Building Your Portfolio
Building your portfolio is just about the most important thing you will do. You need a solid portfolio just to get your first internship or job and you will certainly need an excellent portfolio if you are going to move up in the photojournalism world. In this age of new media, you will also need some experience doing slide shows and perhaps video. The skill set is always changing but there is one thing that remains the same; your images must move the viewer. Back in grad school, I had a professor that taught The Principles of Christian Communication. Really, the course was just about communication and it was excellent. It remains the most valuable class I have ever taken. In this course I learned, that to have effective communication, one must have a transmitter, a message, a medium, a receiver, response and feedback for there to be real communication.
That sounds all technical but it boils down to this, if your pictures don’t make some sort of emotional connection with the editor evaluating them you won’t get the job. The best photojournalism connects with the viewer on an emotional level and causes him to respond to the image. That response can be anything from joy to bitterness. The only bad response is no response at all. I have watched people flip though my photos and not even slow down. They didn’t have to give me a grade or verbal feedback at that point because I could already see that my photos didn’t move them. So here we go. It is time to put together your stuff, so what are you looking for in a portfolio quality image?
The answer is . . . IMPACT! A photo with impact can be deficient in other areas and still be a portfolio quality image. I am sure you have all seen the image by Robert Capa of the soldier in the surf coming ashore on D-day. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the post and the photo is the middle of the three. That photo has impact but it is a technical mess. It is fascinating. Some of the Pulitzer winning photos have been technical messes but they really communicate. There are even some photos where the photo’s technical failures actually help it communicate. As you sort your images, find photos that move you. After you have a group of images that you like, show them to some other people. They don’t have to be photographers but they can be. See what images move them. You will find your strongest images consistently rise to the top as you get several opinions.
So lets try a little exercise with some of my photos and hopefully you will get a better idea of how to set up your own portfolio. In this post I have placed two photos that I really like from one church fire I shot two or three years ago. I have often tossed the coin over which one I like better. In the comments section, you guys post your opinions and lets see which photo rises to the top. We will do several portfolio building posts over the next few days and hopefully help you build a better portfolio.
Photos copyright The Decatur Daily. The opinions in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.
The top image has a lot of impact. I prefer it.
The second image would probably have more impact if I had just looked through 50 other shots of a building on fire.
great pictures,
I find the second picture of the apparently defeated fireman more moving.
The first does not work for me, I think it might be because I have no idea what the guy is doing there.
I think the second image has more impact - the combination of the rainbow and the exhaustion of the firefighter grabs me.
I’m reminded of the shot of the firefighter carrying the injured child that was circulated after the Oklahoma City bombing - that’s one that just made me say wow.
I prefer the rainbow shot. There’s just something about the helmet (?!) in midair in the first shot which is just ‘untidy’. It’s the smallest and seemingly most trivial things which can affect choices. Both good shots though.
I have to agree, that the second one shows more impact to me, being myself also a volunteer firefighter.
The first one is just a firefighter getting ready to fight the fire on the back. The second shows more the “disappointing” of the incapacity of doing anything.
Both are excellent photos for me.
I love the rainbow shot. It reminds us that there’s always hope for rebirth and rebuilding.
You guys deserve some caption info. The first photo shows volunteer firefighter Denise Ray ripping off turnout gear as she is on the verge of heat exhaustion. She was treated at the scene and transported to a local hospital. The second photo shows volunteer firefighter Steve Caudle, who is also the pastor of a nearby church, walking away from the battle to take a break. The rainbow is forming in the overspray from a ladder truck operating at the fire. I should have included caption info in the original post. Sorry!
First one. Like it better. The flaming building in the back
has maid me say wow before I ever read the text.
The second for sure. I’m thinking of it in context of the story… a burning church and an exhausted fireman tempered with the promise that the fire is not the end of the church. It communicates a hopeful message. Plus, it’s something I haven’t seen before.
I have always leaned a little more toward the first image, but it is a slight lean. I think the second photo has more depth to it while the first shot kind of gives you a visual punch. I don’t think either shot is a bad choice so I can go either way. Rechena, I too was once a volunteer firefighter and I know exactly how the guy feels. Of course, I unfortunately know what heat exhaustion feels like too.
I’m going to go with the second shot, though I’d like it a lot more without the tilt…
The rainbow is a nice slice of colour and the bdy language of the firefighter definitely pull me into the picture more than the first shot…