What goes into a photojournalism portfolio?

Everyone who gets through the first few stages of being a photojournalist eventually faces this same dilemma, and it's one that continues to repeat itself throughout the ascending stages of a photojournalism career as talent and expertise grow. It is "the" big question that all photographers must continually contend with: What do I put in my portfolio?

Taking a look at what goes into a portfolio is rather subjective and I wanted this to be more than just my opinion, so I asked photography editors and directors of photography at newspapers and magazines around the country to tell me three things that they look for in a photographer's portfolio. I'll offer their various responses here, but what I noticed about what almost every one of them said about content was "News, Sports, and Portraits". And almost everyone of them also look for evidence of "creative vision", "energy", and "showing me something I've never seen before".

This is a good time of year for student photographers to start thinking about this question, because it's back to school time and the entire academic calendar is right there in front of you. Students who will be graduating next Spring have this one last season cycle of the school year to put the finishing touches on a portfolio before subjecting themselves to the job market and seeking internships, job interviews, and any other professional opportunities. The school's annual academic calendar, a compiled listing of all of the college's activities, speakers, games and events, is a resource that is a nice, neat printed assignment roadmap that can be every student photographer's friend. It's a self-directed assignment book that you should think about taking advantage of, because almost every worthwhile event that is going to take place within the school community is on that calendar or schedule. It can help you to plan what you need to shoot to fill in the gaps in your portfolio, always thinking about News, Sports and Portraits.

Editors want to see portraits. It tells them how well you can or cannot relate to people, often to strangers, with limited amounts of time and resources, and how well you can or cannot convey emotion and personality. Look through the calendar for guest speakers or visiting professionals who will be doing something at your school where you will have an opportunity to photograph someone that you could never approach outside of the university environment. Musicians, painters, authors, entertainers, all can be opportunities to shoot a unique and different portrait, all just for the cost of asking. The worst they can say is "No". But they might, just might, say "Yes" because they remember what it was to be a student at one time and trying to make it. They may appreciate your courage, if nothing else.

And nothing is more valuable, later, than a photograph of someone who isn't famous right now but goes on to be famous later. Especially authors, painters, and musicians. Get them on their way up, while you're on your way up too. You can find them in the bars, clubs, studios and coffee shops all around campus and town. At least one of them will make it big, someday. And you'll have their portrait. Find the scientist on your campus that is doing the research that will change the future. Photograph that person. When she or he wins The Nobel Prize or finds a cure for cancer, you've got two things going for you: their photo from "back when", and an existing relationship with them that may open doors for you to make new photographs "now". I've used this approach with success before. "Hello, remember when I photographed you at I.U. when I was a student and you were just getting started?" It works.

College students are not the only photographers who can take advantage of this approach to portfolio construction. Many working professionals could be well served by sitting down and re-addressing the images that make up the current selection of "my best of the best". A lot of images in my portfolio have been there for many, many years simply because I never shot anything that I thought was more representative of my vision than what I had already captured in an existing image. However, many images in my portfolio are from the last few years and they replaced older images in the personal tray of my best. Those were the tough decisions: which ones go and which ones stay?

There is an image in my portfolio yet today that I shot when I was a student photographer at Indiana University. It's a photograph of a bike wreck during the annual Little 500 student bicycle race. At all the sporting events that I photographed for more than twenty-three years, I never shot a sports photo that I liked better than this one. But there's another reason that it stayed in my portfolio: every single editor that I ever showed it to responded with the "Wow!" factor. It was something they'd never seen before, it stopped their eye as it traveled across the slide page, and they remembered me from the crowd of other photographers because this, and other unique images in my selection, represented things that had not been shown to them in other portfolios. By showing editors something different, I separated myself from the sea of other applicants for the job. It didn't mean that this image was necessarily any better, or any worse, than any other sports photograph. It only meant that it was different. It also showed that I had the editing skill to find that different image, and the courage to break from the rest of the crowd by taking the more risky route of showing non-traditional photographs.

At one of the very first Pittsburgh Graphics Conferences put on by J. Bruce Baumann at The Pittsburgh Press, a guest at the conference was Robert Gilka, the legendary former director of photography at The National Geographic. Gilka was known to be sometimes a gruff person when looking at student portfolios; he didn't believe in handling aspiring photographers with soft gloves. He was an imposing figure, with a Navy-style close-cropped crew cut hairstyle, and a wool sports coat and thin necktie. He had the demeanor of a retired military officer, or of a Wisconsin junior college football coach, but with a twinkle in his eye. From the corner of the room I watched him as he flipped through a student's 11x14 black and white prints, which were mounted on black cardboard (in the days before slide portfolios). He flipped through twenty boards, came back and pulled three out and handed the three to the student and said "Here are the three that are worthy of your portfolio". The student said "But all of those are my favorite photographs!!!" Gilka, after a pause, said in a deep, fatherly voice, "Son, sometimes you just have to murder your little darlings."

Bryan Moss did something along those lines to me when I was a student photographer at I.U. and the Managing Editor of The Wabash Plain Dealer wanted me to come up to the northern corner of the state for an interview. They needed to replace their chief photographer, who was retiring, and I was in school but needed to go to work. I asked Bryan to look at my portfolio. The Wabash managing editor had told me to bring twenty images. Bryan, who was a photo editor at The Louisville Courier-Journal at the time but lived in Bloomington on weekends with his wife, Mary Jo Moss, who was the photography editor of the Daily Student, took a look at my twenty boards and told me which three of them to show. I said "But they said to bring twenty". Bryan said "If they can't tell what kind of a photographer you are by these three pictures, you don't want to work for them anyway."

Yeah, you guessed it. I went to the interview but I was a coward and took twenty boards. I made up for it, though. During the interview the man who would be my boss was flipping through all twenty of the boards like a deck of cards. Over the top of his glasses he said "Why did you pick these?" and I, being a self-destructive student type, said "Bryan Moss of the Courier-Journal said I should only show you three, because if you don't know what kind of a photographer I am from those pictures I shouldn't work for you anyway." Silence. A long stare. It slowly dawned upon me the exact size of the shoe that I'd just inserted into my own mouth.

I worked there for that editor for more than four years, before I went back to Indiana University and more classrooms. But I've heard it said more than once that you can't teach common sense.

Today Bryan is the director of photography at The Evansville Courier & Press and he and Mary Jo run The White Cloud Workshops for photojournalists from their cabin home in the hills of Southern Indiana. He still has good advice about what should be in a photographer's portfolio. Bryan says a portfolio has to have "Heart (define that!), Personal Vision, and Passion." He says "I want to see ONE picture that has all three of these things. That means the photographer either a) Can do it, or b) Got lucky once. More than one picture that does this are welcome, of course".

Carl Ganter is a photojournalist and multimedia storyteller in Michigan. When Carl looks at a portfolio he says he looks for "Vision (which shows heart), creativity (which shows potential), and execution (which shows a technical understanding of the craft)."

One of the co-chairs of the National Press Photographers Association Flying Short Course is Mary Lou Foy. Mary Lou is also one of the photography editors of The Washington Post. (The Washington Post has dominated the newspaper categories in Pictures of the Year recently with very powerful documentary photography projects). She says when she looks at a portfolio, she looks for "Energy. Energy can come in many forms. I look for use of different lenses. It's amazing how many portfolios come through with only bad wide-angle photos, because so many people don't know how to use a wide-angle lens. A portfolio needs to also show some tighter, long lens images." Again, an editor mentions portraits. "I need to see good, evocative portraits, and some of them should be well lit" she says. "It's surprising how many new photographers can't make them (portraits) at all. They have sports, news, and bad portraits, if they have them at all."

At The St. Petersburg Times in Florida, director of photography Sonya Doctorian says she looks for "seeing". "Seeing - is it interpretive, or is it just for-the-record? Are there images that show a spark of potential for understanding what interpretive means?" And "Lensing. Does a photographer understand when it's the right time to use a 24mm versus an 85mm?" And "Quality of light. Does the work show an awareness of light? Does the photographer supplement available light so that it's not readily apparent when looking at the image?" Sonya says that she thinks "a portfolio is at its best when it reflects the photojournalist's personal vision, so I don't need to see four features, four sports actions, four news photographs (in a beginner's work), but I do need to see passion and a certain breadth of worldview."

In San Francisco, Ron Mann is a photography editor at The Chronicle. Asked about portfolios, he says "Easy, I've been preaching this for years. I look for curiosity, insight and a sense of humor. If it has been done in a way that reflects the local community so much the better, but many kids have bounced around a lot so that a portfolio often represents a number of communities. What I don't want to see is a repeat of last year's Pictures of the Year winner."

David Burnett is one of the world's best photographers, ever. As one of the co-founders of Contact Press Images, he's been all over the globe and photographed countless stories and situations. He does personal projects that are driven from the feelings of his heart. About portfolios, he says "Surprise me. Show me good technical handling of situations, and show me something that makes me FEEL, something that makes me feel like I've visited that place, seen a situation, felt a person, in that way that only photography does it."

When The Pittsburgh Press was closed by Scripps-Howard, J. Bruce Baumann went to California for a while but now he's back in Indiana and he's the Managing Editor of The Evansville Courier & Press. Baumann has seen more photographer's portfolios over the years, including during his time as a photographer and editor at The National Geographic, than most people. Bruce says he looks at a portfolio to find "Content, images that are to the point, and to be surprised". I learned a lot about portfolios during the time that I worked for Bruce in Pittsburgh, as well as from one of the other picture editors there, Carol Morton, who also went to California before coming back East to a newspaper in Detroit. Carol looks at a portfolio to find "Story telling ability, originality of vision, and technical skills". Carol was the first person that I'd met who could work the desk as a picture editor, shoot news, sports and portraits on the street, and shoot large format studio illustrations and food shots, all with equal skill. I'd never met a newspaper photographer who could do all of those things, at once. Carol's portfolio reflected that, which is why she is so highly sought as a valuable staff member.

Bruce Young and Jenny Evans-McCan are freelance photojournalists who now live in Virginia and through their company, The Evans-McCan Group, produce television documentaries in addition to shooting still photographs. When I met them, they both lived in Washington D.C. and covered the White House and news for wire services. Jenny says she looks at a portfolio for "a weather feature, which is something a photographer will be asked to do over and over again. And having everything in focus; you'd be surprised how many people think that is optional!" She also looks to see how often and how well a photographer uses wide angles lenses rather than relying on long telephotos. Bruce says he looks at portfolios for "good, creative composition, for pictures which either tell the story in a single image or are so good that the ambiguity is worth it". Bruce adds that he's tired of "hearing the excuse that a photo's 'new wave' or 'art' or any other reason to pass off bad composition, focus, or print quality."

Caitlin Kelly is director of photography for one of the daily newspapers in the Freedom Newspapers chain in California. She looks at a portfolio for "creativity, the ability to take an ordinary assignment and get an interesting photograph. Emotion, the ability to shoot it and by doing so it sometimes shows the ability for a photographer to wait for it and to get more than just the usual. Action, the technical ability combined with the action of a game, and also getting the moment with less than perfect lighting, etc."

At The Arizona Republic Paul F. Gero is a staff photographer who came to The Republic from The Chicago Tribune, where he was the first Tribune staff photographer to be stationed in the Washington D.C. bureau covering the White House and traveling on national and international stories. He's a product of the strong photojournalism community in Wisconsin and around Chicago, and daily worked shoulder to shoulder with some of the best photographers in the country, himself included in that group. Besides shooting daily assignments for The Republic, he freelances often for editorial clients like Sports Illustrated, People magazine, and the weekly news magazines. Paul says he searches a portfolio for "humanity and personal skills, and an exceedingly high degree of courtesy and decency in dealing with subjects and colleagues." He also looks for "Seeing beyond the obvious; finding a great photograph in an ordinary event. Subtlety is big in my book." And "Versatility with excellence. The ability to do a variety of things with a high degree of artistry and technical precision."

From these leading editors and photojournalists, the common thread of thinking seems to be an interest in seeing news, sports, and portraits in a way that they haven't seen them before, shown by a photographer who is responding to his or her own feelings, heart, vision and passion, and an understanding of the tools of the craft of photojournalism. Editing down those "little darlings", look for the ones that make you FEEL something, make you relate to it, make you react to it, and make you want to respond. Then you've got yourself a portfolio. Don't count the number of images; count the ones that meet these guidelines. And when you go to the interview, keep your foot out of your mouth. Good luck.

Behind the Viewfinder - A Year in the Life of Photojournalism
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