One of the best ways to almost instantly become a better photographer!
Its often said by photographers “I let my work sell itself”, or variations of! But does it really.. Is your Portfolio working for you as hard as it could?
When was the last time that you sat down and really gave your work a good Portfolio review? Chances are that it was some time ago and some of the images in it are not a true reflection of the photographer you are today!
Youre not the same photographer you were last year!
Either your style has changed, you’re no longer shooting a certain subject, its out dated (eeek did we really think that HDR was so cool) or you’ve been working on your skills and you’ve developed as a photographer.. Whatever the reason, now, with all of this time on our hands without creating new images, is an awesome time to blow off the dust and be critical on yourself! Enjoy it, the results will be worth it!
Get rid of the crap!
This is the easy bit. Most likely theres going to be a heap work in your folio that is like a sore thumb and should just be there, it is so obviously irrelevant to who you are as a photographer right now, it just get deleted without much thought.. Yes you have this in your current folio! Not any more!
Next step. A slightly harder process.
Take a look a your latest work, the most recent images that you’ve made. Why are you shooting this style? Because it inspires you? Because you absolutely enjoy shooting this kind of work? Is there anything that you not as happy with that kinda didn’t work?
Choose 3 or 4 images that all stand out as your best work, save them onto your desktop or even print them out to have on hand to use as a reference.
Now you can start to go through your current portfolio with these images in mind and at hand and go through a strict process to cull!
As you’re going through, think about if the image you’re looking at compares to the reference images in any way, does it give you the same feeling of wow? Does it make you think? If not get rid of it, its no longer required.
Its hard! Don’t be so attached.
This can be a hard process, really hard! You’re going to find that you’re attached to some images, often for the wrong reasons. It may be because of the person or place that is featured in the shot “oh but i loved that shoot with what his name” or something like “I remember that trip, it was so lovely”.. This is personal stuff, and if it doesn’t show through the pictures and only through your attachment and memory, it needs to go! Be hard!
As far as images with people, theres a big chance that you’ll probably be able to reshoot with that person, just say to them, “Hey, you know that shoot we did a while back, lets do another”. Now you get fresh images, with all the knowledge and passion you have for your new portfolio! Better images!
Multiple Portfolios: Start splitting hairs
What about if you love shooting a few different styles?
The thing is, theres no such thing as a great all for one, one for all Portfolio. If you’re putting Portraits in with Landscapes, Still lifes or art abstracts, your going to lose the flow and you’re going to confuse the hell out of the people looking through your work. The only thing equal to a bad portfolio, is a mishmash confusing portfolio, even if the the work itself is high quality.
If the Portfolio isn’t telling a clear story, its confusing people and being confused isn’t an enjoyable experience, you want to people to enjoy looking through your work.
The best way to deal with this is to have multiple portfolios. Again it can be a hard process, as most of us do want to show off the range of our skills and creativity.. Just don’t do it in the same place.
Its time to go through the process, decide and create some solid boundaries between your work and seperate it into genres and like before, get rid of the crap, and then pick your killer reference images that you 100% love and cull cull cull!
Ive done exactly this and am always working at it.
My Portfolio over at The Headshot Creative, is solid! I cant afford to confuse any potential clients and only show professional Portraits and Headshots, it keeps my Brand concise.
However here on my personal site, I have multiple portfolios. Ive narrowed down each folio and hopefully if Ive done a good job have made the style for each on, very clear and they tell a story in some way, people really do enjoy consistency.
I have my personal projects all seperate, Humandala, Lucid, Wilt etc.. Ive brought together my studio work and location work into there own folios as have I my nude work, commercial work, street and landscapes. Its an ongoing process. My aim is to make viewer experience as pleasurable as I can, and that should be your aim too.
Make your Portfolio a powerful and engaging experience
Giving your Portfolio a review is a powerful experience, it will help you develop as a photographer and also help to guide your future and give you some direction.. But it is hard and will take some tough decisions!
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