Near Fairmont, IN (home of James Dean)21 August 2005
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In preparation for this year's Eddie Adams workshop, I'm trying to get together a new portfolio. Part of why I created this photoblog was to help get my head around a new way of seeing my own photos.
In the past, putting together a portfolio was always about making sure I got in all the good shots, focusing too much on individual images. Now I'm taking a step back, looking at the portfolio as a whole. What do I want it to do? Hell, what do I want to do? What kind of feeling do I want to the portfolio to convey? What does the portfolio as a whole say about my work, me? Right now I think it says that I'm unfocused, reaching, chasing down good images rather than having more control, knowing what I want to do and how to do it. But it's all part of the learning process, right?
To that end, I cut out all the color images, no matter how good or how much I like them. I like shooting black and white and think I'm better at it. The next step is trying to create some kind of narrative, build a cohesive portfolio out of a set of seemingly random images. Street shots, single images from news events/stories, parts of project. I'm trying to tie those photos together so I can incorporate them into a larger portfolio that also includes pictures from my work on prison tourism and from the Orange Revolution in Kiev. It's all in the editing, and in something as seemingly simple as how you title and explain a group of photos. I think I can make it work. There's a good portfolio there in my images, I just have to piece it together. And I'm pretty confident that showing up to Eddie Adams with a strong, printed portfolio of black & white images like mine will help me stand out from all the over-saturated, fill-flash color portfolios editors will be viewing that weekend.
I know I have a long way to go to get to where I want to be, but I think I'm on the right track. Of course, comments and criticisms on this long edit of my portfolio are very much welcome and appreciated.
In the past, putting together a portfolio was always about making sure I got in all the good shots, focusing too much on individual images. Now I'm taking a step back, looking at the portfolio as a whole. What do I want it to do? Hell, what do I want to do? What kind of feeling do I want to the portfolio to convey? What does the portfolio as a whole say about my work, me? Right now I think it says that I'm unfocused, reaching, chasing down good images rather than having more control, knowing what I want to do and how to do it. But it's all part of the learning process, right?
To that end, I cut out all the color images, no matter how good or how much I like them. I like shooting black and white and think I'm better at it. The next step is trying to create some kind of narrative, build a cohesive portfolio out of a set of seemingly random images. Street shots, single images from news events/stories, parts of project. I'm trying to tie those photos together so I can incorporate them into a larger portfolio that also includes pictures from my work on prison tourism and from the Orange Revolution in Kiev. It's all in the editing, and in something as seemingly simple as how you title and explain a group of photos. I think I can make it work. There's a good portfolio there in my images, I just have to piece it together. And I'm pretty confident that showing up to Eddie Adams with a strong, printed portfolio of black & white images like mine will help me stand out from all the over-saturated, fill-flash color portfolios editors will be viewing that weekend.
I know I have a long way to go to get to where I want to be, but I think I'm on the right track. Of course, comments and criticisms on this long edit of my portfolio are very much welcome and appreciated.
2 comments:
i think the new edit flows very well, seems very consistent. any thoughts of doing two books, one all b/w, one color? some of the color shots are absolutely amazing....
Well, I think my plan will be to have a printed portfolio of b/w work, then have color stuff ready to go on a CD and/or my laptop. I want to do an 11x14 portfolio and since a lot of my color is digital, shot on my D1H (only 4.2MB), it'll be a stretch to get decent prints that size.
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