Thaipusam Festival, Batu Caves, Malaysia.
Every photographer needs a strong portfolio, also known as a book. This portfolio should convey your style to the client, that vision you have which sets you apart from other photographers. This portfolio should contain fresh, strong work that represents what it is that you shoot. No matter how great that photo you shot at your brother’s wedding is, if you are an architectural photographer, it’s not representative and should be left out. As should the images from the last workshop you attended. Even if they are relevant to your field, workshop images don’t belong in portfolios.
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You need to make sure that your book is current. This applies to all working photographers. Just because you are successful, doesn’t mean you can overlook your book. I recently heard Joe McNally mention images he was putting together for his 2010 portfolio. Now he’s a guy with a few decades of experience, an internationally known name and about a million assignments under his belt for National Geographic, and he’s still out there shooting for his book. You should too.
How do you go about shooting for your book?
Hopefully, business is good, you’re busy with assignments and commercial jobs and more work is coming in. Sometimes it is difficult to find the time to shoot for your book. So schedule it. Write it in your diary, record it in your day planner. Book yourself a day dedicated to shooting for your portfolio. Treat the schedule just like any other appointment that you have. Updating and maintaining a strong portfolio is essential to your continued success. Depending what you shoot, you may need to hire a model, book a venue or rent some equipment. Do it. Think of it as an investment in yourself and your business. Treat it in exactly the same way you’d treat a commercial assignment, only this time the client is you.
Keep working at it. Scheduling the time is not a one-off thing, is a continual process. For this year, I’ve set myself the goal of getting one new image for my portfolios each month. As I create this new work, I’ll rotate it into my online portfolios every quarter, thus adding three new images and dropping three older ones. You are not creating an entire new body of work, rather, you are adding to, updating and supplementing the body of work you already have.
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