A gallery experience built around finding photos
The custom website reads gallery information from SmugMug while the photography remains hosted there. Visitors can browse meets, open a photo viewer, and find photos using reviewed school annotations. The search is grounded in the reviewed index rather than presenting every photograph as already classified.
Individual original downloads and selected-photo ZIP downloads follow the gallery’s permissions. That matters when connecting an existing image service: the custom experience should respect the access rules behind the content.
A connected technical foundation
The work includes DigitalOcean hosting, domain and HTTPS configuration, a separate Medusa commerce backend, and PostgreSQL-backed photo likes. Keeping these responsibilities distinct helps the owner understand where an edit belongs and what needs checking before deployment.
- Custom gallery browsing and photo viewer
- Reviewed school search and SmugMug integration
- Permission-checked original and ZIP downloads
- Database-backed photo likes
- Commerce backend and sandbox checkout development
Live payment processing and email delivery are separate launch steps. The case study describes the implemented development work without treating sandbox checkout as a live sales result.
A handoff for continued maintenance
The handoff identifies the source files, server setup, integrations, and deployment process. It gives Jay and an AI coding assistant context for making future changes and distinguishes implemented functionality from remaining launch work.
That is an example of the broader service: build the system, connect its parts, and make the next maintenance step understandable. No traffic, revenue, or conversion improvements are claimed here.
Services used in this project
Website development and integrations, cloud server and HTTPS setup, and AI-assisted maintenance guidance came together around the photography workflow.
Visit the Soda & Cereal website to explore the public experience. If you have an existing gallery, business tool, or data source you want to connect to your own site, we can discuss an appropriate scope.