Thinking about a portfolio.

Michael Cardenas · Mar 4, 2019

So I have been spending some free time learning how to use my new camera. I'm enjoying it as a hobby and appreciating the things I'm learning. Ultimately I think I want to make a career out of photography. That being said I have no "official experience" that might make me stand out and appear as a "hirable" employee. My plan right now is to develop a portfolio and submit that as a resume when the time is right. I am new to the "photography world" so as of now I'm only THINKING about a portfolio and focusing more on understanding and applying concepts such as the exposure triangle and using the manual mode on my camera

. Anyway my question, for anyone who has read this far lol, is when the time for me to put together a portfolio comes, what should my "angle" be, Are portfolio's typically put together on sites such as "Wordpress", should I narrow the theme to ONE "branch" of photography or show "versatility". I know most of these questions will probably be answered through time and experience BUT for those of you, especially those of you that look to hire photographers, what are you're thoughts on portfolios and where should my focus be (pun intended

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Jeff15 · Mar 4, 2019

Best of luck with whatever you choose to do.............

ClickAddict · Mar 4, 2019

"Career out of photography" is a bit vague. Are you looking at getting into photojournalism, weddings, sports....? Your portfolio should reflect what you want to shoot. Dont worry too much now about how to present it. Once you have an assortment of photos it's easy enough to build either website or setup an Instagram account or print them into a physical portfolio. My point is at this time in your career pat, worry more about content than presentation. Presentation will get narrowed perhaps based on what specifically you plan on shooting as well. (It's also easy enough to have multiple portfolios in various formats depending on the jobs you are applying for.) Many boudoir photographers who also shoot family portraits have 2 separate sites to keep the two distinct.

Derrel · Mar 4, 2019

Make some pictures that showcase WHY a person,family,or organization should hire you,then organize a portfolio or two.

Designer · Mar 5, 2019

Michael Cardenas said:
That being said I have no "official experience" that might make me stand out and appear as a "hirable" employee.

There are many ways to break into a career in photography, but if you're intending to be hired, that is different from becoming an entrepreneur. To be hired by a photographer, I shouldn't think you would even need a portfolio, because they wouldn't put you behind a camera anyway, at least not right away. It's more like you would be hired to be the photographer's helper, doing whatever needs to be done; fetching and toting, setting up lighting, backdrops, props, reflectors, stringing cords, taping them down, and then packing it all up again.

If that is what you have in mind, then a portfolio is irrelevant. You should instead know about lighting, light modifiers, light stands, backdrop stands, flash equipment, and everything else. You will need to know the names of everything, and how to set them up and make adjustments as the photographer directs. That is what you need to know. If you are lucky enough to have an interview, just be able to talk intelligently about the equipment. They might ask you to set up a softbox, for instance, or some other simple demonstration. If you do it quickly and correctly, you might get the job.

smoke665 · Mar 5, 2019

On the topic of portfolio, is it better to have an online portfolio, a hard copy or both? Being a little old school, I find something that I can hold in my hand a tad more impressive then something online, but that might just be me.

Michael Cardenas · Mar 6, 2019

Thanks for the reply Designer. If I were to tell you that ultimately I would like to be the one behind the camera(long-term goal) or even one day have my own photography business of some kind, would you recommend I take the route of seeking an assistant job first to not only make money but to learn the intricacies of the trade? I feel like for me that would be a good route to take but I can see you know what you're talking about so I'm interested in hearing what you have to say

. Thanks again.

tirediron · Mar 6, 2019

Ours is now probably one of the most difficult of the artistic pursuits in which to make a living wage there is. The value of professional photography to the rank and file citizen has all but disappeared given the ubiquitous nature of the cell-phone camera. Only the tiniest fraction of the best 1% of shutter monkeys actually make good money at it. That said, there's no reason why you can't be among them, BUT... that's going to take a long time, and a LOT of learning, not to mention a significant investment in equipment.

There are two ways you can get the necessary knowledge and experience. (1) You can study, take courses, (whether formal or informal) or; (2) you can apprentice with a working professional. Given the number of people who want to be photographers as opposed to those who are, apprentice/assistant jobs are VERY few and far between, but it does offer experience, which is something that's much more difficult to get if you're on your own and learning from YouTube U.

Now, to your actual question: There seems to be some confusion in your query between a portfolio and a website. You should have both, and to some degree, they're part of the same thing. A website is dynamic, shareable, and allows you to showcase your work to people around the world. A [physical] portfolio allows you to showcase your work to people you meet without the need for a computer, Internet connection, etc. Imagine being in a meeting with XYZ Advertising Agency to discuss a contract to shoot the new Acme Widget campaign and your laptop won't connect to the company WiFi... Additionally, as @smoke665 mentions, there's the tactile connection with a physical print.

I have my website on which I showcase a variety of what I consider my best work, but whenever I go to meet a potential client, I ALWAYS bring my portfolio which is a high-end artists portfolio with archival 8x12 sleeves that contains about 15 of my BEST prints (professional lab prints, NOT Costco/Wal-mart prints) along with a few of my recent tear sheets. I always have a much more positive response to my portfolio than to my website simply because people are almost always more impressed by something physical than something electronic.

Designer · Mar 6, 2019

Michael Cardenas said:
Thanks for the reply Designer. If I were to tell you that ultimately I would like to be the one behind the camera(long-term goal) or even one day have my own photography business of some kind, would you recommend I take the route of seeking an assistant job first to not only make money but to learn the intricacies of the trade? I feel like for me that would be a good route to take but I can see you know what you're talking about so I'm interested in hearing what you have to say. Thanks again.

The short answer is; you're going to need both. You need to know the business, and (eventually) you will also need to be an artist. You can begin developing your portfolio now, but frankly it will be difficult to open your own business on a shoestring budget and without some proven artistic ability.