Please, judge my portfolio.

[navarra]

I'm not sure this is the right forum, but my question has to do with working

as a photographer so here it is:

 

I'm working of a portfolio, hoping it will allow me to introduce myself to

possibile subjects, associations, photo agencies, editors etc... my main

interest, at the moment, is social reportage, so I'd like my portfolio to look

professional enough for people to allow me to photograph them (for example,

I'd like to ask the fire department permission to photograph firemen on duty).

 

Of course i'll use a printed portfolio, but I built an online one for everyone

to speak their mind and help me fine tune it. You'll find the pictures here:

 

http://www.simonenavarra.it/portfolio.html

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Simone

[bill_proud]

Simone,

 

Merry Christmas.

 

I'm not a people photographer but here is what I see. You may judge my qualificatons to

critique at my website and weigh its value from that.

 

www.billproudphotography.com

 

My favorites are the man walking through the alleyway and the children doing the same.

I like the strong light and the reflected light illuminating the darker areas and his sense of

action. There is also a sense of scale. Same with the two kids. Try more of these waiting

for the sun to get almost overhead or with it just spotlighting a certain feature.

 

The artists, for the most part, are looking out of the frame and too close to the edge.

 

Street scenes. Get closer. I don't see any "impact" in several of these. Gray skies and

nothing very definitive as to what they are doing. The man in the blue pants against the

yellow wall is good in the sense of juxtposition of the colors but he is uninteresting. There

is no action.

 

The woman in the next scene is walking against the wall and her placement is almost at

the one/third point in the frame, but the stride is too casual and her head is down.

 

I like the Red Cross image with the girl and the Red Cross icon behind her. It tells me a

story that may have something to do with the Red Cross, which is what you are trying to

convey. That would be your lead image and the others would be the tie-in shots. You

might try an image increasing the size of the icon.

 

A couple of minor irritating details. The guy selling guitars has a woman in the right edge

walking into the frame and the shoe shot has a small rope intruding in the upper part.

Both of these, to me, don't add anything to the image.

 

Best to you in your portfolio preparation.

[iancoxleigh]

I am a complete amateur so take everything I say with a heaping tablespoon of salt.

 

1. I agree with the Bill (the last poster) that the woman walking into the frame in the guitar-shop photo is distracting and has to go. I don't mind the rope with the shoes though.

 

2. My main critique is that I'm not sure that you need all three of the in-focus close with out-of-focus background shots from the decorative section. They all display roughly the same technique and are similar in their tone and conveyed meaning. Having all three feels a little bit like padding a resume. Pick one of these only.

 

I like number 2198 -- the Brown wall with the architrave. I would choose it because the foreground has more depth and varied tone than the others. I also feel that the two elements relate and that the background is as much a part of finished image as the foreground.

 

I don't like the one with the Flavian Amphitheatre because the background is too recognizable as the Colosseum and I don't like the other gray one as much because I don't feel the foreground and background relate to one another strongly and I think the background is thrown a little too much out of focus heightening that separation between zones.

[j_sevigny]

Simone,

 

Happy holidays and thanks for sharing your work with us.

 

Here's one thought. You say that your main interest is "social reportage." But the first images on your site are abstracts. I'd put the people pictures at the top.

[navarra]

Thanks for the great analisis of mu pictures. I can see most of the problems you are pointing out and I usually try not to repeat the same errors when taking new photos... but it's easier said than done :) Of course I have much more pictures of the same kind, so I might switch the pics that aren't too good (or are flawed like the guitars' one) with better ones.

 

Do you think 20 x 30 (centimeters not inches!) prints of these images as a full portfolio have a chance to positively impress someone I might want to work with (or work for)?

 

Thanks again!

 

Simone

[navarra]

I just read the third post... yes I also believe a portfolio should be aimed to the people I'm showing it to, so in case of a social work I'd show the Red Cross images firts, then the portraits, and the "fine art" images at last telling "I also do stuff like this". I wouldn't want to remove them, since everyone seems to like 'em (well, almost :)

 

Simone

[agher]

im in the same way im beggining too so my comments wont be so PRO, i think maybe u need some more pics, ok for the red cross one the story is well told, i understand what it means with just seeing the picture, picture talks for itself, nice work

[agher]

maybe we cant see what artist do in the picture like in the pictures of red cross, maybe we need to see more of the artist studio or a work of the artist next to him were we can recognize whats the picture about, ciao

[heidi_c.1]

The quality of your imagery is good, I like what you have to offer. The only suggestion I have is that the page takes too long to load. If I had been pointed towards your site as a possible client I would not have waited for the page to loads. Many people search the internet at work whilst on their lunch break, they wouldn't want to wait until they've finished before they seen your good images. Just a suggestion.

[navarra]

Thanks everyone! Responding to the last poster, thanks for pointing this out! I plan to use these images as a printed portfolio, I'll try to make a "lighter" online version. By the way, at this point it takes 3-4 seconds to load with my internet connection, but yes many people are still on dial up.

 

Simone

[navarra]

I just updated the portfolio with your suggestions (still very slow if you don't have a dsl). Feel free to visit it again at

 

http://www.simonenavarra.it/portfolio.html

 

Thanks again!

 

Simone

[jacoangeli]

Caro Simone, ne hai fatta di strada ..... Belle foto .... molto pi� forti di quelle che mi ricordavo.... Onestamente penso che tu sia pronto per tentare di proporti sul mercato.... Hai pensato a fare un corso del Tuscany Workshop (TPW in sigla).... ? Passo ancora da queste parti e vengo a curiosare da te...... Sei ancora volontario alla croce rossa ? se ti capita io lavoro al Policlinico di Tor Vergata, 8? piano lato A ...... saluti

Fabrizio Jacoangeli