website (a “hosted solution”), you are a renter. Changing small things like links and colors can sometimes be impossible. After all, you don’t own your website, you’re merely a renter. Many of the hosted solutions available today are expensive, confusing or bloated with features that cater to “edge cases” that 99.9% of people don’t need. Plus, if your landlord decides to sell or close down, well, so does your website. And so would your business. That’s scary.

On the other hand, if you own your website, you control everything. You control the color, the design and the functionality. Lets say you want to integrate your site with your newsletter list on Mailchimp. No problem. Maybe you want to build your own theme or tweak an existing one. No problem. This is powerful and has the potential to alter the trajectory of many small businesses.

If you do anything in 2013, become an owner.

Improving Support

A few years ago I was working as a staff photographer at a daily newspaper in Lawrence, Kansas. I was helping my friend and mentor, Bill Snead, out with a portrait and his subject was quite self conscious in front of the camera. Noticing the situation, Snead took action.

“When you look bad, I look bad. And I don’t like to look bad,” said Snead.

It was a simple, yet powerful statement that essentially transfered the success of the photo shoot from the subject to the photographer. Consequently, the subject relaxed and Snead worked hard to make great photos. In the end, the photos came out great. It was a brilliant move. A double win.

At Graph Paper Press, we work hard to build beautiful WordPress themes and we understand that the success of your website depends greatly on the support you receive from us along the way. When questions pop up, we help you out. When you find an issue, we get it resolved. After all, when you look good, we look good. Looking bad isn’t an option.

Improvements

So earlier this week, we implemented small changes to improve our support system to make sure you get the answers you need, fast.

  1. Fix or FAQ – This is a new policy we’ve instituted internally. It essentially means this: If our users ask the same questions over and over again, we must be doing something wrong. If that’s the case, we’ll fix it. Otherwise, we’ll mark it as a FAQ entry or make the thread public.
  2. Public or Private - Also a new internal policy. All support tickets are now a private two-way conversation between you and our support team. Some users we’re occasionally posting sensitive data in our forum, which was public. Our support team does have the ability to make a private discussion public. We will use option to highlight quality, resolved discussions. This will make our support forum far more useful for finding answers.
  3. Clearer Support Policy – We’ve clarified our support policy and made it available on the homepage of the support forum for easy reference.
  4. New Customization Options – If you don’t know code, but want to customize your WordPress theme, you have two options: If you need a small change that requires coding, you can hire a Tweaker. If you have lots of changes and need full-blown site customization, you can hire a Customizer.
We’ve also made posting new support tickets is now much easier (see our ContactRegistration and Dashboard pages).

3 Tips for Fast Response Times

When the initial question our customers ask is helpful, we can provide a fast response time, which helps to solve the problem in as few steps as possible.

  1. Write short, concise questions. One sentence is ideal.
  2. Post one question per ticket.
  3. Always provide your URL.

Our goal for customer support is simple: Make sure all questions are answered as fast and accurately possible. We hope you find these small improvements helpful. If you have ideas for improving on what we’ve outline above, we’re all ears. After all, when you you look good, we look good. And that is our goal.

Get 30% off WordPress Themes on Black Friday & Cyber Monday!

We have a lot to be thankful for this year; for starters, the beginning of December marks our five-year anniversary! (Happy Birthday to us, Happy Birthday to us… )

Since our launch, more than 190,000 photographers, artists, bloggers and other creatives have downloaded and use our minimalist WordPress themes. As a thank you to all of our totally awesome and inspiring users, we have two killer deals for Black Friday and Cyber Monday – and you can start saving today!

Grab the codes below to join the party:

Black Friday 30% off Coupon Code:

blackfriday2012

Use this discount on the following Graph Paper Press products:

Valid Wednesday, 11/21/12 – Saturday 11/24/12.

Cyber Monday 30% off Coupon Code:

cybermonday2012

Use this discount on the following Graph Paper Press products:

Valid Sunday, 11/25/12 –  Tuesday, 11/27/12.

Build Your Own Stock Media Empire using the Sell Media Plugin

Do you want to build your own stock photography website where you keep all of the sales revenue? Do you want to protect your high resolution images from thieves? Do you want to monetize your blog?

Sell Media is a new WordPress plugin that allows you to sell, license and protect images, videos, audio files and PDF’s directly from your website. You can now run your entire business directly out of WordPress without the need for expensive and confusing third party systems.

And it’s free.

Why We Built Sell Media

About 10 months ago I opined my frustrations with the state of selling media online. If you are a photographer or creative professional looking to sell your images, video or audio online, you’ll likely share my sentiment. Many of the hosted solutions available today are expensive, confusing or bloated with features that cater to “edge cases” that 99.9% of people don’t need. Not to mention, you very likely maintain three or four different websites (blog, portfolio, e-commerce) just to run your business online. That’s insane!

We built the Sell Media plugin to make selling media that you upload into WordPress dead simple. You can create your own stock photography website, stock video website, sell audio files, PDF’s and other documents. Basically, if you can upload it into WordPress, you can sell it. Check out the video overview below.

Watch more video tutorials for Sell Media here.

Build Your Own Stock Media Empire

The Sell Media plugin is largely focused on solving issues facing creatives looking to sell their images, video, audio, etc. online. Here are some possible use cases for Sell Media:

  • Stock photography website - Create a stock photography website in a few clicks. Sell images that you upload into WordPress. Assign different license types (commercial, personal, etc) to increase the price of the image download. Sell reprints of images that you upload into WordPress. Our soon-to-be-released reprint extensions will automate print fulfillment or allow your to print and ship the image reprints yourself (self-fulfillment).
  • Stock video website - Sell stock video files that you upload into WordPress. Assign different license types (commercial, personal, etc) to increase the price of the video download.
  • Audio marketplace - Sell audio files directly from your website. You can Assign different license types (commercial, personal, etc) to increase the price of the audio download.
  • Document downloads - Sell file (pdf, doc) downloads in a few clicks.
  • All of the above – You can do it all using the Sell Media plugin.

Powerful Extensions

Extensions are essentially plugins that extend the functionality of the Sell Media plugin. Extensions will allow you to:

  • Sell photo reprints through a print vendor or by self-fulfillment
  • Watermark your image uploads
  • Integrate customer signups with newsletter lists (Campaign Monitor, MailChimp, SendGrid)
  • Backup uploaded Sell Media items to Amazon S3
  • Process Credit Cards securely on your site with Stripe

If you have an extension idea, please let us know.

Lean and Mean

We’ve built Sell Media with simplicity and ease of use in mind. It integrates tightly into WordPress, which means you won’t have to learn a new system just to sell your media online. We’ve also tried to avoid “feature bloat” in Sell Media. The Pareto Principle was a guiding philosophy for deciding the features in Sell Media: 80% of the people will use 20% of the features. All other features will be built into “extensions” so we can keep the core plugin lean and mean.

What’s Next

We have a lot planned for Sell Media in the coming months. If you find a bug, please report it here so we can fix it. If you have a feature request or an extension idea, please let us know!

Ready to Sell?

He Shoots… He Scores! Winning Sports Photographers Using Our Themes

It’s been a few months since our last showcase feature on the blog, but that’s not for the lack of submissions. Each week we update our Showcase with tons of new sites from our Graph Paper Press users, and can we get a virtual high five? Because y’all rock.

So far this year on the blog, we’ve featured graphic designers, editorial photographersillustrators, and portrait photographers. This month we’re shining the spotlight on three impressive sports photographers:

First up, is Pete Surrette, a freelance sports photographer based in Woodinville, WA. Specializing in watersports, Pete also shoots most team sports as well as lifestyle and portraits. Give Pete a cheer; his photography has been featured in product catalogs as well as national advertising.

Surrette is using the Emporia responsive WordPress theme,  which has the option for beautiful three-column page layouts, slideshow support, five alternative styles, widgets and drop down menus. You can choose from one of five alternative styles including Light, Dark, Clean, Grunge, and Earth.

Next up is photographer Paul Petch who hails from Christchurch, New Zealand. Petch captures a range of outdoor activities, events & commercial ventures. Documentary style photography is what he loves, along with weaving genuine stories about real people at their best. He views his photography as an emotional experience with a modern, progressive and independent drive.

Petch’s site Outdoor Photography is using the super-customizable Modularity WordPress theme. Virtually every aspect of the theme design can be controlled from the theme options page. Select from a homepage slideshow, homepage video, magazine or traditional blog layout and change your homepage layout in seconds with a simple mouse click.

Finally, check out the amazing portfolio of Brad Mangin, who is a freelance sports photographer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He regularly shoots assignments for Sports Illustrated and Major League Baseball Photos, and when not behind the camera, you can find him working on his site SportsShooter.com, the online resource for sports photography, of which he is a founding owner. Mangin’s portfolio uses our ever-popular Sidewinder WordPress theme, which features beautiful side-scrolling gallery slideshows.

Mangin is also using our Monochrome Pro WordPress theme for his sports blog. This magazine-style theme features a homepage slideshow that cycles through a collection of featured posts as well as a category grid that anchors the bottom of the fold. This theme is perfect for a news or magazine website.

That’s the end of this inning, but if you want a slam-dunk with your website, take a few moments to peruse all of our WordPress themes.  Our newest themes, Reportage, Auditorium, Albedo, Instamate, and Immersion are guaranteed to fit exactly the image you want to project.  Once your new site is up, don’t forget to feel free to submit your site to our showcase so everyone can enjoy your work.

Create a Streamlined & Compelling Portfolio with New Theme Reportage

Designed by the meticulous and creative minds of our theme developers – the same minds behind Albedo, a fast favorite for photographers – means that new theme Reportage has the compelling design and streamlined layout your photographs will love.

Reportage helps you create a beautiful and professional website, with a primary focus on portfolio images and a secondary focus on blog updates. This theme ensures your images stand out, with a slight border and shadow for emphasis.

The amazing Live Theme Customizer which allows you change background colors, upload a custom header image, and choose from perfect Google font pairings, (all while watching the changes happen instantaneously), is also included in the Reportage theme.

Drag-and-Drop Slideshows

Display beautiful slideshows on the homepage, in your portfolio and blog posts simply by uploading images in WordPress. Rearrange your homepage slideshow slides using a simple drag-and-drop interface.

Live Theme Customizer

Preview your theme customization changes instantly on the page before saving. Change colors, fonts, logos, header images, image orientation, switch between a left or right sidebar, and add custom CSS.

Custom Fonts

Select the perfect typography for your site from either the Theme Options or the Theme Customizer page. Preview font choices live on the page before making those changes live for your visitors.

Responsive Design

Reportage adapts to different screen sizes so that your website will work (and be optimized for) iPhones, iPads and other mobile devices. Resize your browser window to see the fluid grids and flexible images in action.

Get It Now

Get Reportage here. You can purchase this theme individually, or if you’re a paid Graph Paper Press member, you can download it now.

Are you loving Reportage? Let us know in the comments. We’re looking forward to seeing your site with this gorgeous theme.

Test Our New Sell Media Plugin for WordPress

Our new Sell Media plugin is now ready for beta testing. The Sell Media plugin will allow you to turn any image, pdf, video, audio or document into a product that your visitors can purchase and download. If you can upload it into WordPress, you can sell it. The plugin allows you to:

Sell Your Media

  • No fees, like stock photo sites. Keep 100% of  the profits.
  • Accept payments via Paypal. More payment gateways are on their way.
  • Earn passive income by selling and licensing your media.

License Your Media

  • License your media for specific usages, including commercial, editorial, or personal usages.
  • Build you own stock photo or video site.
  • Protect file uploads.

Integrate with WordPress

  • Completely free.
  • Integrates with WordPress dashboard, so you don’t waste time learning yet another system.
  • Log into one website to manage your portfolio, blog and online storefront.

Video Overview

Ready?

This is a BETA release for the Sell Media plugin and we need your help testing it so we can squash all bugs before our official release. So….

  1. Download Here
  2. Read Setup Instructions Here
  3. Report Bugs & General Feedback Here

This plugin is free, and will soon be available from the WordPress.org plugin repository. You will receive automatic plugin update alerts when new versions are release.

This is a BETA release and your feedback is critical. Please report all bugs here so we can squash them.

Ready, Set, Action! Create a Video Portfolio with New Theme Auditorium

Video is growing rapidly on the web (who are we kidding… it’s hot!), so we are thrilled to help support creatives doing video with our new launch of Auditoriuma responsive video theme for WordPress. Auditorium allows you to display video and image slideshows on your site.

As with all of our recent theme launches, Auditorium lets you instantly change and customize your theme using the extremely fun and easy Live Theme Customizer. You can see the changes you’re making on your site instantly before you save, whether you edit your background color, fonts, logos, or more.

Plus, don’t worry about your videos not being able to play on a mobile device, or trying to figure out how to resize what. This theme is responsive, which means your videos will work whether you hit “play” on an Android or an iPad.

Video & Image Slideshows

Display beautiful video and image slideshows on the homepage and archive pages. Use the arrow buttons or your keyboard to navigate between images. Assign each post to the video or gallery post format and voila!

Live Theme Customizer

Preview your theme customization changes instantly on the page before saving. Change colors, fonts, logos, backgrounds, and add custom CSS.

350 Font Options

Choose up to two fonts from a list of 350 to create that perfect typographic treatment that fits your style. Preview font choices live in the theme customizer before making those changes live for your visitors.

Responsive Design

Auditorium adapts to different screen sizes so that your website will work (and be optimized for) iPhones, iPads and other mobile devices. Resize your browser window to see the fluid grids and flexible images in action.

Ready, Set… Action!

Download Auditorium here if you’re a paid Graph Paper Press member. It’s ready for your genius!

Tell us what you like the best about Auditorium in the comments below. We can’t wait to watch your videos in this theme.

Our Latest Theme Sideswipe Makes Your Portfolio Beautiful and Hip

We’re pleased to announce our latest WordPress theme, Sideswipe. Beautiful and hip side-scrolling gallery slideshows are the hallmark of this theme.

This fun and minimalist theme pays homage to one of our most popular photo themes, Sidewinder. In our new theme Sideswipe however, you’ll get the chance to update and customize your theme, and see the changes instantly on the page before saving using the Live Theme Customizer. You can choose any background color and from over 350 font options to make this theme your own. Not to mention, Sideswipe is fully responsive, which means it will look good on any mobile device.

Live Theme Customizer

Preview your theme customization changes instantly on the page before saving. Change colors, fonts, logos, backgrounds, and add custom CSS.

Gallery Slideshows

Display beautiful side-scrolling slideshows on the homepage and in your Gallery posts simply by uploading images in WordPress. Use the arrow buttons or your keyboard to navigate between images.

350 Font Options

Choose up to two fonts from a list of 350 to create that perfect typographic treatment that fits your style. Preview font choices live in the theme customizer before making those changes live for your visitors.

Responsive Design

Sideswipe adapts to different screen sizes so that your website will work (and be optimized for) iPhones, iPads and other mobile devices. Resize your browser window to see the fluid grids and flexible images in action.

Get It Now

Download Sideswipe here if you’re a paid Graph Paper Press member. It’s ready for you!

Tell us what you like the best about Sideswipe in the comments below. We can’t wait to see how your portfolio shines with this theme.

Gridspace now available on WordPress.com

Today we’re happy totally freaking psyched to announce that our very own Gridspace theme is now available as a premium theme on WordPress.com.

As mentioned on the WordPress.com Gridspace theme page, Gridspace is a clean and modern portfolio theme that is perfect for showcasing vertical, horizontal or square images. Built by photographers, for photographers, Gridspace removes unnecessary clutter and will help put the spotlight back on your content. Check out the live theme demo to see Gridspace in action.

Differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org

WordPress.com is a hosted version of the software available from WordPress.org, albeit with some awesome add-ons (some free, some paid). WordPress.com affords users with the ability to have a WordPress site without the headaches of managing your own server, installing WordPress, managing upgrades and security all by yourself. We think it’s a great option for both new and experienced users. You can read more about the differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org right here.

Theme Differences

There are some small, but important differences between the versions of Gridspace available for download from here at GraphPaperPress.com and the version available on WordPress.com.

Version available for download from GraphPaperPress.com

  • Supports PhotoShelter integration.
  • Has a “Portfolio” custom post type.
  • The “Gallery Post Format” uses a special, minimalist slideshow script, as seen here.
  • Includes a “Blog” page template.
  • Includes additional theme options (fonts, custom css, favicon upload, etc).

Version available for download from WordPress.com

  • Includes two default Google Fonts. Upgrade to use the Custom Design premium upgrade to switch fonts and colors.
  • Doesn’t integrate with PhotoShelter.
  • Doesn’t include a “Portfolio” post type.
  • Includes a different Gallery and Slideshow design.
  • Includes four theme options: Logo upload, dark/light color styles, welcome message and thumbnail orientation.

Gridspace is available for $75 from WordPress.com. If you have a WordPress.com blog and want to give it a test drive, just visit your Appearance -> Themes page and preview Gridspace.

Gridspace is our third theme (see Modularity Lite and Mixfolio) for WordPress.com. We owe the theme team at WordPress.com (Caroline, Michael, Philip, Lance, Ian) a huge thanks for making our first foray into the premium theme platform an awesome experience. You all seriously rule.

Introducing More Themes for PhotoShelter Integration

We’re stoked to announce that for the past few weeks, we’ve been working hard to extend our partnership with PhotoShelter, and six of our newer Graph Paper Press WordPress themes now integrate with PhotoShelter.

For the uninitiated, PhotoShelter provides photo sales, portfolio and licensing tools for serious photographers. When you partner that with the robust blog, portfolio and publishing tools of Graph Paper Press WordPress themes, you get a cohesive design, advanced customization options, and a streamlined workflow all under one roof.

Integrated sites allow you to seamlessly match the look and feel of your PhotoShelter site and your Graph Paper Press blog, and also give you increased options for your portfolio.

If that sounds like it could make your life easier, click on over to our PhotoShelter Integration page  for more details now and view the full list of available themes.

Get Sleek and Professional with Our Newest Theme Albedo

Our newest theme Albedo is a sleek and professional magazine-style WordPress theme that is absolutely gorgeous and ideal for photographers.

We’re thrilled to announce that Albedo also includes the amazing Live Theme Customizer which allows you change background colors, upload a custom header image, or choose between over 350 Google fonts and watch the changes happen instantaneously.

Check out this video on Albedo to see it in action:

Drag-and-Drop Slideshows

Display beautiful slideshows on the homepage, in your portfolio and blog posts simply by uploading images in WordPress. Rearrange your homepage slideshow slides using a simple drag-and-drop interface.

Fully-Customizable Homepage

Enable or disable different sections to customize a completely unique look for your homepage depending on the content that you want to present.

Responsive Design

Albedo is a fully responsive design, which means it adapts to mobile devices beautifully and is optimized for iPhones, iPads and other mobile devices. Resize your browser window to see the fluid grids and flexible images in action.

Live Theme Customizer

If you haven’t tried the Live Theme Customizer yet, do it now. Change background colors, upload a custom header image, or choose between over 350 Google fonts and see the changes happen instantaneously, live on the page before clicking save.

Horizontal, Vertical or Square Thumbnails

Quickly change between horizontal , vertical or square thumbnails on the Live Theme Customizer page or on the Theme Options page. If you are a portrait photographer, this theme is for you. If you are a landscape photographer, well, ditto. Prefer square thumbnails? We got you covered.

Get It Now

Download Albedo here if you’re a paid Graph Paper Press member. It’s ready for you!

Tell us what you like the best about Albedo in the comments below. We can’t wait to see how your site looks with this theme.

A Portrait of Portraits: Brilliant Photographers Using Our Themes

Each month we like to feature users who are inspiring us with their brilliance and finesse.  So far this year, graphic designers, editorial photographers, and illustrators are among the artists we’ve highlighted. And this month we’re shining the spotlight on three impressive portrait photographers.

First, photographer Kevin Umlauf is utilizing our Fullscreen theme to showcase several of his colorfully bold images.  This one-column photography and multimedia WordPress theme was designed to bring the artist’s content front and center and Kevin’s site is a wonderful example of this.  The site’s pages are cleanly listed in the middle, which not only aids in keeping the spotlight on Kevin’s beautiful photos, but allows for easy navigation as well. I love that his images pop on the screen and practically beg his visitors to click each one – which, of course, I did (and then some).

Next up is Random Found Objects, a husband and wife photography team based in Virginia. Christina O’Connor and David Franusich’s work is featured in the entire screen, allowing the visitor to fully experience the details and side-scrolling photo WordPress theme, Sidewinder. Even more helpful is the site’s organization; every gallery page is accessible with one click, all viewable via Sidewinder’s staple side-scrolling feature.

This theme also provides several theme options, such as simple logo uploads, light and dark designs, and tracking code addition. These pictures really do say a thousand words and I can’t stop myself from wanting to scroll and imagine the stories every photo tells.  Their blog also assists in story-telling, providing explanations for some of the more unique pictures found on the site.

Lastly, Vanod Khapekar, based in Nagpur City, India is using our popular Modularity WordPress theme. Vanod is living out his childhood dream by traveling and taking pictures throughout India.  As we peruse his site, his passion for photography and his home country are both very evident. Modularity is one of our highly customizable themes, allowing users to feature a slideshow, video, magazine, or blog layout on their homepage, with just one click. Users can change their theme design pretty easily as well.

Vanod’s use of the slideshow layout is quite successful and we find ourselves wanting to savor all his photos.  Additionally, the contrast of the black background behind his vibrant photographs, especially the one of the playful boy, is both striking and beautiful.  Definitely a good choice.

That’s all we have for this month, but if you’re feeling inspired to spice up your website, take a look at our WordPress themes.  When you’ve found one that reflects you and your talent, feel free to submit your site to our showcase so we can feature your work.

Mixfolio Now Available on WordPress.com

We’re stoked to announce that our Mixfolio theme has been chosen as one of the latest additions to the collection of themes available at WordPress.com.

If you’re a WordPress.com user, you can read more about its features on the WordPress.com Theme Showcase or dive right into previewing the theme on your blog from Appearance → Themes. If you’re already a Graph Paper Press member using the WordPress.org platform, you can download the theme here.

A big shout-out to Philip Arthur Moore, Lance Willett, and the rest of the Automattic Theme Team for porting Mixfolio into the WordPress.com platform. Their feedback has proven super duper helpful in how we build themes.

As a quick reminder, Mixfolio is a responsive theme, adapting to the screen sizes of iPhones, iPads and other mobile devices. It also supports five post formats, two custom menus and allows you to add a personal touch by uploading a Custom Header Image or by taking advantage of the Custom Background feature.

Mixfolio WordPress theme