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Captain T Productions

21 May 2026

A photography site for a local photographer, cinematography, and drone pilot.

Tags
Client servicesWordPress PluginsAdaptability
Challenge
The site had to showcase photography, cinematography, and drone work while the business direction was still forming.
Solution
A branded WordPress site shaped around the chosen visual direction, flexible media sections, and a more hands-on handover.
Impact
The client received a branded WordPress site and a stronger handover process for editing future content.
Tech Stack
WordPressCustom ThemeSpectraBluehost

Background

Captain T Productions was a photography project for a client who wanted a site to showcase and advertise their work. The business was young, so the build had to support growth, but the uncertainty of its direction created an interesting challenge.

Onboarding & Early Ideas

The brief was basically:

  • ‘We need a website for our photography and drone footage’
  • ‘Advise us on the website software and hosting’
  • ‘Train us on how to add content’

I researched similar websites, for ideas on best practice and to understand how best to showcase this kind of work. The client provided their logo and using this, I created mockups which explored layout, colours, and general vibe of their brand.

Pressed for time on the brand, I reused a trick from my own site: business cards. These show the logo, the typeface and the decorative elements, pinning the site’s style, so I could get on with the bulk of the job, the WordPress theme.

Final design

Pictures of mockups done for the client

My client decided on idea five as the basic premise for the style. Since this was primarily a photography based site, I didn’t do many additional mockups as my client had limited content at that time.

Design & Build

Using WordPress and custom theme, I built this site based on the client initial logo and the colours and layout used in the Idea 5 of the mockups as inspiration.

A few things I focused on:

  • Keeping the focus clear to the user
  • Maintaining a simple layout to draw focus to the products
  • Avoiding weird layout shifts on mobile due to large amount of images

As this was a portfolio project, I offered a free round of edits to the site. However, learning from my last handover of the Captain Cycles site. I worked with the client to make the changes, helping them through it, which let them make worthwhile changes, and learning how to use WordPress, speeding up the hand-off time.

Hosting & Deployment

For hosting, I recommended Bluehost; it’s reliable, affordable, and easy to use.

To help with SEO, analytics, and reviews, I installed:

  • Site Kit to get analytics so the client sees the progression
  • Spectra for a custom feel and ease of viewing for large pieces of information
  • Yoast SEO for basic optimisation

This was deemed by the client and myself to be the essentials of what was needed.

Outcome & Key takeaways

Outcome

The client got a branded WordPress site with flexible media sections for their photography, cinematography, and drone work. Crucially, this project improved my handover process: working with the client on edits instead of handing off a finished site.

Key takeaways

As this was slightly more complex than Captain Cycles, it gave me a greater volume of work. However, as Captain Cycles was finishing up, I had to create balance between working on both sites at the same time, to keep up momentum and keeping to the client’s deadlines.

Hindsight

In hindsight, I would focus more on the intention of the site. With photography, cinematography and drone work, the goal was unclear at the start, and the breadth of the client’s work slowed the project considerably.

Also, while the WordPress training was vastly improved, I would now create a simple user guide for the more intricate elements of the WordPress dashboard.