As I continue to develop my portfolio, some really interesting questions have come up. One of the more thought-provoking questions was if I would put backstage photos in my portfolio? The answer is yes and no. It all depends on what the purpose of the portfolio is. If the portfolio is to get work as tour photographer, then yes, I might possibly add a few to show my skills capturing the whole story. But if I was putting together a portfolio of my performance shots, then no.
Many of the portfolios that I looked at during the portfolio review at Photoshop World were really general (not all….) Most of the photographers that I talked to about this said they wanted to appeal to a broad audience. The problem with that is it doesn’t have the right focus or purpose. Go ahead and create more than one portfolio. I know that I will have at least three when I am done. There will be a performance portfolio, an event portfolio and possibly a Black and White portfolio.
So here are a few images I shot of Bob Weir and RatDog when I had all access. I really like these shots, but they will not make it into my performance portfolio. They might not even make it into a backstage portfolio.
Thanks for the info Alan. Of course, this generates more questions:
– Why would you put the B&W images into a separate portfolio?
– Would an event portfolio be specific to one event, say a weekend festival?
The event portfolio will show the red carpets type stuff I do. So no, not from a single event..
The black and white portfolio stuff is just a choice I made.
The look of those images tend to go better together than trying to mix them in with the bright colors of the performance portfolio.. still working it all out