Where to Start When Building a Photography Portfolio

As a commercial artist, your portfolio is your introduction to the world. So what is the best approach to making sure that you are always putting your best foot forward?

This is going to be a busy week for me on the sales front. In addition to ongoing projects, I also have six different portfolio meetings coming up. As I’ve just spent most of the morning updating my own presentation, I thought it might be a fun time to chat a bit about the method behind the madness.

But, before getting into the answers, let's start with a question. What is a portfolio? Not literally. I mean, obviously it's a collection of images presented either in print or digital form. But, in terms of its purpose, what is a portfolio meant to achieve?

The big mistake that almost all photographers starting out make, myself included once upon a time, is that they think of a portfolio as an opportunity to roll out their greatest hits. They think of showing their portfolio as an opportunity to prove to the world that they are a good photographer. So, to that end, they start by laying out a series of random shots showing everything from what they imagine to be their best portrait to that amazing shot they took of the Grand Canyon last summer, trying to prove definitively that, when it comes to every type of photography under the sun, they know how to expose correctly. Don’t get me wrong, both of those aforementioned photographs might truly be stunning. But it’s highly unlikely that both should take up space in the same photographer’s portfolio.

Why? Because a professional photographic portfolio is not merely an opportunity to prove that you are a good photographer. Instead, it’s a sales tool that shows your potential buyer what products you have available for sale and what makes them unique. There is a world full of amazing photographers out there. So many that it can be daunting just to think about. Just being a good “photographer,” in the general sense of the word, isn’t likely to get you a lot of traction. Keep in mind, the people you are selling to likely receive hundreds if not thousands of emails a day from photographers all over the world. Every one of them perfectly capable of correctly exposing a standard portrait on seamless. Being a good photographer is a bare minimum to get into the room.

What your portfolio needs to convey is what specific type of photographer you are? What is your brand of photography? What specific benefit will a potential buyer get from hiring you that they can’t get anywhere else? In short, why you, instead of any of the hundreds of other equally good photographers who emailed them that day?

So, when selecting the images for your portfolio, think less about trying to prove that you have the technical skills to duplicate other images you’ve already seen in the market. Instead, focus on your own artistic voice and the specific value that you, and only you, bring to the table. In the end, that unique voice is the only thing separating you from the rest of the pack.

So, with that said, your first task when building your portfolio is identifying what product it is that you are trying to sell. Is it edgy fashion photography? Is it clean cut commercial product shots that are lit impeccably? Is it a certain brand of lifestyle photography that leans heavily on an innate understanding of youth culture? Whatever that is for you, you need to start by identifying it, because you’ll need this foundation in order to create an effective presentation.

Now that you know what it is that you’re selling, you must now figure out how to best go about selling it. There are a million and one ways to start. But, to make our job easier, let’s return again to your unique value proposition as a photographer. What is your unique brand as an artist? For instance, a couple of my friends are a photography duo. They work mainly in the world of commercial fashion photography and have come to be known for their poppy use of saturated colors and almost architectural use of lines and patterns in their fashion work.

Because they are so strongly identified by that style, they have become the first name on the lips of any art producer looking to create a project in that particular style. The type of brand recognition where, even if they don’t ultimately get the job, it’s likely that one of their images was used in the client brief to describe the type of work they are looking for.

But building their portfolio is more than just putting in a series of unrelated images that happen to be highly saturated. Their portfolio has to not only establish their visual style, but also place their work firmly in a specific section of the market. In their case, commercial fashion. Beyond the images themselves, they have to continue to hammer home the aesthetic they are bringing to the table. This goes for everything from their physical portfolio to their website design. When meeting clients in person, the duo even go so far as to match their own wardrobe with the highly saturated and curated styling of the subjects they photograph. 360-degree marketing. Keeping the brand clear everywhere from the end product to the people who make it.

So, now think about that in terms of your own brand. What is the story you are trying to tell. Let’s assume, for sake of argument, that you aren’t doing highly saturated fashion work like the duo I just mentioned. What is it that makes you unique? And how do you convey that to your client?

I am a filmmaker and a photographer. Not only do I mention that because it helps describe much of my approach to my own portfolio. But, I also mention that as it has aided me in understanding the best way to make a presentation. Regardless of how well it is shot, a movie is not just a collection of random beautiful images. If it were, that would make for a very very boring two hours. Instead, a movie is a collection of images that, when placed in a specific sequence, tell a complete story. It’s not only about the images themselves being amazing. It’s about choosing the right arrangement to guide the audience through the film.

Think of your portfolio in the same way. What is Act One? Act Two? Act Three? How do you introduce your story to the audience, build up excitement, then stick the landing with a climatic finish that builds on all the plot points you’ve guided them through so far and cements a specific idea of you in their heads that will stick around long enough to get you future work?

Having a random scene in your film that has nothing to do with the rest of the story can confuse an audience. Having every scene in a movie just be variations on the same narrative beat for two hours will bore them to tears. You need to carefully modulate the story you are telling them, establish a theme, but then dramatize that theme in new and unexpected ways. In the case of a photography portfolio, the end result of this story you tell being that the audience/reviewer now has a firm understanding of they type of photographer that you are, the method you like to work, and, most importantly, why they should hire you specifically, rather than the thousands of other photographer in their inbox.

The length of your portfolio, the specific images that will sell your work best, and so forth, are things that I can’t tell you without seeing your work or knowing your specific set of buyers. And for every general rule, there is always an exception. But the more you think of your portfolio as a sales tool as opposed to a collection of your greatest hits, the more effective you will be at building a portfolio presentation that turns into a successful career.