Photography Portfolio & Client Portal

Photography Portfolio & Client Portal

A complete, production-grade photography portfolio and client management platform built with Next.js 14 and Strapi CMS. The platform serves a dual purpose: a public-facing photography portfolio with i18n support in English and German, and a password-protected client dashboard where photographers can share private photo galleries for client review and approval.

Key Features

• Headless CMS Architecture: Strapi v5 powers all content — photo collections, client data, and gallery metadata — decoupled from the Next.js frontend for flexible content management.
• Client Proofing System: Clients receive a unique access link to a private dashboard where they can review their gallery, mark favourite shots, and request edits — replacing expensive dedicated software.
• Internationalization (i18n): Full English and German language support using next-intl, with content managed directly in Strapi.
• Dynamic Gallery: Masonry-layout galleries with lazy loading, lightbox viewer, and optimized image delivery via Next.js Image.
• Responsive & Animated: Framer Motion page transitions and scroll animations provide a premium user experience across all devices.
• Dockerized Deployment: Both the Next.js frontend and Strapi backend are containerized with Docker Compose for a consistent, one-command deployment via Coolify.

Technical Highlights

The authentication system for the client portal is built on JWT tokens stored in HTTP-only cookies, ensuring secure, session-based access without exposing credentials. The Strapi content model separates public photography collections from private client galleries, using role-based access control to ensure clients only see their own content.