When thinking about professional portfolio’s to take to interviews and meetings, it is important to think about who you are as a photographer. I have had to think about this when attending meetings for the charities that I work for when having to pitch my ideas and photographic style for a job. Thinking about leaving University, it is important for me to think about where I am going with my career. Whether I will be freelancing or working for an employer, I need to use my unique style to create a professional portfolio that will increase my chances of being remembered.

When talking about this in our professional contexts lecture, James mentioned these important points:

Personal portfolio development:

• It needs to reflect clearly your intention and your identity as a photographer
• It needs to stand out from the rest and be memorable
• Be unique and concise
• USP - unique selling point
• Create a concise edit of images on a story
• Show a variety of work: portraits, landscapes, interviews

Addressing the following questions:

• What sort of photographer am I?
• Where do you situate your practice in relation to past and contemporary photography?
• What is the best way to present yourself to be true to your identity as a photographer?

First steps when developing portfolio:

• Organise your time effectively in order to set aside enough time to develop your own ideas and projects
• Do your research well so to underpin your ideas effectively and help to generate and mature your ideas and approach
• Allow enough time to produce and present this work to the highest quality possible
• Have a regular slot in the month to evaluate what you have done so far and plan your next stage
• Use space to curate a selection of my strongest images
• Think about visual language and how my images relate
• I don’t have to include much text within the portfolio, let the images speak for themselves with a little bit of text

Who to contact:

• Look at some agencies and galleries to find examples of portfolios - WebberRepresents, Vue Photographer’s agent, Lisa Pritchard, Gregory Halpern (online portfolio), Panos Pictures (documentary)

The benefits of having a specialism/niche are:

• It increases my chances of being remembered as a photographer
• It becomes easier to find a place in the market
• Go into an area that I am really interested in, it will make me enjoy it and produce better work
• Focusing on one area will make me more likely to become an expert
• Concentrates my efforts in one area and don’t get distracted… be careful not to be too specialised

Demonstrating clear intent will enable me to shine through as a photographer and stand out to future employers. If I do this, my reviewers will respond to my work as I will show focus, integrity and direction as well as individualism. This works better if I can insure what I am showing and what I am saying match up, keep it professional as to be aware of my audience. Different people like different things so I need to remember to be aware of this when I am showing my portfolio and work. I have been constantly thinking about the network of people that I have around me, and will continue to have around me when I leave university as I feel as though this connection it really important to keep.

Print portfolio:

A print portfolio is still important as it has high value. People still like to see physical prints as they are able to hold them and move them around. It is important to remember to not speak until you are asked a question. When having face to face meetings, I’ve realised that I need to remember that the photographs should be speaking for themselves. When going to a portfolio review, I think the end product is really important to think about, I have learnt that people like to see the process and your thoughts about your final presentation of prints.

Digital portfolio:

A digital portfolio is important if you are travelling abroad for a photo festival or project. It helps when you are able to show an online portfolio to places that you are working on online, like an online magazine.

Portfolio content:

If I am going for a commercial job then I should think about past projects that I have done for people. When I am shooting for charities, this can be classed as a commercial job as I am getting paid for this and they are giving me a brief. Take work like this to interviews as it shows that I have been scouted by someone in the ‘real world’ and have already been paid for jobs.

What to consider:

The first page should be something memorable like a title, a few words that give my work a sense of identity and a head start. I should think about the editing of my images as it is difficult to show a whole project in a small amount of images. When talking to my reviewer, slant the pitch towards them and what they like to see. The size should be no bigger than A3 to make it portable and easily read.

When submitting images, I should always have a label on the back of the print including my name, number, email and website as well as the title, medium of print, size, edition. On the bottom put “unlicensed reproduction prohibited” to cover my back. You should print these on sticky labels.

Types of portfolios:

• clamshell box with loose polyester sleeves
• small box with loose polyester sleeves (don’t use these as they are difficult to look at prints quickly)
• Slip-case book with fixed sleeves
• Leather-bound books
• Printed book - online self-publishing, hand-made or assembled by a book-binder
• www.silverprint.co.uk

Photobook:

A photobook is a good way of physically seeing your prints within a story. It shows intention and the fact that you are able to self-publish projects through your photobooks. Photobooks can show patience and skill, it shows the employer that you take care and pride in your work.

James showed us a video of Rob Hornstra, a photographer who I have closely researched throughout my current project. I feel as though he is a really powerful photographer who is pushing the way that photography can be shown and presented. I have been looking at his work that he does finalising newspaper material as I feel that it is a really effective way of showing his work.

Taken from http://www.ahornmagazine.com/issue_6/rob_hornstra/essay_hornstra.html, Rob Hornstra’s “Do It Yourself” exhibition at our apartment in Berlin

I found this sort of presentation so interesting because it was something that I had never seen before, yet was really effective. In an interview, he spoke about how manageable and easy it was to present his work like this because he was able to make it as portable as possible and display it on walls wherever he went. For this reason, I really want to look into displaying my work in some sort of way like this so that it is portable and portrays the metaphor of ‘throw away’ words and situations. Like my project ‘Of Land and Glory’ is based off of with the current Brexit climate. This lecture made me think about the different ways that I can present my final output of images for the graduate show, but also as a budding professional coming out of University.

In terms of how I would portray my work through my professional portfolio, I would think about using a small box with my prints and publications that I have done so far. This way I can be particular about the select few images that I show to people in interviews. I think this would work well because none of my projects are the same, or have the same aesthetic feel to them so doing this would allow me to show my selected photographs individually.  I feel as though the clamshell box would work the best for me because it is easily transported and easy to separate my work to show people as and when they ask. I would print all of my photographs on the same paper type to insure consistency within my work. This is then divided up by the different publications that I have done i.e. Newspaper, hard back book and soft cover book. 

I am also thinking about how I would carry my business cards because I would want them to be protected and all in one place. In order to do this, I want to make a box that would hold the information and look professional at the same time. Below is something that I would consider doing.