Week 2: Finding your vision

 Creating a Strong Fine Art Portfolio

What makes it fine art?

•Photography that is done as a fine art -- that is, done to express the artist's perceptions and emotions and to share them with others

•A picture that is produced for sale or display rather than one that is produced in response to a commercial commission

•The production of images to fulfill the creative vision of a photographer.

•Historically, has sometimes been applied to any photography whose intention is aesthetic, as distinguished from scientific, commercial, or journalistic

The Simple Answer:

Images that have been reinterpreted by the photographer.

Some ways to do that?

Different cameras—toy, large format, medium format, switching to film

Photo Shop techniques

Printing Techniques

Vintage Techniques

Artistic References

Process

How do I find my Voice?

•Your best work comes from something you are moved by, familiar with, want to bring voice to, and most often, what’s right in front of you.

•YOU and your world, your life, the way you think and live, are the most UNIQUE qualities that you bring to your work.  Shoot what you know and you will always stand apart.

What are Museums looking for?

•Projects that say something.

•Projects that reflect our time, our world, our lives and are RE INTERPRETED through presentation, through exploration, or through thoughtful analysis.

•Visually powerful images, well executed and

   unique.

What are Galleries looking for?

•Images that will sell to a broad spectrum of collectors

•Images that will hopefully end up in museum collections

•Images that are universal

•Images that are evocative

What are Book Publishers looking for?

•Projects that are cohesive

•Projects that are unique

•Projects that the reader will want to revisit again and again

•Projects that talk about our time in history

•Projects that reflect a creative vision

What are Magazines looking for?

•Timely stories

•Personal stories

•Photographic Essays

•Humorous stories

Some Genres of Contemporary Photography

•Typologies

•Typographies

•Domestic Scenes (home, family)

•Reinterpreting nature

•Human observations

•Documentary

•Dreams and Memory

•Surrealism and Other worlds

•Still Life

•Self Portraits

•Vernacular

•Surveys of our world

•Environment

•Staged Scenes

Important numbers when considering a portfolio

•1 signature image that defines the project

•3 images for submissions to competitions, etc

•10 images for a magazine or ezine article

•20 images for a portfolio review

•50-60 images for a book

Aline Smithson

www.alinesmithson.com

Aline Smithson's lecture at LBCC