Portfolio

Learning goal

You will be able to build a portfolio aimed at a particular target client, made of few but strong frames. You will explain the difference between a personal selection and a client portfolio prepared to convince a client, and discuss how a portfolio's weakest frame pulls down the perception of the whole. You will use the curriculum's suggested measure of fifteen frames as a target, build with these frames a range balance showing the different sides of the work the target client will need, and sequence the frames with a strong opening and closing. In every frame that will go into the portfolio, especially frames with people and client work, you will check whether the necessary permissions exist. You will see that a portfolio isn't a tool made once and left, but one renewed with a regular update cycle.

The question

Your friend spreads the café and venue frames on the table to send to the baker; there are more than forty frames. They want to send all of them, because each has another morning, another dish, and they don't want to give up any of them. The older member, on the other hand, picks up the frames one by one and sets some aside: two almost identical tea glasses, a slightly blurred dessert, a counter with a cluttered background.

"The baker won't look at all of these," they say. "And if they do, they'll remember the worst one." Your friend is surprised; they thought the effect would grow as the number of good frames grew. Which photos should go into a portfolio? How many frames are enough, and which frame, even if it is good, should stay out?

Context

While building a series you saw that the opening frame places the viewer in the place and the subject, and the closing frame leaves them with a feeling (Lesson 23.2). While making a selection you practiced setting a target number, narrowing the archive in rounds and writing for each frame a sentence saying its job in the series (Lesson 26.9). In the previous lesson, too, you wrote your own niche and your one-sentence positioning (Lesson 28.2).

A portfolio is where these three skills come together. A personal selection serves an idea; a client portfolio, on the other hand, serves a decision. When the baker looks at the page they aren't touring an exhibition; they are looking for an answer to the question "can this person do my job?" That is why a portfolio's measure is less the individual beauty of the frames than how clearly it answers this question.

Simple explanation

Why should a client portfolio be few and strong?

A client portfolio is a selection made of a limited number of frames chosen and sequenced to show a particular target client that the photographer can do the work they need. Its difference from a personal selection is that its measure is not the photographer's question but the client's. In a portfolio prepared for the baker, the frame of the men playing backgammon doesn't appear even if it was admired at an exhibition; the texture of a tray full of hot bread in morning light, on the other hand, does.

The weakest link is the weakest frame in a portfolio pulling down the perception of the whole portfolio. According to a saying photographers who talk about portfolios often repeat, a portfolio is as strong as its weakest frame. When the person looking sees one blurred or cluttered frame beside ten strong frames, they doubt whether the photographer can tell what is good. That is why a frame you are undecided about doesn't go into the portfolio; it goes to the holding pool.

As this lesson's key idea, the curriculum suggests fifteen frames according to the target client. This number isn't a rule but a frame: enough to show a job from different sides, few enough not to tire the attention of the person looking. For some clients ten frames may be enough; a wedding portfolio, on the other hand, may be divided into several separate stories to show the flow of a day.

How are fifteen frames chosen and sequenced?

Range balance is the frames in a portfolio showing the different sides of the work the target client will need, without repeating the same thing. For a bakery these sides might be the general view of the venue, close-ups of the products, people and hands at work, presentation and packaging, perhaps the preparation in the first hours of the morning. If eleven of the fifteen frames are dish photos, the range balance breaks and the client can't see whether the photographer can shoot the venue or the people.

Sequencing also makes a decision. The opening frame should be both one of the strongest frames and make the client say "this is exactly your job." After it the frames move with a rhythm, without piling similar ones side by side, from general to close and from people to product. The closing frame can be a memorable frame, often warm and with people in it. Something like the short sentences you wrote for each frame while making a selection guides you here too: what each frame proves in the portfolio should be sayable in one sentence.

A frame can stay out even though it is good. A frame outside the niche, however striking on its own, doesn't answer the client's question. Of two frames that say the same thing, the weaker goes. A frame that is very old and looks different from your current work can give the client a wrong expectation. How the portfolio will be shown also affects the choice. On a web page the frames are usually seen by scrolling in order, and the first few frames are often where the person looking decides whether to stay. A printed portfolio, on the other hand, is turned by hand and examined in a meeting, with the photographer present. Many photographers prepare two forms of the same selection; but in both, the frames carry the same quality and answer the same question.

Why do permission and updating matter?

Portfolio permission is the people who appear in a frame going into the portfolio and, if it is client work, the client having approved that frame being used in the photographer's promotion. Showing photos shot for a café to another business without the café owner's permission, or using an employee's face in promotion without their knowledge, damages trust. Permission is usually asked before the shoot, within the contract or the quote; contracts will be taken up separately in the module's later lessons. In frames with people, permission is asked with the same respect of people of different skin tones, ages and situations; if children are involved, a parent's consent is needed. Wanting to give space in the portfolio to people of different skin tones isn't a reason to skip their permission.

An update cycle is the portfolio being reviewed at set intervals and renewed with stronger new work. When a new job is added, an old frame goes; the number doesn't grow, the quality rises. Many photographers re-evaluate their portfolio every few months or after every important job. A portfolio that isn't updated shows not what the photographer can do today, but what they did in the past. While updating, the permission table is also reviewed; a frame whose permission has been withdrawn or has expired is quietly removed from the portfolio.

Visual evidence

Your friend first sorts the more than forty frames under range headings: venue, product, people and hands, presentation, morning preparation. The dish pile is very crowded, while the people pile is made of only two frames. They choose the strongest from each pile, put the ones they are undecided about in the pool, and come down to fourteen frames.

For the missing frames with people, they go back to the café and, after getting their permission, photograph two people working in the morning preparation: the hands and face of the dark-skinned master kneading the dough, and a light-skinned apprentice lining up loaves on the counter. Both faces are in their own tone in window light. Before adding the frame to the portfolio, they also get the café owner's approval for these frames to be shown to other businesses.

They build the sequence through the baker's eyes: at the opening a full bread counter in morning light, then the venue, close-ups, hands, presentation; at the closing the master's smiling face with floury hands. They write a line under each of the fifteen frames; when two frames get the same line they remove one and take from the pool a frame showing packaging in its place.

Common mistakes

Summary

A client portfolio is made of a limited number of frames chosen to show a particular target client that you can do their work; because the weakest frame pulls down the perception of the whole, a frame you are undecided about is left out, and the curriculum's suggested fifteen frames is used as a frame. The frames are chosen with a range balance showing the different sides of the work, sequenced with a strong opening and closing, portfolio permission is obtained for every frame with people and client work, and the portfolio is renewed with a regular update cycle.

Mini assignment

In this assignment you will build a fifteen-frame client portfolio suited to your niche; this portfolio is also the basis of the module's project.

1. Write four or five sides of the work your niche's target client will need as range headings.
2. Sort frames from your archive under each heading; put frames you are undecided about and frames that say the same thing in the holding pool, and come down to fifteen frames. If a heading is left short, plan a new shoot for that side.
3. Sequence the frames through the target client's eyes; choose the opening and closing frames and add under each frame a line saying what it proves in the portfolio.
4. For every frame with people or client work, write the permission status in a table; remove a frame without permission from the portfolio until permission is obtained. Note in your calendar when you will review your portfolio again.

Check yourself

• Does your portfolio answer the target client's question in the first few frames?
• Is each of your range headings represented by at least one strong frame?
• Do you know the permission status for every person and every client job in the portfolio?

Glossary

Mini quiz

1. What is the measure of a client portfolio?

• A) The photographer's favorite frames
• B) Answering the client's question "can this person do my job?"
• C) The number of frames being as large as possible
• D) The frames being sequenced from oldest to newest

2. What does the weakest link describe?

• A) The weakest frame pulling down the perception of the whole
• B) The portfolio being short
• C) The closing frame being unimportant
• D) A frame without permission

3. If eleven of the fifteen frames in a bakery portfolio are dish photos, what problem arises?

• A) The weakest link
• B) The update cycle
• C) The range balance breaking
• D) Portfolio permission

4. How is a frame showing the face of someone working at a café added to the portfolio?

• A) After getting the permission of the person and the client
• B) By blurring the face, without asking permission
• C) Without needing permission because the person has a different skin tone
• D) After the café closes

Answers

1. B — A client portfolio is prepared for a decision; it should answer the client's question about their work.
2. A — The person looking also sees the weakest frame and doubts the photographer's ability to choose.
3. C — Piling up the same type hides the other sides of the work and the client sees an incomplete picture.
4. A — The consent of the person in the frame and of the owner of the work is the precondition for portfolio use.

Summary card

• A portfolio answers the client's question.
• A frame you are undecided about doesn't go in; the weakest frame pulls the whole down.
• Fifteen frames: different sides of the work, no repetition.
• A strong opening, a memorable closing.
• Permission for every person and every client job; renew the portfolio regularly.

Bridge to the next lesson

The portfolio is ready; but your friend realizes that no one besides the baker has seen it. A friend at the club suggests sharing it on social media, posting a frame every day and growing the follower count. The older member, on the other hand, says that the follower count isn't the same thing as café owners and bakers finding them. Your friend thinks about what job a web page and a social media account do, and who will search for and find them, and how. Does social media bring clients? The next lesson takes up a showcase aimed at clients, not followers, and basic search visibility.