You as a talent have been shooting for let’s say one-to-two years by now. You currently have a pretty extensive library of images you’ve done from different photo shoots with various photographers.
Your marketing efforts of these images have included posting various galleries on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter hoping to draw in attention from the content distribution.
However – which ones are the ones for your portfolio? If you were to pick the 10-15 best images, which would they be? Do you already know?
Printing your portfolio requires you to take a look at your own work through the eyes of a strong and critical art director. Which diversity of photos best showcase and market you and what you do?
I’ve been a photographer for more than a decade – yet my printed portfolio has just over 20 images.
It helps to get input from fellow professionals you trust and respect. When looking at our own work we become very bias. We love this particular image because it brings back the feelings or emotions from the shoot – or we know how difficult it was to make and it symbolizes an achievement for us – yet the image can be less than useful in marketing you. Having another set of critical eyes helps you do the triage on determine which images make it and which do not.
Then, and here is the best benefit of printing a portfolio, when you show it to people (magazine editors, art directors, commercial clients, etc) you will see right away which images draw them in and which images do not resonate with most people.
My recent trip to New York to meet with magazine editors was a fantastic experience of seeing which images in my portfolio worked best with my target audience – and which images were not as powerful.
So start today – shortlist your images to what you feel could be your printed portfolio.
James Patrick
jamespatrick.com
instagram @jpatrickphoto
