Developing a Portfolio or a Body of Work
The words portfolio and body of work often are used synonymously. And while I think that they do have a lot of similarities, I think that many would agree that a body of work is looked at on a different level. Please allow me to elaborate. Let's actually start with the similarities. Developing a portfolio or a body of work is a must for serious photographers. It demonstrates both your craft and creativity. It is also what begins to set a part someone who does photography for a hobby versus someone who is very serious about working in photography. Both a portfolio and a body of work use a cohesive theme to put together a group of images.
So what is the difference between the two? They differ in that a body of work is a very extensive and exhaustive photographic exploration of a particular subject matter and theme in which the photographer builds over an extended period of time. All the images belong together in a cohesive group by virtue of the content, concept and composition (meaning, they have a similar photographic style), and a viewer can tell that they were created by the same photographer. There is a large enough group of images that they could be displayed in an exhibition or in a book. The photographer will have acquired a great deal of knowledge and passion about this subject through their extensive exploration and the work was created over several months to several years to one's life work.
A portfolio in contrast, is generally used to demonstrate your photographic capabilities. It can be done on both an educational level and on a professional level. From an education viewpoint, a portfolio is also a cohesive group of images with similar content, concept and compositional style approach (same as a body of work), but it is not as extensive of an exploration because it is put together in a shorter time span and generally does not have the accumulated number of images needed. It is used to demonstrate your knowledge and abilities acquired from the course objectives. From this viewpoint, a portfolio can be the impetus that triggers and matriculates into a body of work. From a professional viewpoint, a portfolio is used to provide examples of your bodies of work. It should contain a sampling of a few different types of photography and photographic themes that represent the larger work that you create. Portfolio presentations can vary greatly from print form, to websites, to books, and more. All of the images should be consistent in terms of quality. I like to always quote one of my professors who told me, "your portfolio is only as strong as your weakest image".
Both a portfolio and a body of work can be purposefully created or later found to fit into one of the following categories:
So what is the difference between the two? They differ in that a body of work is a very extensive and exhaustive photographic exploration of a particular subject matter and theme in which the photographer builds over an extended period of time. All the images belong together in a cohesive group by virtue of the content, concept and composition (meaning, they have a similar photographic style), and a viewer can tell that they were created by the same photographer. There is a large enough group of images that they could be displayed in an exhibition or in a book. The photographer will have acquired a great deal of knowledge and passion about this subject through their extensive exploration and the work was created over several months to several years to one's life work.
A portfolio in contrast, is generally used to demonstrate your photographic capabilities. It can be done on both an educational level and on a professional level. From an education viewpoint, a portfolio is also a cohesive group of images with similar content, concept and compositional style approach (same as a body of work), but it is not as extensive of an exploration because it is put together in a shorter time span and generally does not have the accumulated number of images needed. It is used to demonstrate your knowledge and abilities acquired from the course objectives. From this viewpoint, a portfolio can be the impetus that triggers and matriculates into a body of work. From a professional viewpoint, a portfolio is used to provide examples of your bodies of work. It should contain a sampling of a few different types of photography and photographic themes that represent the larger work that you create. Portfolio presentations can vary greatly from print form, to websites, to books, and more. All of the images should be consistent in terms of quality. I like to always quote one of my professors who told me, "your portfolio is only as strong as your weakest image".
Both a portfolio and a body of work can be purposefully created or later found to fit into one of the following categories:
- SINGLE images - an independent image.
- DIPTYCHS- two related images displayed together.
- TRIPTYCHS- a set of three related images.
- A SERIES of photographs all relate in terms of content and style, and don’t need to be viewed in any particular order.
- A SEQUENCE of photographs sequence is also a group of related images, however the order in which they are viewed is important to conveying a story or message. Photo storytelling is simply telling a story with pictures rather than words.