I have often wished I had the opportunity to attend a workshop... but the workshops I'm thinking of require that I submit a portfolio. And there where I get stopped in my tracks. I have thousands of photos and I could probably choose a few hundred that I'm very happy with. But a portfolio is more than that (at least as I understand it)... if I may borrow from The Luminous Landscape:
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Portfolios can be used to show the results of specific photographic endeavors
and present one’s work up to the time a portfolio is created.
Approached that way portfolios are easier to assemble and far less daunting or frightening. It also becomes clear that there can be many uses for a portfolio, each one tailored to different goals, purposes and audiences.
For example you can create:
– A portfolio that includes photographs from a single camera format (35mm, medium format, large format).– A portfolio which includes only black and white or sepia photographs .
– A portfolio of images which are radically different from your “regular” work and which will surprise your audience.
– A portfolio of images created over a specific period of time. This can be a short time (a one week photo trip for example), a specific year (2002, 2003, etc.), or another specific time frame.
– A portfolio of photographs all taken in a specific geographic area.
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One of my resolutions (I hate making them, but they are a way to start anew in areas that need renovation) for 2010 is to develop my photographic style... to make photographs that I would want to put into a portfolio - one that would hopefully get me accepted into a workshop.