Tag: portfolio

Towards the end of last year I made an aim to make 2015 the year where I shoot and show. By photographing and displaying my work to existing clients, potential new ones and everyone else in-between I sought to push my technical and creative levels after each meeting. A photography career is largely built on relationships, with initial meetings a test of developing trust between your work, your ability to complete a job (as seen through the eyes of the potential client),  and everything else that might be going through the persons mind that’s sitting opposite you.In order to best facility the shoot and share mentality, I thought it best to build my presentation portfolio from the ground up. I, like most other people, joined the mad rush to purchase an iPad when they were initially released, standing strong on the belief that it would be the sole way to display a portfolio moving forward. Print was seeing a major decline in popularity and the allure of a producing a great looking, backlit portfolio with very little effort was just too good to refuse.Luckily, times have changed. I’ve got a pretty good range of magazine subscriptions, composed of both digital and print. Some magazines, like Outside Magazine and National Geographic have really great iPad versions of their magazines offered through the Newsstand app. The problem I have with this is that  when I pick up my iPad to read a magazine through the app, it’s not long before my attention has wandered and i’m back in the Mail clearing out my inbox. Print feels different though. Despite the decline in popularity of a lot of the printing outlets, some truly amazing titles are on offer at the newsagents. Ultra high quality and extremely readable titles exist (In the Uk I love Sidetracked, Rouleur, Like The Wind, Huck) and when I have them in my hands, they have my attention for much longer than an iPad.I see the process of making a print portfolio as being very similar to producing one of these Indy magazines – it’s a labour of love.  The act of putting all of the pieces together is not an easy one. Selecting images that are strong enough to be displayed and then fit within a series, whilst maintaining a natural flow, takes time. My book is still very much in its infancy but reactions from initial meetings have been positive. Quality was paramount, with me first buying the cover of the book late last year. I was initially headed down the path of getting a linen backed portfolio, very British looking, but all this changed when I saw what the guys over at Shrapnel Design could offer. Based over in Vancouver, I felt that the wooden offerings were much more in line with my image collection. I settled on a Teak with Aluminium back A3 portfolio.The section and printing of images has been something that has taken up a lot of my spare time as of late. I’m lucky to have been working with a great printer (Photorotation if you’re ever in need of a printer in Geneva) for all of my printing needs over the past year (above shot is prints from a local project, with the below shot from a large commission). Having printed out some test strips we settled on some high quality Hahnemühle Photo Rag paper. 20 pages now sit together showing off a selection of my personal and commercial work. I take a great sense of pride when someones eyes are drawn to an image a little longer, before they turn the heavy weight paper to the next image.Shoot and show you could say.