Photoblog service-any recommendations?

My bf and I are about to embark on a RTW in a few weeks. We've like to have a photoblog as we are both visual people and don't want to spend a lot of time writing stories, etc. while on the road. We envision uploading our photos once every 2-4 weeks.

We're looking for recommendations on a photoblog service that is well-designed and very simple to upload photos. Ideally, it would feature 1 big photo on the homepage with a small description area and then galleries/albums with thumbnails (a must!) on the subpages. Organization is key for us. Here's an example:

http://www.organicpix.com/

This blog was done with PixyBlog, a service that really appealed to me except for the fact that it costs $100-200 a year to maintain. Even though we'll only be traveling for a year, I'd like to keep the site going afterwards. I feel that renewing this site every year is pretty cost-prohibitive, kind of a bummer...

My bf and I are both art directors and appreciate good design. However, we do not want to tackle WordPress or any other programs that involve a lot of complex customization and plug-ins.

Any recommendations or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Wordpress isn't exactly complex, and if you appreciate good design, I'm sure you won't love any of the free options.

The new versions of Wordpress are pretty plug and play as far as theme installation goes, but you're going to have to pay for hosting... which will probably run you around $100/yr anyways.

I'm afraid that free and well designed don't often go together.

Yeah, I hear ya... I don't know if my programming skills are weak or if I just didn't pick the right theme, but I had a horrendous time getting up my WordPress blog/website so I'm kinda hesitant to go that route again. My bf just wants to upload to Picasa and call it a day...

Any other opinions out there?

C-and-C wrote:Yeah, I hear ya... I don't know if my programming skills are weak or if I just didn't pick the right theme, but I had a horrendous time getting up my WordPress blog/website so I'm kinda hesitant to go that route again. My bf just wants to upload to Picasa and call it a day...

Any other opinions out there?

I have a full blog going, but use Picasa to sort, edit, and upload my photos then pull them in from there for my blog. Using Picasa makes this process super easy. I star the photos I want to share, edit, geotag, and caption them then hit the sync button and I'm done. All you have to do is pick what size you want to be uploaded and tell it to only sync starred photos. I'm sure I've got over 1,000 pictures uploaded so far and am only taking half the free storage they provide.

I don't think this is the best way to drive traffic to my blog since the pictures aren't associated directly with it, but it's so easy that I don't want to change.

I like the layout of Smug Mug if your concentrating on photos. They have a lot of options for displaying your photos. I use it for work and uploading couldnt be easier. I use MacDaddy to upload and do hundreds of images at a time. You can customize your galleries and have a web address directed straight to your gallery list so it doesnt even look like your using a third party website. Viewers can also buy prints online.

I've always used flickr over picasa, but essentially for the same reasons.

I use the 100% free Travellerspoint photo storage and blog - no limits, but the blogs are somewhat limited (very good for the basics).

http://www.travellerspoint.com/photography.cfm

I don't know if it's too late for you, but if the photos are going to be the main focus of the blog, I'd suggest maybe looking into http://www.shutterfly.com. I use their site, but I don't exactly "blog"... can't see how it wouldn't work out well for you though. and FWIW, I'd highly recommend their products, too - they have been great for post-travel gifts and mementos. I've been with them for a while, so I don't know how their service works for people joining now, but I have unlimited storage, and unlimited posting to a "share site" which has its own web address and a series of permissions to regulate it for you. I believe you can make blog entries on it too, but don't quote me on that... I've never tried. If you're interested in seeing what mine looks like it's here: http://bideshi.shutterfly.com.

my website is done with Wordpress but i had to hack many things to make it work as i like.
the hosting i'm using is around 5$/month and works more than OK.