Austin Event Photography | Your Portfolio Matters

 

Austin Event Photography | Your Portfolio

It seems not a day goes by without hearing some mention of the word "portfolio."  Sure, portfolios exist in a number of different fields aside from photography. Architects, artists, designers, graphics peeps, the whole nine yards.

I suppose that if you're not in a field that requires them to get hired, you probably don't notice the discussions. As a photographer, I constantly overhear portfolio conversations and find them interesting.  I guess most potential clients and customers would want to see what kind of work you've done in the past. That makes sense. It's easy to judge someone's ability even by just taking a brief look at a few photos or photo treatments. Some may be excellent, some good and the rest? Well. Maybe they should've been left out.

As a Cedar Park event photographer, I really only have the event photos I've taken to display the quality of the work I do.  That places me right square in the middle of a Catch 22 at times. Do I leave out the photo that was just a little off because no one will want to hire me if they see it?  Should I leave out the inappropriate gesture here and there for fear of reprisal?

At this point, I'd say no.

I occasionally leave in photos that might not be the absolute highest quality, even though you may not. My thought? I don't want people to miss out on their photo because someone in the background was doing something like this...

 

Truth be told, I can edit that right out of the photo in Photoshop or some other editor. No problem. I left it in the shoot for that day just in case #3690 there wanted her photo and will make the editing offer if I see her come through the catalog. Until then, it remains up and it's part of my online portfolio in a way. I don't have a problem with it, but I can see how others may not want this in theirs.

Some togs have a totally different website that houses much of their portfolio. Perhaps that's what I'll move to over time. It's not like every photo in here is representative of the work I do. I leave them here to perform a service more than anything else.  I leave them here because I feel they're important to the individual.

If you have portfolio stories that you'd like to share with us here, we'd be interested in reading about your experiences and by all means, provide your recommendations and mention the type of work that it applies to.

What have your portfolio experiences been like?