Looking For An Opinion

As people who read this blog may know from my prior posts, I have undertaken the rather hefty project of designing my own website rather than continuing to use my current on-line template model where I simply upload my images to a service.

I am currently deep into the project, which seems to be moving along at a faster pace than I thought it would (my self imposed deadline for going live is April).

I want to make the site a springboard that I can use to offer many types of media going forward, such as pdf format articles, e-books, maybe some video etc, but am also trying to figure out ways to make the traditional presentation of images more interesting. In this regard, I am looking for opinions and was hoping some blog readers might offer up theirs.

I am going to be presenting my portfolios/images in slideshow format with a full screen option as well as the option to choose individual slides rather than just let them play.

What I was considering was an option whereby clicking on a slideshow image would bring the viewer to a page with a large version of the image at the top as well as text describing the "Story Behind The Image", which could include items such as the location as well as the specifics about the situation that was occurring when I took the image such as what attracted me to the image, how difficult it was to access the site, what it was like to be there and the like.

Do you think this type of information helps establish a 'dialogue' with the viewer and allows them to become more involved with the image or is it simply personal information ("I did this or that") that a viewer would really not be all that interested in?

Opinions would really help me out......my inclination is that it would make the site a bit more different, but it would take extra work that I am willing to put in if it is a feature that viewers would be interested in as opposed to personal narrative that no one really cares about?

If you care to offer an opinion on this simply put it in the comment section or feel free to e-mail me directly.