Photography portfolio advice
Here are some questions/advice about comparing past portfolios to a new one. The points were put together by the photo editor of a North American newspaper. Good reading for anyone coming up in this profession.
- Have you grown visually?
- Is your currently portfolio vastly different in tone and style? (I’ve had experienced photojournalists change only one image from one portfolio to the next – what does that tell me?)
- Have you been learning how to do multimedia?
- We expect our journalists to be competent in a variety of styles encompassing sports, news, features, and portraits. Does anyone think twenty images from a trip to Africa represents their ability to do local breaking news?
- Is your only contact with the newspaper when you submit a job application? Try following up with your latest work to initiate a continuing dialogue. This shows me that you’re busting your butt to get into a very difficult profession.
- How are you self-promoting? Do you have a website I can look at? Do you change the images often?
I might have already talked about this book but Photo Portfolio Success by John Kaplan is also another essential read. I’ve read it cover to cover and while it isn’t necessary to adopt every method as your own, it is helpful in offering ideas about how to organize portfolio content and tailoring it to those looking at it.
On a related note, the winners of the College Photographer of the Year awards were announced this weekend. I’m pretty into this photo by Jake Stevens who got bronze in the Sports Action category.
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