Assembling a Portfolio

[edg3]

January 10, 2011 at 10:12 pm

I finally heard back from the college Im hoping to get into for this year and I’ve yet to put my portfolio together. I still have a month or two before its needed but problem is, i have no idea what i need to do.
well i do know this much :
Satisfactory portfolio of work & interview, (Portfolio should include between 10 – 20 printed images, approx 10 x 8 inches, showing a range of work.

Im just wondering, what else should be in it. I’ve had art students tell me tons of stuff i should add, including stuff like, newspaper cut outs, sketches, magazine cut outs and anything that catches your eye, none of what i have. Mainly because i dont read the paper and i dont sketch :) and im not cutting up my magazines! i buy Digital SLR Photography once a month, thats the only magazine i buy.
I can see where my friends coming from as she did art so thats a little more diverse.

She also mentioned a note book with ideas etc it in, is this a good idea? Should i fill it in a lie because i never do that heehee.

Im not panicking or anything i would just like to get stuck in in it now.

If anyone has any advice they could share about a Photography Portfolio i’d be forever gracious if you could share :)

*Note*
What kinda hardware am i talking about to, soft folders, hard back note books, stuff like that.

Thanks
Dave

[Dermot1]

January 11, 2011 at 2:46 am

first of all don’t ever listen to art students, ever, they’re all nuts :D
a few points to help

1. be ruthless in your edit, only your best images should make it in
2. dont include work you think is below par to make up the numbers, better to have 12 strong images than 12 strong and 8 weak
3. show some different styles, but don’t be all over the place either, each image should be able to tell a story on it’s own or transmit a feeling, this is your chance to show you have ability to shoot different subject matters
4. if you’ve ever watched a movie, read a book, seen a play or listened to music this one is already in your head even if you aren’t aware of it, start strong, give them something that’ll hook them in, then let middle weaken ever so slightly, around the mid mark start picking things up with ever increasing strength of image until you reach the end where you should finish strong again
5. I’m sure you’re surrounded with lovely family and friends, but pay no attention to them, they’ll tell you things look great when they don’t as they don’t want to hurt your feelings, assemble your portfolio as above and then show one person who you thrust to give you brutal honesty, but even then don’t let them dissuade you, have strong, concise and reasoned arguments to back up your choices and if you can’t do that start again.

As for cuttings and notebooks, well I think if that sort of stuff helps your artistic process, knock yourself out and cut stuff up to your hearts content otherwise just have answers ready for the interview when they ask who your influences are and such like. personally I don’t do the cuttings thing I had to do them in college and never saw the point of them they never helped me, but I do keep a notebook of ideas and notes on stuff I’ve tried that’s worked and stuff that hasn’t but that’s more to do with my sieve like memory than anything else.

here’s how I present my portfolio if anyone asks for it, I get cheaper ones just giving you this link cause they’re well pretty
http://www.lumierephoto.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=1&Product_Code=8974&Category_Code=PHPO” onclick=”window.open(this.href);return false;

seriously arts students are nuts and whats more they then become artists and that’s when they reach a whole new level of crazy and I’ve friends who are artists so It’s a crazy I deal with often.

[brownie]

January 11, 2011 at 3:15 pm

Hi Dermot, just a quick question…did you order some of the portfolio boxes from the US and are there any places closer to
home that you know of that stock them ?

Thanks, Noel.

[edg3]

January 11, 2011 at 5:16 pm

Well that quickly answered all my questions, especially the one about the art students :)
I’ve never once seen those portfolio boxes, but then again i was never looking. Wonder if Easons would stock them…

I also agree about the family and friends thing, they say “awh its awesome” and all i see is “awh its blurry” so i dont think i’ll have to worry about that. I’m very perfectionist about my pictures, Any thing i dont think is 100% doesnt get used.

Thanks Dermot for the help I’ll have to visit a few places to pick up one of those boxes, its nothing like i was thinking, but far better then a large green plastic folder :)

[Dermot1]

January 12, 2011 at 1:38 am

brownie, I’ve bought from these folks, works out cheaper as the other link I posted the stuff comes from the US so takes longer and shipping costs are greater. the below link will bring you to the correct page in the site but if you have sometime you should poke around it’s a great site.
http://www.silverprint.co.uk/ProductByGroup.asp?PrGrp=712″ onclick=”window.open(this.href);return false;

[damien.murphy]

January 12, 2011 at 5:44 pm

Hi Dave,

Some good advice there from Dermot re: portfolio image selection. You can probably never be too ruthless a self editor.

Re: presentation, have a look into ‘folios’ as a way to present your work, there was a thread here on this topic last year (post244028.html?hilit=folio#p244028), and believe Steve (stcstc) here on PI offers them, should you decide to go down the folio route.

All the best, and good luck with your portfolio!

[iophotoworks]

January 12, 2011 at 9:39 pm

You can buy nice portfolio boxes from silverprint.co.uk, also from monochrom.de
Also an idea to one made up to order with you own design/colour scheme (I can arrange this) – a bit nicer that the factory ones

Regarding folios, we import the original Brooks Jensen design folios from the US in a few colours and can supply a package of fine-art prints in one of these (before you ask we don’t sell them on their own… sorry)

[stcstc]

January 12, 2011 at 11:54 pm

damien

thanks for the recommendation

yes i can custom cut these portfolios

although there are limits, based on what stock is availabe to cut from etc

can also emboss signatures etc onto them to