Building a Photography Portfolio That Gets You Hired
Editors and art directors hire a point of view, not a highlight reel. Edit for who you are, not everything you can do.
The most common portfolio mistake is also the most understandable one: showing everything. A book that proves you can shoot fashion, food, weddings and product proves mainly that you have not decided what you are. Clients do not hire range; they hire a point of view they can recognise.
Edit ruthlessly
A portfolio is defined by its weakest image, not its strongest, because the weakest one tells a client what you are willing to accept. Twelve undeniable pictures beat forty good ones. If an image is in the book only because it was hard to get, or because you are attached to the story behind it, it should come out. The edit is the work.
Show the work you want more of
Your book is a brief to the world about what to send you. Fill it with the jobs you want, even if you had to create them yourself on test shoots. If you want to shoot fashion advertising, the book should look like fashion advertising — not like the commercial jobs you took to pay rent. People hire what they see.
Make it effortless to view
Finally, respect the viewer's time. Sequence the images so the book has a rhythm, lead and close with strength, and make it trivially easy to reach you. An art director deciding in ninety seconds should never have to hunt for the next picture, or for your email. The easiest portfolio to say yes to usually wins.