During my final year at the University of Huddersfield, I have come to understand how portfolio reviews work, what is involved in them and how useful they can be in terms of feedback on my work. In this post, I will be talking about my first experience with a portfolio review and how it helped me become a better photographer.

My course had proffessional photographers come in who are graduates to review each of our portfolios. I chose to have my work looked at by Thomas Duffield and Roz Doherty as they’re advice was more likely to fit my practice.

Preparing for the Review.

In preparation for the portfolio review, I had to print out the best images I had from my final year project. I had them printed on high quality paper and bought myself a portfolio box to store and present them in. Furthermore, I did research into the photographers I was going to speak to by looking at their work and understanding their practice. This was pivotal in the decision of who to pick as if their practice was completely different to my own, I would not have recieved advice to the standard that I did from a more likeminded individual. 

After some research and picking out who I wanted to speak to, I then went on to prepare myself physically for the review. By this I mean how I was going to dress and how I was going to act. A portfolio review is much like a job interview in the sense that the person reviewing your work is looking for a candidate that they can work with. Therefore, I treat it like I was going for a job, dressing more proffessionally and making sure I acted proffessionally as I would in any job interview. 

The Review.

The review itself was fairly easy going and I was able to chat to both Thomas and Roz about my work in a friendly yet proffessional manner. I do however understand that it depends on who is reviewing your work as to the atmosphere of the review. Nevertheless, my reviews went great. Thomas and Roz were supportive of my work, giving praise where they saw it fit. This for me was great to hear as I have struggled to see my own strengths as a photographer at times, wondering if I am a good as my peers. So to hear this praise from practicing proffessionals gave me some much needed validation. Despite the praise though, there was a fair amount of critique towards my images too. This was where I got the most out of the session and began to learn alot in a short amount of time. The two proffessionals gave me poninters on where to improve my practice in all areas. First of all in a technical sense and how to essentially make my images look better with both in camera work and editing and then, since I was making a book, some great advice on sequencing and how to make the book look better visually too.

Not only did I come away with advice on how to improve my work in terms of photographing and making it myself, I also recieved some great pointers on where to research next as my project developed. So having just half an hour total with two practicing professionals was enough for me to improve my own practice in all areas and thus become a much better photographer in the process. 

My Thoughts and Takeaways. 

As someone who is very new to the world of being a proffessional creative, being able to have access to proffessionals and have my portfolio reviewed by them was an offer and an opportunity I could not refuse. What I learned and took from that day was more than I could have taught myself in months of practice and I am therefore incredibly thankful for the opportunity to recieve advice from those who know much more than I do. Being able to do so has, in my opinion, given me a headstart in terms of what I can expect when going into future portfolio reviews which might help land me the job over someone who is less prepared.