Portfolio Review Workshop Exercise - Hosted Dr Yan Preston
In the photographic industry, work is reviewed by people from all manner of creative backgrounds. Publishers to curators, advertising agencies to competition judge panels, academic superiors to professional peers and colleagues. All of these people, and countless more, may have opportunities to look over and offer feedback on practitioners’ work and that feedback could very well gear the trajectory of a photographer’s career or what could be next for them with a project.
For this workshop, Yan allowed a few of us participants, myself opting to volunteer first, to act as the portfolio reviewer looking at her work, that also happens to be an awards winning portfolio already. Being in the position of the reviewer was certainly a revelatory experience of thinking what would a reviewer be looking for and from this practice it informs my outlook on how I will prepare my portfolio for future reviewers.
Yan was able to offer invaluable advice of how we can also consider the presentation of a portfolio rather than just the content. A more thoughtful and considered presentation, format, or layout, can attribute to a more well-received body of work.
