I spent 4 days almost a week ago at PhotoLucida, a portfolio review and networking event held every other year here in Portland, Oregon. This was the first time I had attended a portfolio review. To me, it was beneficial. Not because I was hoping for gallery shows, but because I got a ton of feedback on my work, both positive and negative. I had decided probably by the morning of day 2 that I was going to need to probably discard the extremely positive and extremely negative comments. Art is so subjective, that I figured if I could walk away with a consensus, those would be the comments that I would really try to digest and see what I could use.
I thought I would share some of the feedback with you. It is so rare to be able to get this level of commentary on your work, I figured it might be useful for you to be able to read what some of them were on the work posted on my web site, www.laurenhenkin.com. One mistake I made early on in the reviews that I was able to change as I went along, was the amount of “back story” I gave on my work. I was presenting the two portfolios, Displaced: Part I and Displaced: Part II as well as a new portfolio that hasn’t been posted yet. When the reviews started, I was giving way too much information on what I was seeing in the work, what I thought it meant and so on. I realized very quickly that I wasn’t giving the reviewer any room to take what they wanted from it and to come to the conclusions I wanted them to come to, but on their own. As soon as day 1 was over, I immediately just went right into the image presentation and stopped with all the commentary. I got much better feedback starting at that moment and in the end, they got what I was trying to show them anyway… I didn’t need the words. In fact, they seemed to be much more pleased, as viewers, to be able to come to the conclusion I wanted them to come to without my giving it away up front. Like a puzzle, they were able to solve it on their own and were appreciative for that experience. It got me thinking a lot about how much or how little we should give our viewers in terms of the story we’re trying to tell. I really go back and forth a lot about whether to name my pictures. There are practical issues related to this issue… like if someone’s viewing an image online and they want to buy it, they might have a problem letting you know which one (think “uh, that one, the tree, the tall tree”). But, I think labeling an image is already imposing your story on the picture that the viewer might not need or want. It’s a question that I struggle with a lot.
I would say the most frequent comment was on editing. About half of the reviewers took out 5 images from the 20 for each portfolio I showed. I need to be more vigorous in my editing, as do most of us. I looked at so many portfolios my eyes actually hurt at the end of the event. I would say that about 75% of the portfolios I looked at needed a stronger edit. The message I think is that if you’ve got images that you have any doubts about, take them out. See what you’re left with. Sometimes I don’t do this because I might only be left with 5 images for a body of work I thought was done and I don’t want to end up with that conclusion. But the truth is, that if you’re at a point where you’re pitching your work to big name galleries, every image counts… and they’ll probably only remember the bad ones, so be selective. I will definitely be a harsher critic for my own work than I have been.
Another lesson I learned from the event (and I didn’t know this going in) is that it’s a good idea to bring a “back up” portfolio. I had working proofs for a new body of work I have titled Leave Behinds. The work was in color (compared to black and white for the other prints) and it really gave the reviewers an opportunity to see a variety of images from me. Some reviewers who didn’t respond to the black and white immediately became reinterested in me once they saw the color work. I hadn’t planned that, but it was definitely valuable to have that work on hand so I could alter what I would show certain reviewers.
The other piece that I had to show was an artist book of my two Displaced series. I love the design and making of books so I wanted some feedback on whether that I might be able to sell as a limited edition artist book. It was a HUGE plus to have that with me. Not only did I get fabulous feedback and ideas on moving forward with that project, but it enabled me to show my work to a much larger audience. During the Portfolio Walk, the public photographer’s showcase event held on Thursday night that was open to the city, I was simultaneously able to show large prints to one group of people, while another 5 or so took the book dummy and flipped through that. I will probably move forward with the production of the limited edition. The questions right now are: how many should be in the limited edition; do I produce 1 book for Part I and one for Part II or do I combine them; should I include 1 or 2 loose prints; and do I have maybe 10 tipped in prints or print the full portfolio. Are you all interested in my progress with this project? If so, I will post the progression of how this moves forward.
I hope these lessons will be helpful to you all who are thinking about or going to a portfolio review event. Right now, I am trying to process all the commentary and send out cds and information to the people who requested it.
New work will be posted on my web site soon and I will be posting more on Coexistence as well. Stay tuned!
© Lauren Henkin.
hey this is a very interesting article!