Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/10/13
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Blow on Mike, Blow on!! Wilber - ----- Original Message ----- From: Mike Johnston <michaeljohnston@ameritech.net> To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us> Sent: Friday, October 13, 2000 10:18 PM Subject: [Leica] Portfolios (disquisition alert) > > > > This is yet another naive question from an amateur. What should a > > "personal portfolio" look like? > > > Ah, you have stepped into my web, Grasshopper. A topic near and dear to my > heart. Disquisition alert! (Windbag alert too, maybe. You have been warned.) > > The form a personal portfolio would take would vary with the person, but its > function probably wouldn't. The idea is simply this--you're a photographer. > Can you show a representative sampling of your best work, in fully realized > form? Whatever that is? > > And make it so that it actually exists? > > This latter point is important. Many photographers have a vague idea in > their heads of some given subset of their pictures, some of which might > already exist in viewable form. This is their idea of "their work." But > that, I would argue, doth not a portfolio make. > > The idea is to do the work to have on hand something that shows off what you > do, without apologies. The question I used to ask students is, if a museum > curator knocked on your door tomorrow morning and asked to "see your work," > are you READY? Do you have something finished, right now, to show? It's not > enough to lead them to a huge pile of workprints, or lead them around the > house and show them the seventeen pictures you liked enough to have framed > over the past decade, or to open the slide cabinet to reveal 5,000 slides in > cascading piles and say pleadingly, "can you give me a while?" or (shudder) > to open your contact book and start flipping through it, every now and then > jabbing your finger at the page. > > The "work" I'm talking about is what my friend Allen (A. D.) Coleman calls > "reification"--making it real. The idea is that other people cannot see your > visualizations about your finished work in its absence, or from incompletely > realized clues. > > What the work consists of is going to depend upon what you visualize, but > generally speaking it can be divided into three main tasks: editing the > pictures, crafting prints (or whatever), and selecting and assembling and > method of presentation. > > Re editing: most photographers are mediocre to execrable editors of their > own work. The problem is that they lack a.) objectivity and b.) the > requisite ruthlessness. What I mean by the first point is that they consider > all sort of thoughts, feelings, and factors extraneous to the picture in the > selection process--who they were with or what kind of day they were having, > how much the subject matter means to them, how hard they worked to get/make > the pictures (this happens frequently with amateurs--if they worked hard to > get it they somehow think it has to be good), some meaningless technical > feature (a very saturated blue, or you like the sharpness), or (heaven > forfend) their fetishistic slavering over whatever nifty piece of gear they > happened to make it with (that would never be pertinent to this > list--Luggers are all too intelligent to get caught in that trap). > > Strategies to overcome these impediments to effective editing are numerous, > but I'll mention three: work at it; take your time; and, get help. I've said > many times and many places that the best editing tool is a large bulletin > board where you put your pictures up to look at (assuming you make prints). > Another good idea is to gather other peoples' opinions and watch for other > peoples' reactions as they look at your pictures. > > Another problem of editing is a false or obsequious objectivity, wherein we > pick things we think other people will like rather than the things _we_ like > (I've been guilty of this my own self.) > > Then, of course, there is the problem of indulgence, wherein photographers > who are sentimental over their own efforts, or egocentric, admit a lot of > filler into the final selection becase they don't have the heart to leave > the almost-good-enough stuff out (or they simply don't have enough work to > come up with the number of truly strong pictures they think they ought to > have). > > Finally there's the problem of coherence--coming up with a group of pictures > that makes some sort of sense together. Variety isn't necessarily bad, but > it's got to hang together somehow. > > So, most amateurs never make it through the editing process. > > If you have enough gumption and verve to actually come up with a group of > pictures that make sense together, things can get fun. Because there's > nothing like having a clear goal in mind to give energy to the work of > crafting prints. And, really, the crafting of the presentation method can be > almost as much fun as making the pictures. > > If you've never done this sort of thing before, I think you'll find: > --That it's surprisingly difficult; > --That it's even more satisfying than you imagine it will be when you're > done; > --That you never need return to that work again, because you have > already done your level best by it; > --And one more very fortunate and happy result, which is that it helps > direct your _future_ work. It helps you decide what kind of photography you > really like, and what you're best at; it helps you (even if only > half-consciously) focus your efforts on work that will more easily and > directly lend itself to reification later. All good. > > So as to what form your portfolio should take, I don't really know. Depends > what you do and how you want it to look. Traditional box and mounted b&w > prints? Laminated color prints? Transparencies in mounts? A slide show? I > personally like print books. It doesn't greatly matter. What matters is > whether it's PERFECT, perfectly realized, a true representation of the best > you've done. No apologies or explanations necessary. > > And, unfortunately, most photographers never do all this. Even most of those > who may read this very message and become temporarily enthused about the > idea of reifying a master portfolio of their work will never follow through. > Don't ask me why that is, but I know photographers, and I know it to be the > case. Sad but true. > > --Mike > > P.S. If you want some practical tips as to how to actually go about doing > all this, ask me tomorrow and I'll type another disquisition, presuming > there is not too vociferous a chorus of complaints about my longwindedness > tonight. > > > > >