I understand, Barrie. I know we have one member here who frequently visits but feels it's not correct for him to post his photographs here...yet, I've explained that is one of the reasons behind having a forum such as Serious Compacts - to share our love of photographs, as well as to learn from each other, etc., and I know he has a hosting site that is open to the public. So, it's different for each of us.
From a strictly selfish point of view, I'd love to be able to see your pictures besides seeing them in threads. Most of these sites, such as Flickr, have some good options that allow the user to control what photographs are strictly private, which can be viewed by "contacts" or "friends" or "family"...all of which one sets themselves. For example, on Flickr...if I have allowed photos to be viewed by all and someone wants to make me a "contact" that means they want to be able to find my Flickr stream again and/or are interested in knowing when I upload something new... One can get alerts, etc. However, it is up to me as to whether or not I wish to "make" this person a contact and at what level. At first it sounds daunting, but really it's not. There are ways to organize photos into sets and collections...which for your work, I'd think would be very helpful. Believe me, if I who barely has a "left brain" can figure it out - anyone can. Absolutely no pressure on this, merely an overview of how these sorts of places work, Barrie.