Your portfolio and your personality.

<p>So what does your portfolio say about your personality? Do you think there is a correlation between those two? If your portfolio consists of mostly dark, brooding subjects, are you a dark brooding person? If you portfolio is mostly images of shock value, are you a person that likes to surprise others? If your portfolio is eclectic, do you have an extreme personality?</p>

<p>Hansen. I think it shows what I like to photograph with a glaring exception. I do not post pictures of people I have photographed with of an exception of a couple of Russian street pictures and a swimming picture. I think that my former customers and people I photograph deserve their privacy regardless of any rights issue. I really like engaging and photographing faces that show some mileage and character. In my business I tried to evoke and capture inner traits and visible emotion. Can't post those. I did shock photos occasionally when I worked at a newspaper but I would not post those either nor did I like them a hell of a lot. Otherwise I like wildlife and am strongly interested in photographing critters, I like old buildings. I like sunlight and bright colors which are reflected in some of my photos. I love airplanes because I was an aviation professional for many years and there are a few airplanes in the fifty some pictures that are in my gallery. Yeah to a degree I think my gallery reflects me. My pictures of churches here in the US and overseas is not necessarily a belief of some kind but more with an archetectural reflection of culture. </p>

<p>For me, absolutely. Maybe not my personality, but definitely my interest in this world. I can trace its roots back to my childhood and to a significant five-year event as a young adult. It's not a random thing.</p>

<p>Ours shows that all of me are in serious need of psychiatric help.</p>

<p>LOL Lex! Me too. It shows I like animals more than people.</p>

<p>Hmm, maybe that's why psych majors are popular now?</p>

 

<p>Absolutely! Scattered. Unfocused (me, not the cameras). What a great idea for a thesis. Personality traits through portfolio analysis.</p>

<p>Perhaps a study should be made of criminals who were into photography. Could their portfolios contain warning signs? After such a study is confirmed, we may have to show our portfolios to FBI profilers.</p>

<p>Mine is only a marker along my photographic journey pointing out where I am and filled with glaring clues as to how far I have to go.</p>

<p>That's an interesting question, Hanson. Plenty of adjectives are used to describe photos, so I imagine those same descriptors can be attributed to their author, in turn whose personality (to some extent) can be inferred.</p>

<p>At the very least, I think a photo can tell us how its author thinks.</p>

<p>My flickr portfolio probably has a better reflection of my interests and point of view than does PN. Principally because of the greater number of images available.</p>

I think my portfolio shows that the author (me) hasn't got a clue as to which direction he should be going, if he is travelling at all!

"If your portfolio is eclectic, do you have an extreme personality?" No, but a little schitzo, perhaps. "Do you think there is a correlation between those two? " Sure it would be near impossible not to. Since I would be unable to define my portfolio does that mean...Oh, Gawd, Almost 70 and I still don't know who I am.

<p>Lack of focus, blurry and poorly composed... yeah that pretty much sums me up.</p>

<p>Lex and Gordon, both of you made my smiles of the day. This is me.... At least what I like photographing.</p>

<p>My portfolio says that I don't limit myself to any one type of photography, that variety powers my engine! This also reflects on the equipment that I use. Anything from a point-&-shot to a 4x5 camera, and everything in-between. And yes, this correlates well between my portfolio and personality. I HATE BOREDOM!</p>

<p>Too bad we wear our personalities on our backs making it difficult for ourselves to see. Others see it more clearly, though, through our work and our words. </p>

<p>This thread would have been so interesting had we removed the element of self analysis which is understandably difficult. On the other hand, analyzing others' personalities (through their work) is even more (socially) difficult if not dangerous.</p>

<p>What Lex said definitely made me feel a little better about myself...</p>

<p>Others have already suggested, your portfolio tells you more about what you like to SEE and appreciate. Not everything--some things are difficult to shoot. Plus, portfolios are touchpoints, and signposts, rather than gradually evolving studies of the shooter himself.</p>

<p>I wonder what my shrink would think if I show him my portfolio. ;-)</p>

<p>I rather think that my pictures selected to post are pretty much in synch with "how I see myself' versus how I really am. And if not, then I would easily gild the lily without a problem or, peacock like, show my finest feathers.. I think that I don't take photography as seriously as others do. It could be argued that we <strong>are</strong> really as <em><strong>others around us </strong> </em> see us,don't you agree?.</p>

<p>I like to think that a portfolio in total does tell a lot about broad personality type. Next question. What tool to measure personality? Myers Briggs? Myers Briggs is interesting and widely used scale, if you dig it of course:</p>

<p>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers-Briggs_Type_Indicator</p>

<p>Hansen. I had the same thought about your portfolio as you did when I looked at it. Very well done pictures. Intensely and narrowly focused subject matter with many, many excellent pictures of the same subject. Not being trained in psychology I don't know what that means any more than I know what my tastes mean. <br>

Jerry, I was subjected to the Myers=Briggs several times through my career. When they made me an executive many years ago I had a six month self development project with an Industrial psychologist to soften my behaviour so I could play my then upcoming but hopefully more restrained high level role. I learned a lot from her and she shed some light on some my psychological foibles but I still have them. She identified me as an introvert with well developed communications skills. I could present good arguments but they were usually well worked out in the dark recesses of my mind according to whatever hidden agenda I had before I exposed them to others. In other words she thought I was plotter and an underhanded schemer and manipulator. Caught in the act, I was. Anyway now I can put labels on my aberrant behaviour. You can't make a silk purse out of sow's ear as they say. I am not sure my photography reflects the above. It is pretty average and manipulation sometimes makes it less than average. </p>

 

<p>Like a number of other posters, mine shows what I like to shoot minus entire groups of work that are not shown for privacy or other reasons. None of the work I shot associated with the military is shown. I have thought about adding some family-oriented photos, but in the end decided against it.<br>

So I'm left with some boring things. Maybe that is an accurate reflection after all?</p>

<p>Probably as with any photographer, you can get clues as to my personality from my portfolio (on my web site, not on PN -- don't have one posted here). However, there's a lot of missing info, and one might not draw the correct conclusions. My humor is rather dry, and that sometimes shows in my photos. (I'm often accused of being English!) Most of my displayed work is artwork I hope to sell for people to hang on their walls. It doesn't say much about me, as it's mostly about what I think others would like to buy. My more recent work (not shown on the Internet) shows a lot of people shots, with emphasis on two general themes: social history and socioeconomic challenges in modern times. That would accurately reflect my interests and passions. However, it might also suggest I'm a "people person." In fact I'm rather socially awkward and am more of an observer than a participant. (Maybe a lot of us can be described that way.) I sometimes think my camera is a tool I use to interface with the public. ;-)</p>

<p>Maybe some one can do a PhD thesis on the psychology of photographer.;-)</p>