There are major differences between a portfolio and a book. A portfolio is a snapshot of your best work, and often shortish in nature. Say twenty to twenty-five pictures. A book, meanwhile, has narrative. A book may not showcase your ten best images. It might, in fact, only showcase a few of your beauties, because whatever doesn’t lend itself to telling the story gets cut. Telling stories requires more than portfolio images. Telling stories requires informational and transitional images. Images that might not stand alone, but provide critical information to the reader.
For whatever reason, I always worked in story form.
Anytime I’m in the field, I’m collecting. I’m writing, photographing, talking to people, and even starting to sketch. (Oh, the horror.) When I’m photographing, I’m thinking about story, and I’m always thinking about print. How is this going to look in print? What is my sequence? What am I trying to say? This greatly influences how I photograph. I would imagine if someone saw my contact sheets, they might be surprised.
I remember purchasing a photography book created by one of my heroes. The overall work was fine, as expected, but what truly captured my attention was the work included at the back of the book. This work detailed his life behind the scenes. It showed his hotel room, the woman he was with, those he engaged with on the street, and much more. My hero did not make these photographs while wearing his photographer hat. They were made while he wasn’t wearing his photographer hat. These images weren’t made to impress. They were memories made to inform. This book taught me about storytelling.
Now I make these images all the time. You could call some of them “snapshots,” but often they are much more. Take the image shown here. This is what I call a simple, informative image. The light isn’t great, but there is nothing I can do about that. Our job as documentary photographers is to work with what we have. I shot this with one of my Nikons, but had I been using the X100VI, I would have popped in some strobe.
This image was taken in Chilean Patagonia, at Faro San Isidro, south of Punta Arenas, after a three-plus-hour Zodiac ride in high winds and heavy chop. To say we took some water over the bow is both hilarious and an understatement. Five layers of clothing, plus two waterproof layers, and I was still wet, but I would not trade this day for anything. Once we landed, I began walking the area around the lighthouse. I would estimate there were maybe ten people total in the entire area, including this local family.
I made this picture with the family centered in the frame. I wanted a basic balance, even though I knew this might complicate the layout. From where I was standing, a pathway cut into the tall grass stood, which led up to the family through the center of the frame. The family, facing away, continued this “into the horizon” aspect of the image. Meaning your eye follows the leading lines from the bottom center, up through the family, and out into the seascape beyond. That was the idea, anyway.
I would have loved the boy on the left to be on the bench, but again, I can’t control that. I do like the dad’s #10 jersey. This is a simple picture about a family enjoying the splendor of their country. In my limited experience, landscape and nature are HUGE issues in Chile. I look at an image like this as a time capsule. At some point, people will look at an image like this and say, “Look, before it was developed.” Now, knowing the Chileans, this is probably a park now. Over the six-hour voyage, we never saw another boat.
As I mentioned before, while I’m shooting, I’m thinking about layouts. If you don’t do this, don’t start. I’m not sure it’s a healthy thing for most people. There are times I’m glad I do it, and other times I wish I did not. And remember, I’ve been doing this since about 1993, so it’s more than a habit for me. If you don’t do it, enjoy that you don’t, and just shoot, or collect whatever form of work you are making. Keep it simple. A few sample spreads of how an image like this could be used. It’s not super strong, so if it’s informational, it might need a “helper” on the page. Text, a graphic, or another image to balance or offset. The circle graphic is a play on his #10 jersey. FYI. Again, just quick sketches.
A little video clip about what I was doing in the middle of the voyage. This was before it got real wet and real windy. What a day.
Comments 4
What I liked the most about this video was seeing the phone you were holding reflected in your very mirrored sunglasses. It’s so rare these days that “selfies,” even selfie videos, are so unabashedly one’s self filming one’s self. I mean we always know, but in this one we see the phone. Tickled me.
Author
The glasses reveal the truth.
The image of you before the video starts is very funny, and could make a separate “snapshot” by itself. I, too, love the story. Thanks for sharing!
Author
That’s my other channel. “Pizza Dan.”