Taking Photographs With A Theme In Mind
Photographic Portfolio Development
One important aspect that I teach my students is the concept of photography portfolio development. The advantages of organizing your subject matter into categories is essential in the overall development in a photographers portfolio. Instead of freewheeling shooting, you’ll be more focused (no pun intended) with your work with your digital camera.
A photographic portfolio can be comprised of one central type of subject matter, such as nature photography, or many different types of composition. It depends on the photographers interests. If a photographer shoots a few or many different types of subject matter, it may be best to separate those different interests into separate portfolio’s that will then make up the photographers entire body of work.
I’ll give you a first class example. Examine Michael Kenna’s website at http://michaelkenna.com. You’ll see how a pro organizes their work in a series of portfolios, themes that make up a good portion of their work. In this example, Mr. Kenna displays 20 different galleries, representing 20 themes developed over 36 years of photography. By the way, Michael Kenna is a master of black and white photography and is one of my influences. I urge you to take time and view all 20 of his “themes”. It is a good example of how to develop your own body of work.
Advantages to shooting and displaying your work in themes:
- If you’re displaying images on your photography website, organization by individual portfolio/theme is a more orderly and professional presentation.
- Displaying images in 10, 20 or 30 image themes reflect the right amount of images professional galleries like to display. It is a good way to market your individual portfolios to the gallery or magazine market.
- Showing a number of different themes is beneficial in establishing yourself as a photographer with a large breadth of expertise. Multidimensional artists attract more viewers!
- Working on multiple portfolios can keep you more productive and help you avoid “photographers block”. Want to get out and shoot on a free Saturday morning? Its a lot easier to pick one subject matter to concentrate on if you have a choice of different subject matter to choose from.
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