Portfolio Zen 1
I always felt if the world was organised properly I’d be besieged by people asking me to shoot great photographic jobs because of course it’s obvious I’m a cool dude, a knockout creative professional as well as an all round wonderful person – so what is there to worry about? The work should roll in!
Unfortunately for some unknown reason the personal charisma strategy proved to be a total dud in generating work. Clients of little faith or vision have this curious notion I should present a portfolio of some relevance to the job at hand before they will even consider coming across with anything for me to point a camera at.
So, over the years I’ve spent a lot of time pondering what I should include in these portfolios and what I should exclude and how I should structure the flow of images so that clients are inspired and convinced that I’m the guy for the job. The hardest thing of all is getting free of how you think it should work and getting to where you have a handle on how it actually works.
What got me much more on track was attending a seminar in New York a few years ago where a bunch of photographers got together for an afternoon with 6 of the top NY photo agents and talked about portfolio presentation.
After a while everyone seemed to agree that generally a portfolio should be about 20 to 30 images. Among other things various ways of structuring and theming a portfolio were discussed – making photographic transitions through content, colour, composition etc. Several photographers said they looked upon their portfolios almost as a “stills” movie introducing their work and viewpoint to clients.
One of the agents then made a comment that stuck with me. She said:
I’m all for a portfolio having a smooth flow with a beginning, middle and a great finish. In my opinion a book should have pace with surprise, intelligence and wit.
Having got that out of the way, I would also like to add that in my experience of showing photographer’s portfolios for over 20 years in the real world an art director generally makes up his mind on you and comes to a decision very quickly.
So my best advice to get work is to go for it and shoot your wad in your first 8 images – if the client isn’t sold on you by then nothing you show subsequently is likely to shift that initial impression. If you save some of your best images for later in the book you are essentially wasting them.
It’s the best advice I think I’ve ever heard about portfolios and something I’ve always followed – go for it all straight up front in the first 8 images with material aimed directly at your client’s needs and then use the rest of the portfolio to flesh out the favourable and focussed impression you’ve already established.
Remember, if you don’t nail the client virtually as soon as they start to look at your book it’s unlikely you’re going to change their mind later on in the portfolio.
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Just like they say, “First Impressions are always the Best Impressions”…or “Lasting Impressions” or…well you get the point.
Good stuff. I usually show 9 pieces in my portfolio during presentation, partly for the reason above, partly because 9 is my lucky number
It usually works great.
I show 7 to 9 on a usually presentation and seems to work like a charm. I have tried showing more but it seems clients just want you to prove to them your good and then shutup about it.
Interesting perspective on the narrative approach to organizing a portfolio. The ideas here work pretty much for writing samples, too. I’ve found that the best portfolios are short, filled with a selection of your best work done recently. No point in showing nothing more recent than 10 years ago! I agree that prospects usually decide whether to hire you before seeing your portfolio. I call it the Catch-22 of portfolios: when you have a good one, no one wants to see it. I have an article on this subject in the “Words of Wisdom” section of my site, if anyone wants more info to consider.
As a back-end connectivity programmer, it’s damned near impossible to have a portfolio. If I do my job well, no one ever knows that I’ve done anything because everything is working. Also, a large part of my work has been on password protected web based applications. As a rule clients don’t particularly like for me to give out user accounts just to show off my work.
Lately, I’ve been experimenting with how to present my portfolio. I’ve come to the conclusion that for every bit of advice and every ‘rule’, you can find someone with the exact opposite opinion. So whatever you do, make sure it fits your attitude, your style, and your personality. eg Don’t roll with a Harvard-esque leathery tome, if you’re a punk rocker with a lip ring interviewing at an indie label.
@Pawel – 22 is my lucky number, so should I show that many??? :p
I think portfolios should be revelant. No point in showing a nice graphic piece if your going for a web job.
This is a great rule if you are physically presenting your portfolio. How would it work on the interweb, where you do not know what a visitor is looking for: Is it webdesign, print, or photography?
This might not apply to everyone, as some people are limited to on branch, yet the question still remains for some of us.
Some people think that it is a good idea to provide a random list of jobs. Others systematically sort their work into categories.
Personally I would do both… What do you think?
Jarmayn, ah you poor thing! I’m defo in a much better situation. But hey, you can always show 9 and have the other 13 left at home, although as if ready to be presented. This way you have 22 pieces, but you don’t show that many. And the good old lucky number is there included…how’s that sound to you?
Intgeresting article – please feel free to submit to http://www.photographyvoter.com
I guess it’s pretty similar to having a good CV- make sure you have a list of everything decent you’ve ever done (so you don’t forget bits), and then for each and every time you need a CV, pick the best of the crop.
Pick what they want- and describe it how they want- so emphasis team-work roles of past experience, or leadership experience, depending on what they’re after.
For portfolios…?
If I had time I’d also try and get into the frame of mind by doing the job I’m going for for a few days- if you want a product promotion job, spend some days in your kitchen trying to make your toaster look sellable- if gives you content for your portfolio, makes you look clued up at interview, and lets you see if you really want it!
If it’s a journalism job, try get into the frame by documenting local events/football matched etc.
I have a question about showing your work, which I have created as a employee in your portfolio. I had discussion about with my colleagues and its all a bit unclear.
Looks like I am really out of luck: my lucky number has always been 12,354,920.
“The hardest thing of all is getting free of how you think it should work and getting to where you have a handle on how it actually works.”
I feel like this is a way of living… profound!