Picking and Choosing

Last week, I promised that I would take a look at building a portfolio. As this is something that I am doing myself at the moment, I am learning as I go along, but I thought that I would share in some of the wisdom that I have found.

Your portfolio is one of the most important aspects of being a professional photographer. It is the sole embodiment of your work. Your prospective clients will not really care about how much you have grown from your humble beginnings, learning to play with your camera and getting to know the ins and outs of the trade. What they will care about is the polished professional before them, and your portfolio will show them the professional that you are.

Your portfolio will show what kind of photographer you are and where your artistic vision lies. No two photographers are the same, the same way that no two people are the same. Two photographers will look at the same scene and take the same photograph, but from a different angle, a different perspective. You want to show your angle and perspective towards life in your portfolio. This means that, while you should value the opinions of those around you and which photographs they think are your best and should be included, you should also value your own opinion. It is you who will be taking the photographs, and it is your slant on life that will come out in the photographs that you take for these prospective clients. They should know what it is that they are getting. This may lead to clients not agreeing with the way that you take photographs - your clients will have a specific idea in mind for what they want, and if you do not meet that criteria, do not try to change yourself to suit their needs. Other clients will come along, and they will often be a better fit. rather wait for the clients who will appreciate your work than attempt to change your style for those who don't. What you will likely find if you try to change is that your photographs will be an uncomfortable mixture of your artistic vision and your client's, leading to something that neither of you is particularly happy with.

So, which photographs should you include and how many should you include in your portfolio? I have taken thousands of photos in the course of the last year alone! I have taken photos of every kind of situation, of every event that I have attended, of each of my friends, of every place that I have travelled, and I have favourites from each of the sessions that I have taken. How can I wittle these down to a few that will show off my depth and my range? Well, most likely you won't want to. You will likely want to decide on a specialisation and stick with it. Are you going to be an events photographer, taking pictures at weddings and parties? Then pick a few of your best from those kinds of events. Are you going to be a photo journalist? Pick some pics of the rallies and gatherings that  you have attended. A shot of a couple in love is not going to convince an editor to hire you, and a photo of a riot is not going to convince an engaged couple to hire you either. If you intend to dabble in the different areas, you may want to consider having a variety of portfolios to show for specific meetings.

In terms of how many  photos to whittle your portfolio down to, there is no guaranteed formula. How many photos you have will depend on how many great photos you have taken, to be honest. You obviously don't want to have your clients sifting through your pics for hours on end, but you also don't want them to be finished in a minute. Pick a couple of photographs from different sessions. I limit myself to having no more than 5 from each session, and try to cut it down to less than that even. Choose photographs that show variety and skill - choose photographs that show different poses, different lighting, different situations and different settings. You don't want to pick photographs that look exactly the same in each session, otherwise it tends to be too repetitive. Choose only your best photographs, and ask around to see which photos others think are your best as well. As I said earlier, you will want to have some photographs that you choose yourself to show your own unique style, but you will also want public opinion on  your side, so while there can be a couple of  your own favourites thrown in, having some photos that others think are your best will also help you along.

A final piece of advice that I read from blogger and photographer, Scott Bourne, is that when you create your  portfolio, you should be sure not to put what  you consider to be your best images in the front. Many people think that prospective clients will only look at the first few pages and decide from there whether they will hire the photographer or not, but this is often not the case. Often, people will turn to the middle of the book and flip through from there, taking note of only a few photos that catch their eye from time to time. You therefore want to spread the best of your work throughout your portfolio,  keeping some at the front, some in the middle and some at the end to ensure that your clients see the best of your work no matter where they start.

I hope this helps someone out there in the process of putting their portfolio together. I know that the advice that I have learned has certainly help me put mine together and I look forward to showing it off once my site is up and running and my first wedding shoot has been done! Let me know if you have any further advice for people trying to build up their own portfolios.

Confidentiality

So I have been trying to get myself out in the public eye as a photographer recently, and it would seem that some of my efforts have been paying off, particularly after the last photo shoot that I did with Andrew and Adrian.

When I was out tonight, a number of people mentioned that they had seen and loved my photography, and I have one or two possible photo shoots in the near future that came about from people seeing and liking the photos that I took of the couple. I have also gotten a couple of messages throughout the week from people just wanting to mention how much they like my photos. Even better, when I commented on a photography blog that I read earlier this week, mentioning that I was an amateur and linking to my portfolio on 500px, I was informed (by a stranger) that my photography is certainly not of an amateur standard. So, all in all I am feeling very positive about my photography this week.

Tonight I was taking a number of photographs - just silly ones mostly and nothing amazing - and a situation did arise that made me question myself. As I was leaving my friend's house, he asked me to make sure not to put certain photographs of him and his boyfriend on Facebook. He had no issues with me taking the photographs at all, in fact he was one of the people who suggested that I do a photo shoot of him and his boyfriend. He just didn't want his family to know, as they are not particularly accepting. This wasn't a problem - I get requests often from people who do not want their parents to know that they smoke or are in a relationship or are caught in other situations that they do not want people to know about. But it did get me thinking.

If I were to do a photo shoot with this friend and his significant other, he assured me that I could add the photographs to my portfolio. But how far does that allowance go? As readers of my blog know, I tend to do blog posts about the photo shoots that I do, wanting to advertise the photographs that I take for publicity's sake. A lot of the people who know about my photography know about it because of my blog posts and the photos that are shown there. These are also updated on my Facebook page and the Evanescent Photography ZA page (which you must all please, please pretty please LIKE so that I can get more followers). Would his reluctance to have photographs with his boyfriend put on Facebook extend to putting those photos on my blog and having the blog published on Facebook, but without tagging him? How would I be able to get the photos out there without breaking his trust and his confidence? How far should the confidentiality and anonymity go?

These are questions that I need to find answers to, and any advise on them would be greatly appreciated.