Supporting a beautifully designed “tween” line from Seattle. LOUIE received much critical acclaim at the Playtime Tradeshow in New York. You should be seeing them at the stores next year.

Design by Ann Marie Louie and Liesl Getcheco.

Makeup/hair by Liesl Getcheco.

Models: Lauren @ SMG and Ana.

I am very pleased to move into The House Studios and become part of the team of professional creatives there.  The team of Emily Goodnight (a great Seattle Central Community College Creative Academy Grad) and phenomenal luxury product photographer Erik Skaar at The House have done an incredible job of re-modeling this space and transformed it into a visual creation powerhouse.  I feel very fortunate to join the existing team of renowned Food Photographer Christopher Conrad (who turns out to chair the SCCC’s Tech Advisory Board on which I also serve), Architectural Photographer Matt Varnado, Still Life Photographer and Stylist Kimberly Swedelius, Lifestyle Photographer Jules Frazier and Director/Filmmaker Keith Rivers.

I encourage every one to go check out their work, it’s inspiring.  I hope to see you at the studio, soon.

The new address is 325 2nd Ave W, Seattle, WA 98119 (Google Map).

Christopher and I were classmates at the UW Foster Business School.  He has since founded one of the most successful casual game companies in the world Boomzap.  I am very glad that he agreed to write this blog, which is as applicable to photographers as it is to any visual creatives.

9 Steps to a Better Portfolio

If you are a professional working artist your portfolio is your career.

Sure, you have a résumé, a job history, and an educational background – but the honest truth is that these are all just context for your portfolio. When you are applying for work, your potential employer will glance at everything else for a few minutes, and then spend the rest of their time on the portfolio.

So it’s in your best interests to make sure that this portfolio presents you in the best possible light. A good portfolio won’t save a poor artist, but a poor portfolio can certainly make a good artist look less marketable than they actually are – and that’s relatively easy to fix with a couple simple rules:

1) Quality
When I look at your portfolio, I assume that this is the absolute best art you are capable of. So, when picking pieces for your portfolio, use fewer images, and make sure they are your best.

The typical artist will want to show the world their entire body of work – even the flawed pieces and works in progress. In fact, many artists have blogs where they share their creative process, and have conversations with peers about their work. This is all great – but it’s not a portfolio.

Your portfolio is a separate site – a culled selection of your absolute best work. I shouldn’t see a single weak image in your portfolio – because if I do, I am going to think “this person is unaware that this is not great work” – and I will question your taste and judgement.

2) Diversity
It’s critical to choose images that show the full range of your skill. Sure, you may have 500 images of tropical birds from your last project that are all incredible, but you don’t want to be pigeonholed as “that guy that draws birds” – unless that’s the only thing you ever want to work on.

Make sure that your portfolio includes a number of different styles, techniques, and looks. A digital painter, for instance, should have at a bare minimum a few characters in closeup facial shots, a few characters in full figure shots, and a number of environmental works in both indoor and outdoor environments. This lets me see your strengths in each area, and shows that you are capable of adapting your talents to a diverse set of tasks.

Keep in mind – if your portfolio has a big gap where you’re not showing some kind of work – such as figure drawing or images that include movement or action, I’m going to assume that’s because you can’t do that kind of work well. It’s your job to prove to me that you can.

3) Context
I will appreciate your work more if I know what it is you were trying to do. Keep in mind, most professional work is done to achieve a specific goal, and whether or not the art is good objectively is often not the point.

The point is: Did the artist accomplish the goal set out for them?

In some cases, that goal or challenge in the artwork may not be obvious – such as completing by an extremely tight deadline, or including some product, message, or design element that was difficult to integrate. If I know what your challenges were in making the piece, I can better assess your ability to meet my challenges.

Even for works that were done entirely for personal reasons, I would love to know what it is you were trying to accomplish personally in the work – such as improve your figure drawing skills, or work on your lighting or perspective. This allows me to focus my attention on that element of the work, and appreciate it properly.

4) Process
When I look at a portfolio, I want to know how you made each piece, and how long it took.

What lenses did you use on your camera? What kinds of media did you use on your traditional art? If you worked on a digital image, or if you animated or modeled something – what software did you use? What plugins? What kind of tablet? Knowing all this helps me better understand how you work, and how you will work in my production process.

In the case of work that is heavily Photoshopped versions of photographs or references, it’s helpful to include the originals, so that I can clearly judge your work against the starting point you were working from. In fact, one of my favorite things to see in a portfolio is a step-by-step presentation showing how you made one of your best images, with work-in-progress shots leading up to the final image. This really lets me get my head around the way you work.

And of course, I’ll want to know how long it took you to do the work – so I can use that as a benchmark for the work I am looking to have done.

5) Credit
It’s critical for you to clarify precisely what work you were responsible for in any image. If you created something as part of a team, clarify what your role in that team was, what your contribution to the work was, and properly credit the other contributors. Failure to do so will be seen as insensitive, or worse, as outright dishonest.

Additionally, if your work used references, or was heavily inspired by some other artists work, it is critical to include that information as well. While I may be impressed to see how you have reimagined the work of another artist, if you aren’t crediting that artist or reference, I’ll think you’re simply plagiarizing. That’s one of the fastest ways to have your portfolio dismissed, and to have your reputation in the industry destroyed.

6) Portability
In this day and age, there is simply no excuse at all for having anything but an online portfolio.

One sure-fire way to piss me off as a potential client is to mail-bomb me a massive email attachment of your work. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been travelling overseas on a limited bandwidth connection and received a résumé with a 20mb portfolio attachment that jammed up my email. My solution? Delete the email and attachment without ever looking at it.

Additionally, keep in mind that if I like your stuff, I am going to want to forward it to other decision makers in the process – and you can bet that if I hate getting massive attachments, I’m not about to forward yours. What I really want is a single link that I can pass on a medium as small as a text message.

As a side bonus, keeping all of your information online allows you to keep it constantly up to date. If I open the same link a year later, I’ll see your updated portfolio immediately.

7) Simplicity
Please, please, please don’t make some enormous confusing flash based site with all kinds of bells and whistles for your portfolio. Nobody will be impressed – in fact, most people will be annoyed. Your portfolio should be a simple, clean page with images I can easily scroll through, with whatever text is necessary attached in a simple, easy to read font. Keep in mind that I may be looking at your portfolio on any of a number of devices – including tablets and netbooks – and I’ll be annoyed when I have to wait for all of your flash animations and java scripts to load. In fact, I probably just won’t bother. I’m not interested in your website (unless you are a web designer) – I just want to see the portfolio of products you’ve made as quickly and easily as possible. Honestly, my favorite format for a static art portfolio is a simple Flickr page – which you can have set up in a couple of minutes. And, unless you are an animator, I certainly don’t want to see a demo reel. If you are showing me still images, I want to see them as still images. Preferably in the resolution they were created in.

If you are an animator, I’d honestly prefer to see your animations in a short, silent medium – I am not really interested in your favorite new Coldplay song as a soundtrack. If the animations were designed to go with specific music or sound, then include only that. If you have a number of animations to show me, break them into a few short videos, so I can look at them individually without having to search for them on a long showreel. For a platform, you can set up a simple website from any of a number of off-the-shelf blogs, and embed some YouTube videos. That will allow me to watch them on just about any platform, including my tablet or smartphone. There are obviously other workable formats, but whatever you use, keep the focus on delivering your art as simply and easily as possible, and letting me view it on as many platforms as possible.

8) Accessibility
Your portfolio should serve as the main point of contact that I have with all elements of you as a potential hire. If you have things about yourself that you would tell me in a cover letter, make an “about me” page on your portfolio, so that when I direct someone else to your portfolio, they have that context as well. Make sure that you have an updated résumé on the site, in a simple, clean text format that I can look at online or grab and print. Please don’t make a PDF or image file résumé – that’s only going to annoy me. When I look at your résumé, I want to be able to quickly find information, click on hyperlinks to see any online resources you want me to see, and grab hunks of text from it to paste into MSN conversations and google searches. You want me interacting with your résumé like this – but if it’s is a PDF or image file, you’re making me retype that information, and I probably can’t be bothered to do that.

9) Relevance
Finally, if you know something about the clients/companies you are submitting your portfolio to, try to lead with the most relevant materials. If you’re applying as an animator for a company that does military simulations, and you have some demo reels of tanks and helicopters you’re proud of – Lead with them! If it’s a position that’s important enough, you might even consider taking the time to modify some of your art or create new art to show that you can match the style or needs of the client. One of our best artists, for example, waited a month before applying, and spent her evenings making a specific piece of art that exactly matched the style we were looking for, and led with it in her portfolio when she applied. Not only did she immediately get an interview, she also got the job.

A new editorial featuring one of Seattle’s most promising designers Jesica Milton‘s 2011 F/W collection is now showing in 180 Mag’s Summer Edition.

Jesica was the winner of Seattle Magazine’s Seamless in Seattle competition, and one of the best graduates of the New York Fashion Academy in Seattle.  Check out this beautiful collection!

For some reason I have been receiving a lot of modeling inquiries lately from people who are aspiring to become one.  Instead of replying to it all, let me list the proper steps of approaching modeling in our city.  I am not a modeling agency, even though I work with a lot of them, so contacting me really does not accomplish much.  This post applies to real-world, commercial modeling in Seattle, not for amateurs or those who only want to do it for fun.  Remember, modeling is a business.

1. You should go to one of the three major modeling agencies in Seattle’s websites to see when their open-calls are and what requirements you need to meet (height, measurements etc.).  The three agencies are TCM, SMG and Heffner.
2. Open-calls are castings open to public, you do not need to make an appointment to go nor do you need connections.
3. You only need to bring two photos: One “headshot” and one “full-body” photo. Snapshots will do.
4. You do not need to have professionally taken photographs to get signed if you meet the requirements and have the specific looks that the agencies are looking for.
5. You definitely do not need to go to any modeling school.
6. Once, and if, you are signed, your agency will give you a list of photographers whom they have already vetted to get photos taken.  It is not free, every one on the list does not need to shoot for their portfolios.  Any business would require some investment, your book/portfolio is your investment.  In the Seattle area, a test costs about $400-600, depending on the experience and caliber of the photographer.  A test should never cost over $2,000, that’s absurd and a sign of a portfolio mill.
7. Once you have your book, your agent will create your composite cards (big business cards with your photos on it), put you on their websites etc, both of which you generally have to pay for.  You do not pay to get signed, you only pay for the promotional materials so they can do their jobs on your behalf.  After that, with some luck, you will attend some castings, and you may get work as a commercial/fashion model.

I hope this is helpful for someone out there.  Best wishes to your adventure, and may be I will see you at a job or test soon.

A big congratulations to Seattle’s own Jennifer Cole, for winning the 2011 PBA Beacon Award!  We created these entries a few months ago and I had a wonderful time working with Jennifer.  She is incredibly talented, driven, humble and sweet.  I love the energy we had and I am sure there will be many more collaborations later.

Makeup by Lindsey Watkins – please click on the image below to see a large gallery.

A slightly sexier editorial showing at Photographer&Muse.  “Bound”.  NSFW.

Click on the image to see full-screen slideshows.  Hope you enjoy it.

Model was Hattie Watson.

“Quietly Brilliant”.  I am talking about Derek Andrew Inc., with their two prominent lines in major high-end outlets.

Featuring Aimee from ANTM Season 10 and her first editorial in over a year, and as angelic as ever.

Styled by Tanya Min Jee using CORSON and Twisted Heart from Derek Andrew.  Makeup & hair by Estelle Heron for tarte cosmetics.  Model: Aimee Wright at ANTM Season 10/Heffner.

As featured in Fashion Network Seattle, May 2011.  Click on the image to see full-screen slideshows.  Hope you enjoy it.

Over the past years I have been asked many times what books I would recommend for aspiring photographers to learn the craft.  Instead of repeating it for every one individually, I have compiled the list here.

Not everything in life can be learned by doing.  Sometimes, a bit of reading can save you countless hours of making unnecessary mistakes.  There are some simple theories involved with photography, and it’s good to learn it, understand it, so well, that you can free yourself from thinking about it later.  Besides being creative, photography is a play of light, and light is physics.  Digital technologies are all electrical engineering related, and so knowing a little of the background of this craft would get you a long way.  I have intentionally left out any books that involve math, and these books are all written to be pretty easy to read.

So here’s the list:

For the absolute basics:

Kodak 35mm guide to photography – the best $0.99 you would spend on learning the basics.

Kodak’s “Guide to Better Pictures” - The free version of the same book online, effectively. Must read.

For Lighting:

Light, Science and Magic – Light is physics, and this book teaches the fundamentals without using any math at all.  I don’t like recipe books, and by mastering the fundamentals, there would be nothing you cannot light.

Matter of Light and Depth – Beyond the physics, lighting master Lowel talks about layers, depth, and creating drama with light.  Not a recipe book, but a more thoughtful, fundamental based approach.

For Post Processing/Digital:

Lynda.com – In my opinion the most logically laid-out online video learning course for Photoshop. It is perfect for learning the fundamentals and specific tools, so you can free up your creativity. I like that many courses, even the advanced ones are not recipe based. Cheap, too.

Real World Camera Raw – Deals with the usage of RAW file and its advantages/disadvantages, and at the same time how to optimize your data.

Intro to Color Management by Dry Creek Photo – In my opinion the best introduction to color management, a topic that no serious photographer (and graphic designer) should ignore. Free.

A field guide to digital colors – For more technically savvy photographers with a lot more background and details in color management.  It is mostly written for layman by an engineer who has mathematical understanding of the theory behind it. It’s easy to read but it’s definitely not needed for amateurs.

Photography “philosophy”:

Art and Fear - probably the single most important book any artist or aspiring artist must read for sanity.  Highly recommended.

On Photography – again an essential read.  A very thoughtful essay on the why of photography.

I will continue to update this as time goes by.  Hopefully this is helpful to some of you!

CC Fontana photographed by Wolf189 in Kurv Magazine.  Retouched by me.

Click to see larger slideshow.