Portfolios
Written on November 19, 2007
I’ve been getting a few questions in this vein, and in light of What’s the Jackanory’s recent post (best of luck as you go off on your own or look for a new agent!) here are my thoughts on portfolios.
The actual portfolios that is. The large tomes of leather, steel, plastic, wood and acrylic sleeves that go out for review to creative types all over.
For my money, I like the classic, 11 x 14, portrait-scape, good black leather portfolio, embossed with your name. It’s good, solid and dependable. If your book is mostly tearsheets, I like white pages in the sleeves, though that’s just my personal preference. I think it looks cleaner and frames the tears better.
And I understand the need to make your portfolio stand out in the crowd, especially if it’s sitting in a pile of other books. But try not to go overboard. There are so many examples of this…one portfolio I’ve had to send out in the past was 16 x 20, clad in steel plates that weighed 20 pounds, that needed a special metal briefcase over everything so that it didn’t break under its own weight…as you can imagine that portfolio was doing nobody any favours. And I mean nobody, not the messenger, not the poor art buyer who had to spend 5 minutes opening it, not the photographer who has to pay extra fees for overweight loads…you name it. Another portfolio I remember was so complicated in its actual construction (it had a heavy, white, hard plastic cover, that got dirty pretty quickly) that its hinges kept breaking and the only way to have them repaired was with its original manufacturer…based in New Zealand. As you can imagine that book never made it out of the agency very often.
On the flip side, nothing too small (anything smaller than 8 x 10 I think is a bit pointless) or flimsy. NEVER have empty pages in your portfolio. The blank space effect never works. And in the same vein NEVER start your portfolio without a page of something, because you wanted to start it off with a spread. Print out a white piece of paper with your name on it as the cover page if you have to.
Nothing that’s not a normal shape. Duh. Don’t try to blaze new trails with say, an octagonally-shaped portfolio. Though I’d like to see someone try.
In portfolios with prints, if the work is published or advertising, I’ve sometimes seen photographers either print the name of the client at the bottom of image, or they have a listing of clients and relevant images printed the back of the portfolio. If well done I think that’s normally a good guide to have on hand.
If your book is prints…try to make sure they’re all the same size. Sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised.
Some photographers are extremely hands off with their books..once it’s in their agencies hands they never see it, never see the edit, etc. and as an agent I actually quite like that. Some photographers are amazingly obsessive over their books and insist on updating it themselves all the time…I like that as well, if the photographer can properly self edit their own work. Regardless, it’s always important to make sure the portfolio is in good shape, with sleeves that get changed our fairly regularly to keep it clean.
At the end of the day, use some common sense. And remember, it’s what’s inside that counts.
(Please shoot me for writing that last sentence.)
Filed in: Photo Agency.
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Thanks for this. I’m often concerned that my book just isn’t cool enough, but I’ll stick with the black leather for now!
This is such a valuable post. Thanks for the insight. I am working on getting back in the game and have been trying to think of how to stand out. (A mane of silver hair aint gonna do it on its own.). You have given shape to my next step.
cheers
I’m a fan of the BIG portfolios. But if you’re going to go big, have a minimum number of prints inside (30 or less), ditch the sleeves, and it has to be a traditional book. No locks or chains or any of that. In general- getting rid of sleeves is a step in the right direction (although it makes last minute edits impossible). I hate the reflections of the sleeve messing with the image underneath it.
[…] The Agent at AVS (here) weighs in on the important issue of portfolios (So did Jackanory (here) but his is more about your style of photography) and I couldn’t agree more with all the points made. He mentions a massive heavy portfolio that was making the rounds awhile back that everyone remembers but no one seems to recall what was on the inside plus it always makes me think when a book is really over the top that someone is compensating for something. […]
[…] I have just finished reading a few blog entries from avisualsociety and jackanory about what not to do with a portfolio. I really wish they (and the commenters) would give real suggestions on how to make a presentable portfolio. […]
For a time I worked for a photographer who had a brass folio - spiral bound through laminated pages - big brass and copper box (sharp edges) to carry it in, lovely aged leather handles. It was a beautiful thing, but this does lead me to the analogy of getting a fabulously wrapped gift, then present itself is an anticlimax.
As far as construction goes, mine is a plain old brown leather embossed name jobby. I did have an agent once say to me that it was almost unthinkable to show anybody the book whilst I was using sleeve’s. This got me riled because I’m showing my pictures and not how much I can spend on packaging.
However the plain page thing was a surprise, I shall have to reassess my book immediately. I have about 25 sleeves some are DP’s most are not.
And just to make things even more confusing.
I have separate books for different things, I have no artsy conceptual landscape work in the 11×14 portrait book. and I have no editorial straight portrait type work in the 14×11 landscape book.
Is this a mistake? should I mix it all together claim ” hey I actually shoot everything”?.
Hi all, im confused, just in the process of selecting a portfolio, what alternatives are there as oppose to sleves…?
JPM
keep it separate.
you had a lot of plain pages in your book?
Natasha,
you can have the prints double sided. but there aren’t many alternatives to sleeves of some sort. some people like loose prints in a box but i’m no t a huge fan of that as your main portfolio.
@.10
Thank’s for the advise re:”keep it seperate”
I whittled my book down to what I considered my best pieces.
So I have about 21 sleeves with about 29 images (do the math).
I had difficulty figuring what should face certian images - solution - a blank page? I guess not.
One of the phrases that was hammered into me as an assistant was, “show 5 great images rather 25 average”.
Now I could cover every surface in the book quite easily, but I’ve seen the speed ArtDir’s go throught a book and didn’t want “pad” the folio just for the sake of filling white space.