Originally published in Yar Mail #54. Sign-up here to read future editions. Below, you’ll find my abbreviated tips on how to prepare for a photography portfolio review.
Know What You Want
There are many different reasons photographers might do a portfolio review. Some (most I’ve met) are trying to get new clients and assignments or sell bodies of work. Others are looking for honest feedback on their images—maybe that’s a full portfolio, a book project, or literal prints. Some may be trying to pitch a book or find gallery representation. Knowing what your goal is—and explaining that up front—will help set the tone for your meetings.
Know Your Audience
Be prepared for the organizations you’re showing work to. Are they focused on breaking news? Are they a gallery? Do they only cover technology (like I was doing at Rest of World) or only work on investigations (like I do now at ProPublica)? Understanding their focus will help shape and frame the conversation—and the outcome—of this often brief opportunity. Doing research beforehand can help you present your work in a way that’s relevant to them and bring you both closer to working together.
It’s okay if you don’t know your audience, but then be honest and use that time to get to know them and understand what they need for their work. It’s also totally fine if you don’t have any work that fits their organization. You can still use what you know about how they work and what they care about to frame your portfolio around shared interests.
Preparing Your Edit
First off, have a lot ready to show—projects, singles, assignments. Put your best foot forward and lead with your strongest work, but have more available if asked. Tailor what you’re showing to the person or organization in front of you. Do they mostly publish daily news assignments or are they more focused on longform projects. Maybe even prepare an edit that aligns with their typical work.
Most of the feedback I give at reviews is based on the type of photography I work with. I like seeing tight, editorial edits around a single theme, with a combination of wide, medium, tight shots, and portraits—a story told in 15–25 images. But that’s obviously not true for all editors. A gallery curator probably doesn’t need to see how you shot a recent assignment for The New York Times—but I would find that valuable. Someone at a wire agency likely wants to see how you handle difficult breaking news or daily assignments. A photographer working exclusively in longform is likely most attuned to other longform work. And so on…
Presenting Your Work
There are essentially two ways to show your work: on a screen or in physical form. Both can work well, but I rarely find physical prints make sense for me.
Prints or books tend to be most effective when you’re meeting with people who work with—wait for it—printed work. Think galleries that may hang your work or book publishers that might want to produce it.
Prints are also more time-consuming to flip through and can get messy (and ruined!) when spread out on a table. That said, someone who specializes in physical presentation (gallery, curator, publisher) may find far more value in handling actual prints. I mainly work on screens, and so do many editors, so I’m best equipped to review digital imagery. Seeing images on a computer or tablet has always made the most sense to me.
What has never worked well is a phone. Please don’t sit across from someone trying to show your work from Instagram or your photo album. Yes, we’re all living and working for mobile in some capacity but we also all know that it’s the worst way to view images.
Be Organized
One of the most important parts of presenting your work is being prepared and organized. If you’re showing work on a laptop, make sure it’s charged. If you’re planning to use your website, check the internet connection and speed. Are your files scattered across folders or Lightroom collections? Will it be slow to load or hard to find what you want to show?
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve met with photographers who were scrambling because they couldn’t get online or their images were taking forever to load during our limited time meeting. Be prepared for how, not just what, you’re showing.
The simplest and most effective method I’ve found:
PDFs, arranged by story, in a single folder.
Each PDF starts with an intro slide explaining the project.
Captions on individual slides.
Your way may differ, but this structure works well for me when reviewing photojournalism, editorial, or story-based work.
Presenting Yourself
Don’t be an asshole. Don’t argue or be dismissive. Be ready for harsh feedback—or no feedback at all. Portfolio reviews can be disappointing or surprisingly uneventful.
As one longtime photo editor responded after the last time I sent this “Part of ‘don't be an asshole’ is let the reviewer talk and listen to what they say. I know it might be nerves but so often photographers talk right through the review hardly giving me a chance to reflect or say a word.”
Be professional, be polite, but above all, be yourself.
I love meeting photographers—not just seeing their work, but hearing how they think about it. Meeting them. And remember: it’s just someone’s opinion. (Like this newsletter or the Bible.)
Follow-Up and Marketing
Make sure you get the contact information of whoever you met with, and follow up within a few days. Leave them with some kind of marketing material. This can be as simple as a business or postcard, or as elaborate as a full newspaper or book. Whatever it is, make sure it includes your name, email, and phone number.