Amy Dunn, Houston Photographer Blog » purge http://www.amydunn.com/blog Wed, 08 Sep 2010 03:52:04 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Pruning the Portfolio http://www.amydunn.com/blog/pruning-the-portfolio/ http://www.amydunn.com/blog/pruning-the-portfolio/#comments Mon, 21 Dec 2009 01:44:28 +0000 amydunn http://www.amydunn.com/blog/?p=2832 I read this pretty kick-ass entry on Scott Kelby’s blog, “How To Become Known As a Better Photographer.” In a nutshell, Kelby suggests posting your BEST work in order to attain the maximum impact on a viewer’s perception of your work. Like many photographers, I have a deep, emotional connection to my images. They take me back to a place in time, they captured a memory–a smell, a sight, a pleasant sound–and some instantly put me in a great mood when I see them. Despite the nostalgia, I understand I have grown as a photographer, and my online portfolio should reflect those changes.

Kelby recommends researching photographers you admire and also engaging in peer evaluation to strengthen the portfolio. Kelby’s right–the photographers I adore only post their best work. One comment on Kelby’s blog by Sally Wehner sums it up:

“The difference between a bad photographer and a good one? You never see the good photographer’s bad pictures.”

I spent the last few days editing my portfolio, taking out some repetitive pieces, some of my older work, and some images that simply do not represent my best work. While the actual process hurt something fierce, my updated work looks fresh, and I do not miss the archived images. On my computer, I have nine rows of images and four columns, totaling 28 images per page for me. I know this varies from computer to computer, but justified my chops by deleting most of the stuff past the viewable screen; honestly, I would not mind making a few more cuts. I still need to work on the arrangement of my photos on a single page.

Friends! I need your help. If I have any images that you feel simply missed the mark, please share your thoughts here. I can handle a good old-fashioned critique, so feel free to voice your opinions. Please refrain from comments like, “I don’t like this picture because the model’s ugly.” That’s not helpful. Neither is, “I don’t like this picture because you cut off her head.” That’s called selective cropping. By way of reference, I will soon merge the Animals & Misc section together–or even purge them all into my Archives folder. I still love the pictures, but they do not represent the type of photos I currently have in my portfolio. As a compromise, I keep a small Archive link on my website so I can look back and reflect on the work I have done and see how far I have come since I first picked up a camera.

A new decade. A new portfolio. My heart flutters to think what the ’10s have in store! Thank you in advance for your time and critique!

xoxo,
Amy

A Sample of My Archived Work:

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